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Fundamentals of Remote Sensing

2.2 Whiz Quiz - Answers

Answer 1: Sensors on board satellites generally can "see" a much larger area of the Earth's surface than would be possible from a sensor onboard an aircraft. Also, because they are continually orbiting the Earth, it is relatively easy to collect imagery on a systematic and repetitive basis in order to monitor changes over time. The geometry of orbiting satellites with respect to the Earth can be calculated quite accurately and facilitates correction of remote sensing images to their proper geographic orientation and position. However, aircraft sensors can collect data at any time and over any portion of the Earth's surface (as long as conditions allow it) while satellite sensors are restricted to collecting data over only those areas and during specific times dictated by their particular orbits. It is also much more difficult to fix a sensor in space if a problem or malfunction develops!
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Answer 2: An early morning crossing time would have the sun at a very low angle in the sky and would be good for emphasizing topographic effects but would result in a lot of shadow in areas of high relief. A crossing time around noon would have the sun at its highest point in the sky and would provide the maximum and most uniform illumination conditions. This would be useful for surfaces of low reflectance but might cause saturation of the sensor over high reflectance surfaces, such as ice. Also, under such illumination,'specular reflection' from smooth surfaces may be a problem for interpreters. Inthe mid afternoon, the illumination conditions would be more moderate. However, a phenomenon called solar heating (due to the sun heating the surface), which causes difficulties for recording reflected energy, will be near maximum at this time of day. In order to minimize between these effects, most satellites which image in the visible, reflected, and emitted infrared regions use crossing times around mid-morning as a compromise.
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