Strategic plan for civilian remote sensing

The following is a brief to the US Congress of a report prepared by the Office of Technology Assessment, The Future of Remote Sensing from Space: Civilian Satellite Systems and Applications. The report argues that a flexible, long-term interagency plan is needed to maximize the return on US investment in remote sensing. This in turn will require funding to ensure continuity of data collection and use, and suggests the need to form a broad-based international cooperative programme to avoid redundancy and promote more effective application of data.     

The benefits of remote sensing for energy policy

A strong remote sensing regime is a necessary component of any contemporary national or international energy policy. Energy is essential to the functioning of modern industrial society, and as such it is the responsibility of governments to produce sound national energy policies in order to ensure stable economic growth, ecologically responsible use of energy resources and the health and safety of citizens. Comprehensive, accurate and timely remote sensing data can aid decision making on energy matters in several areas. This paper looks at the benefits that can be realized in resource exploration, weather forecasting and environmental monitoring. Improvements in the technology of remote sensing platforms would be of great value to buyers of energy, sellers of energy and the environment. Furthermore, the utility of such information could be enhanced by efforts of government agencies to communicate it more effectively to the end-user. National energy policies should thus include investments not only in satellite system hardware to collect data, but also in the services required to interpret and distribute the data.     

Multispectral remote sensing of aerosols

Aerosols are common atmospheric constituents that occur both naturally (clouds, sea spray, dust, smoke, and volcanic emissions) and artificially (smog, smoke, certain hazes, detonation products, and industrial emissions). Some, like the great dust bowl storms in the U.S. in the 1930s, are a combination of natural and manmade agents. Most aerosols are difficult to model because they are composed of small, non-spherical particles whose optical constants and particle sizes are poorly known. Spectroscopic observations of aerosols in the thermal infrared atmospheric window between 8 and 13.5 μm offer the opportunity to detect aerosols both day and night down to very low column densities. Such observations can also identify the gross chemical composition of the particles and, in some cases, the actual sizes and shapes. In this paper, we discuss thermal i.r. observations of three types of aerosols: satellite measurements of volcanic dust, ground-based observations of airborne desert soil and both ground- and space-based measurements of cirrus clouds.     

Public good or commercial opportunity? Case studies in remote sensing commercialization

The US government is once again attempting to commercialize the Landsat program and is asking the private sector to develop a next-generation mid-resolution remote sensing system that will provide continuity with the thirty-year data archive of Landsat data. Much of the case for commercializing the Landsat program rests on the apparently successful commercialization of high-resolution remote sensing activities coupled with the belief that conditions have changed since the failed attempt to commercialize Landsat in the 1980s. This paper analyzes the economic, political and technical conditions that prevailed in the 1980s as well as conditions that might account for the apparent success of the emerging high-resolution remote sensing industry today. Lessons are gleaned for the future of the Landsat program.     

Parameterization of surface temperature retrieval for remote sensing experiments

A simple parameterization has been developed for determining the actual surface temperature from the effective brightness temperature measured radiometrically in the 11 μm window region. This algorithm allows the computation of atmospheric correction without performing detailed radiative transfer calculations. Correction due to atmospheric water vapor is represented in terms of the integrated water vapor burden. Correction due to variation of surface emittance is represented in terms of its deviation from unity. Parameteric representation has also been developed for simultaneous variation of both parameters. The parameterization is based on model calculations performed with a line-by-line radiative transfer program. Sensitivity of the retrieved surface temperature to uncertainties of water vapor burden and surface emittance have also been examined.     

The modular optelectronic multispectral scanner system for spaceborne remote sensing

A multispectral scanner system for spaceborne remote sensing of land and coastal/ocean features is under development for the German Ministry for Research and Technology. The system is based on the use of multilinear detector arrays for visible and infrared spectral bands.The electronically scanning image system MOMS (Modular Optoelectronical Multispectral Scanner) consists of individual spectral channel modules which can be grouped to dedicated mission tasks. Those dedicated tasks are land surface thematic mapping, sea or vegetation monitoring and in a stereo mode conventional photo interpretation and mapping.The basic performance data would allow up to 10,000 pixels per scan line, corresponding to about 20 m resolution at 200 km swath width out of observation satellite altitudes with narrower spectral bands than used on the current systems. High spectral resolution (up to 20 nm) is feasible at medium spatial resolution (～ 60 m).An experimental airborne scanner has been successfully flown in spring 1978. High-resolution modules development in the visible/NIR is under way and will be flight tested in early 1981.     

国内外遥感标准现状分析

简介国内外现有遥感标准的状况,并在梳理与分析的基础上,结合我国遥感技术的发展,对我国遥感标准化工作的规划提出发展建议.     

The use of remote sensing satellites for verification in international law

This paper examines the use of remote sensing satellites for verification in public international law. Verification always depends on the specific agreement or mission to be verified. There are no general framework rules: the means of verification and the verifying authorities vary from agreement to agreement and from mission to mission. Rapid technological development and the intensifying international cooperation have led to an increasing number of international verification missions. Whereas, in the past, verification was at the heart of intelligence and national services, the commercialization of the remote sensing industry and the information revolution have supported the creation of joint initiatives in this field. Traditionally, verification is associated with disarmament and arms control treaties, but the paper will underline that this is only one field of application for verification missions. It is important to note that there is no binding international regime specifically addressing such activity. The lack of legal certainty in this field also applies to the use of remotely sensed data as evidence in legal proceedings.     

The analysis of investments in demonstrative small satellite projects for remote sensing

The demonstrative small satellite projects (DSSP) for appreciation of the small satellites (SS) effective use in the perspective national space systems of remote sensing environment, as well as the ozone layer and the near Earth space are considered. The national potential for development, building, launch and missions of SS is discussed. The pecularities of the Russian market of remote sensing informative products and servicies are analysed to specify and stress the significance and perspectives of this market. In view of budget constraints in transitive period from centralized to market economics in Russia the different sources of DSSP financial support are considered.     

Some consequences of the commercialization of satellite remote sensing

Remote-sensing technology developments will influence the flow and requirements of remote-sensing data until the end of this century. Sensing-upon-request modes of operation are becoming regular practice and, in combination with commercial sales, are leading to contracts in which copyright clauses and other conditions influence the distribution of remote-sensing data. Moreover, the introduction of programmable and directable sensor systems is making it easier to gather more data over certain areas at the cost of less or none over others, leading to potential indirect censorship. The development of a media market for remote-sensing products also brings a threat of actual censorship on the release and use of imagery. The effects of the technology developments and commercialization policies require a careful consideration of whether or not the present international remote-sensing regime, as governed by the UN principles relating to remote sensing of the Earth from space, can continue unmodified in future.     

The activities of ocean colour remote sensing in China

This article reviews the development of ocean colour remote sensing over the past decade in China. China launched its first remote sensing satellite FY-1A on 7 September 1988 and its second, FY-1B on 3 September 1990. Both of them had a Very High Resolution Scanning Radiometer (VHRSR) which involved two channels (0.48–0.53 and 0.53–0.58 u) for measuring ocean colour. A new polar orbiting satellite FY-1-02 was scheduled to be in orbit by 1998 with an improved VHRSR which has more (10) channels and is more sensitive for ocean colour remote sensing. The special programme of the ocean colour satellite HY-1 has been approved by the Chinese government, as has the planning of another new generation polar orbiting remote sensing satellite, FY-3. A type of sensor has been developed known as the Chinese Moderate Imaging spectroradiometer (CMODIS). Following its review, the article will describe the future activities of ocean colour remote sensing in China and explain their scientific goal.     

Remote sensing of precipitation by a satellite-borne microwave remote sensor

The problem of remote sensing of precipitation by a satellite-borne microwave rain scatterometer is discussed. A downward-looking scanning pencil-beam antenna system is used. The combination of the range-gate method and low side lobe level is used to separate echoes from precipitation layers in the main lobe from ground clutter in the side lobes. Various parameters of the satellite-borne microwave rain scatterometer are calculated and characteristics of systems at 10 and 34.45 GHz are considered. The transmitter peak power needed to observe precipitation with sufficient signal-to noise ratio is calculated by means of the radar equation. The signal (i.e. the received power from the resolution volume of the precipitation) and the received power due to the ground clutter are calculated and the signal-to-clutter ratio is obtained by applying the radar equation. An airborne microwave rain scatterometer is proposed for preliminary experiments.     

The market of remote sensing data: A developing business

The past ten years have demonstrated the valuable contribution of space remote sensing to the management of natural resources. A second generation of observation satellites has been set up with Landsat D and SPOT to support operational applications all over the world. Such satellites have been established in light of economic pay-offs that should be illustrated hereafter.     

Comparison of remote sensing experiments from airborne and space platforms

Recent technological advances in the development of instruments and platforms like aircraft, balloons, satellites, the space station and, very recently, Zeppelin dirigibles, have opened up many new applications for remote sensing. This paper is an attempt to summarise and compare advantages and disadvantages as well as limitations, restrictions and perspectives of passive remote sensing instruments used on the different platforms and it should help to select the best platform for a special application for Earth observation.     

Satellite remote sensing in aid of development: the Tunis Declaration

A policy statement of the Centre Régional de Télédétection des Etats de l’Afrique du Nord (CRTEAN) (North African Centre for Remote Sensing) was prepared in the wake of a conference, held in Tunis, on the use of remote sensing to aid development. This report briefly describes the areas covered by the seminar, provides information on the structure and activities of the CRTEAN and reproduces the policy document, known as the Tunis Declaration.     

Earth remote sensing as an effective tool for the development of advanced innovative educational technologies

Current educational system is facing a contradiction between the fundamentality of engineering education and the necessity of applied learning extension, which requires new methods of training to combine both academic and practical knowledge in balance. As a result there are a number of innovations being developed and implemented into the process of education aimed at optimizing the quality of the entire educational system. Among a wide range of innovative educational technologies there is an especially important subset of educational technologies which involve learning through hands-on scientific and technical projects. The purpose of this paper is to describe the implementation of educational technologies based on small satellites development as well as the usage of Earth remote sensing data acquired from these satellites. The increase in public attention to the education through Earth remote sensing is based on the concern that although there is a great progress in the development of new methods of Earth imagery and remote sensing data acquisition there is still a big question remaining open on practical applications of this kind of data. It is important to develop the new way of thinking for the new generation of people so they understand that they are the masters of their own planet and they are responsible for its state. They should desire and should be able to use a powerful set of tools based on modern and perspective Earth remote sensing. For example NASA sponsors “Classroom of the Future” project. The Universities Space Research Association in United States provides a mechanism through which US universities can cooperate effectively with one another, with the government, and with other organizations to further space science and technology, and to promote education in these areas. It also aims at understanding the Earth as a system and promoting the role of humankind in the destiny of their own planet. The Association has founded a Journal of Earth System Science Education. Authors describe an effective model of educational technology developed in the Center for Earth Remote Sensing of Bauman Moscow State Technical University and based on scientific and educational organizations integration in the field of applied studies. The paper also presents how students are being trained to acquire and process satellite imagery data from Terra and Aqua satellites. It also reveals the results of space monitoring for Russia's ecologically complex regions conducted by Bauman Moscow State Technical University students in cooperation with specialists from the Laboratory for Aerospace Methods of Moscow State University named after M. Lomonosov.     

The promise and problems of the land remote sensing policy act of 1992

After nearly a decade of attempting to guide the complex process of land remote sensing in the US, the 1984 Land Remote Sensing Commercialization Act was repealed. In its place, Congress passed the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992. This action was prompted by what many observers consider a failed attempt at commercialization and the inability of the old law's provisions to meet the compelling needs of scientific research. The new law attempts to address these failures and, in many respects, is successful. Nonetheless it still embodies some of the problems associated with the earlier law. This article compares the provisions of the two laws and provides an analysis of the new law's strengths and weaknesses.     

A strategy to study regional hydrology and terrestrial ecosystem processes using satellite remote sensing, ground-based data and computer modeling

This paper describes a multidisciplinary research project which seeks to characterize the terrestrial water cycle and use this characterization to derive simulations of carbon dioxide and methane flux. The water cycle work links interpolated climate fields, macrohydrologic models and Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer datasets. The aim of the analysis is to use output from calibrated water balance models to develop relationships with SMMR datasets. SMMR estimates of surface hydrology can then be evaluated. Both modeled and SMMR datasets will be tested as inputs to regional biogeochemical models. All determinations will be made under climatically-averaged conditions and for 1979–1985, the years for which SMMR data is available.     

Current policy issues in remote sensing: report by the International Policy Advisory Committee of ISPRS

The role of remote sensing in promoting sustainable development, its general benefits and easing access to remotely sensed images, especially for developing countries, have all been examined by the International Policy Advisory Committee of the ISPRS in 2003. This report, a slightly revised version of an article that appears in the September 2003 issue of the ISPRS's Highlights magazine, presents the committee's findings and recommendations.     

Satellite solar power: Renewed interest in an age of climate change?

The concept of generating electricity using satellite solar power (SSP) has recently enjoyed renewed interest as a source of non-fossil fuel energy. First proposed in the 1960s, then studied sporadically in the past decade, SSP offers a potentially large supply of power but without the carbon emissions associated with evidence of global climate change. SSP faces challenges: competition from other non-fossil renewable energy, such as wind power, and the lead-time and costs required to assemble, test, and deploy an SSP system. At the request of a consortium of electric utilities, of NASA, and of the US National Science Foundation, this paper estimates the value of SSP in four distinct geographic regions, each differing in terms of their resource base for conventional renewable energy. Because deployment of SSP would be sometime in the future, we explicitly incorporate uncertainty in the model. We find the cost-effectiveness of SSP is highly sensitive to geographic region, to the reliability of SSP, and to the cost of carbon damages avoided by its use. The results offer guidance for decision makers in space, energy, and environment programs who must allocate scarce budgetary resources among competing public investment alternatives for clean energy.