Earth Observations

1
Earth Observations their need and availability
Part 2
Charles Galdies, PhD International Ocean
Institute Headquarters, Malta ioihq_at_ioihq.org.mt
2
Metocean / coastal remotely-sensed data sources,
acquisition, formatting
Acquisition of remotely sensed data depends on
the project /mission objectives and is not
always easy
Wide ranging choice of pre-processing options
Budget
Amount of time and expertise available for image
processing
Remotely sensed data are acquired through
reference to an image archive or by planning a
new remote sensing campaign.
3
There are three RS data sources
Satellite data made available through databases
(1972 onwards starting with LANDSAT MSS)
Digital airborne data recorded for specific
projects with restricted coverage
4
Digital Airbrone RS data
Cost
Aerial photography
Satellite RS data
Customisation (spatio-temporal and spectral
versatility)
5
Image archives are the most common means of
acquiring data and is quite adequate for coastal
and ocean management. Dependency on an image
archive has several drawbacks
Data may not be recorded for a given
area-of-interest - Image gaps are common for
isolated oceanic areas than for coastal shelves,
and
Chances of obtaining an image for a desired
period may be slim (adverse weather cloud cover)
6
Examples of RS satellite Imagery useful for
coastal and ocean applications

• AVHRR SENSOR ON NOAA 9-18

Coastal/Ocean applications Sea surface
temperature ocean colour Platform NOAA
POES Sensor Advanced Very High Resolution
Radiometer Operation 1984-present Spatial
resolution 1.1km temporal resolution 12
hours Wavebands Band 1 580-680nm Band 2
725-1100nm Band 3 3550-3930nm Band 4
10.3-11.3um Band 5 11.4-12.4um
Solar Backscattered Ultraviolet system/Version 2
7
AVHRR SENSOR ON NOAA 9-18 contd
Image dimensions 2399km Products available
Photographic and digital images Cost per image
Free from own receiving station media costs and
postage free download by ftp. Source
http//www.class.noaa.gov The Comprehensive Large
Array-data Stewardship System (CLASS) an
electronic library of NOAA environmental data.
This web site provides capabilities for finding
and obtaining those data. NB As of October 6,
2006 CLASS will no longer receive NOAA-12 and
NOAA-14 satellite data, due to an upcoming
hardware change at the data provider's facility.
8
HIRS/3 and HIRS/4
Weather/oceanic prediction applications Atmospheri
c temperature and humidity profiles in cloud
free Platform NOAA POES Sensor High Resolution
Infrared Sounder Operation 1978- onwards Spatial
resolution (HIRS/4) 10km _at_ nadir
The MHS (microwave humidity sounder) is a new
instrument for the NOAA N (latest) series of
satellites. It is a five-channel microwave
instrument intended primarily to measure profiles
of atmospheric humidity and ppt rate.
NOAA M 14
NOAA N 15
3 minutes
14 minutes
9
MODIS Sensor
Coastal/Ocean applications Ocean colour,
SST Platform AQUA and TERRA spacecraft Sensor
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Oper
ation 1998-present Spatial resolutions 250m,
500m and 1km Temporal resolution synoptic,
daily Features 36 spectral bands between 0.405
14.385um Spectral band for resolving solar
stimulated Chlorophyll fluorescence, and a SW in
4u region for SST MODIS AM-1 (Summer 1998) MODIS
PM-1 (December 2000) All contribute to a
synoptic global ocean colour observations.
10

• MODIS builds upon the CZCS and SeaWiFS heritage
• Uses onboard multiple calibrators to ensure
  sensor calibration and stability
• The coverage frequency of the ocean using
  combined data from the AM and PM sensors is
  sufficient to observe important synoptic ocean
  fluctuations
• Ocean colour bands are very similar to SeaWiFS
  bands, but narrower to
• enhance the atmospheric correction (e.g. ocean
  band _at_ 748nm avoids the nearby atmospheric oxygen
  absorption feature)
• Level 2 ocean colour products are available in
  1000km along track swaths in several gridded
  temporal and spatial resolution. For level 3, the
  gridded product is an equal area sinusoidal grid
  available at 9 and 4km spatial resolutions.

11
MODIS Products
Atmosphere MOD 04 - Aerosol Product
(Monitors the ambient aerosol optical thickness
over the oceans globally and over a portion of
the continents. The aerosol size distribution is
derived over the oceans, and the aerosol type is
derived over the continents. Daily Level 2 (MOD
04) data are produced at the spatial resolution
of a 10 x 10 1-km (at nadir)- pixel array.)
MOD 05 - Total Precipitable Water (Water Vapor)
MOD 06 - Cloud Product MOD 07 -
Atmospheric Profiles (total-ozone burden,
atmospheric stability, temperature and moisture
profiles, and atmospheric water vapor 1-km pixel
resolution when at least 9 FOVs are cloud free.)
MOD 08 - Gridded Atmospheric Products
MOD 35 - Cloud Mask Land MOD 09 - Surface
Reflectance MOD 11 - Land Surface
Temperature Emissivity MOD 12 - Land
Cover/Land Cover Change MOD 13 - Gridded
Vegetation Indices (Max NDVI Integrated MVI)
MOD 14 - Thermal Anomalies, Fires Biomass
Burning MOD 15 - Leaf Area Index FPAR
MOD 16 - Evapotranspiration MOD 17 - Net
Photosynthesis and Primary Productivity MOD
43 - Surface Reflectance MOD 44 -
Vegetation Cover Conversion
12
MODIS Products (contd)
Ocean MOD 18 - Normalized Water-leaving
Radiance MOD 19 - Pigment Concentration
MOD 20 - Chlorophyll Fluorescence MOD 21
- Chlorophyll_a Pigment Concentration (This is a
Level 2 and 3 product for Case 1 and Case 2
waters at 1-km resolution. It is produced daily
at Level 2 and daily, 8-day weekly, monthly, and
yearly at Level 3. Absorption parameters
generated by the algorithm are also provided as
the intermediate product MOD 36,) MOD 22 -
Photosynthetically Available Radiation (PAR)
MOD 23 - Suspended-Solids Concentration
MOD 24 - Organic Matter Concentration MOD
25 - Coccolith Concentration MOD 26 - Ocean
Water Attenuation Coefficient MOD 27 -
Ocean Primary Productivity (This Level 4 product
provides an estimate of the Ocean Primary
Productivity on an 8-day and an annual basis at
spatial resolutions of 4.6 km and 36 km.)
MOD 28 - Sea Surface Temperature (Level 2 and 3
products at 1-km (Level 2) and 4.6 km, 36 km,
(Level 3) resolutions over the global oceans.
Level 2 product is global, daily every 24
hours.) MOD 36 - Total Absorption
Coefficient MOD 37 - Ocean Aerosol
Properties MOD 39 - Clear Water Epsilon
13
ENVISAT (Coastal and ocean related)
ASAR An Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar,
operating at C-band, ASAR ensures continuity with
the image mode (SAR) and the wave mode of the
ERS-1/2 AMI. It features enhanced capability in
terms of coverage, range of incidence angles,
polarisation, and modes of operation.
Status Operational Type Imaging microwave
radars Features Radiometric resolution in range
1.5-3.5 dB Spatial Resolution approx 30m x 30m.
Wide Swath mode approx 150m x 150m. Global
Monitoring mode approx 1000m x
1000m. Applications Ocean and Coast (Ocean
Currents and Topography)
14
MERIS is a programmable, medium-spectral
resolution imaging spectrometer operating in the
solar reflective spectral range. Fifteen spectral
bands can be selected by ground command, each of
which has a programmable width and a programmable
location in the 390 nm to 1040 nm spectral
range.
Status Operational Type Imaging multi-spectral
radiometers (vis/IR) Spatial Resolution Ocean
1040m x 1200 m, Land coast 260m x 300m Swath
Width 1150km, global coverage every 3
days Waveband VIS-NIR 15 bands selectable
across range 0.4-1.05um (bandwidth programmable
between 0.0025 and 0.03um) Applications Ocean
and Coast (Ocean Colour/Biology) Atmosphere
(Clouds, and Precipitation)
15
AATSR The prime scientific objective of the
Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer is to
establish continuity of the ATSR-1 and ATSR-2
data sets of precise sea surface temperature
(SST), thereby ensuring the production of a
unique 10 year near-continuous data set at the
levels of accuracy required (0.3 K or better) for
climate research and for the community of
operational scientific users
Status Operational Type Imaging multi-spectral
radiometers (vis/IR) Multiple
direction/polarisation radiometers Accuracy Sea
surface temperature lt0.5K Land surface
temperature 0.1K (relative) Spatial Resolution
IR ocean channels 1km x 1km, Visible land
channels 1km x 1km Swath Width 500 km Waveband
VIS - NIR 0.555, 0.659, 0.865um, SWIR 1.6um,
MWIR 3.7um, TIR 10.85, 12um Applications Ocean
and Coast (Sea Surface Temperature) Atmosphere
(Atmospheric chemistry(Trace Gases),Clouds)
16
RA-2 Radar Altimeter 2 is an instrument for
determining the two-way delay of the radar echo
from the Earth's surface to a very high
precision less than a nanosecond. It also
measures the power and the shape of the reflected
radar pulses.
Status Operational Type Radar altimeter Accuracy
Altitude better than 4.5cm Spatial Resolution
Swath Width Waveband Microwave 13.575Ghz
(Ku-Band) 3.2GHz (S-Band) Applications Snow
and Ice (Sea Ice,Snow and Ice) Land (Landscape
Topography) Ocean and Coast (Ocean Waves)
17

• MWR The main objective of the microwave
  radiometer is the measurement of the integrated
  atmospheric water vapour column and cloud liquid
  water content, as correction terms for the radar
  altimeter signal.
• MWR measurement data are also useful for the
  determination of
• soil moisture over land,
• surface energy budget investigations to support
  atmospheric studies, and for ice characterization.

18
AQUA Satellite (EOS)
A NASA Earth Science satellite mission to
understand the Earth's water cycle, including
evaporation from the oceans, water vapor in
the atmosphere, clouds, precipitation, soil
moisture, ice and snow cover. Additional
variables also being measured by Aqua include
radiative energy fluxes, aerosols, vegetation
cover on the land, phytoplankton and dissolved
organic matter in the oceans, and air, land, and
water temperatures. The Aqua mission is a part
of the NASA- International Earth Observing System
(EOS). It was launched on May 4, 2002, and has
six Earth-observing instruments on board,
collecting a variety of global data sets.
19
AMSR-E Passive microwave radiometer, twelve
channels, six frequencies. Measures precipitation
rate, cloud water, water vapor, sea surface
winds, sea surface temperature, ice, snow, and
soil moisture. All-weather measurements of
geophysical parameters supporting several global
change science and monitoring efforts. Accuracy
 1 K or better Swath  1445 km Spatial Resolution
 6 x 4 km (89.0 GHz), 14 x 8 km (36.5 GHz), 32 x
18 km (23.8 GHz), 27 x 16 km (18.7 GHz), 51 x 29
km (10.65 GHz), 75 x 43 km (6.925 GHz)
CERES The Cloud's and the Earth's Radiant Energy
System is a 3-channel radiometer measuring
reflected solar radiation in the 0.3-5 µm
wavelength band, emitted terrestrial radiation in
the 8-12 µm band, and total radiation from 0.3 µm
to beyond 100 µm. These data are being used to
measure the Earth's total thermal radiation
budget, and, in combination with MODIS data,
detailed information about clouds. The first
CERES instrument was launched on the Tropical
Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite in
November 1997. Spatial Resolution  20 km at
nadir.
AIRS The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder is an
advanced sounder containing 2378 infrared
channels and four visible/near-infrared channels,
aimed at obtaining highly accurate temperature
profiles within the atmosphere plus a variety of
additional Earth/atmosphere products. Swath
 1650 km Spatial Resolution  13.5 km at
horizontal at nadir, 1 km vertical
20
TERRA Satellite (EOS)
Launched on December 18, 1999, the EOS
"flagship"EOS Terra began collecting a new
18-year global data set on which to base future
scientific investigations . TERRA carries a
payload of five sensors that will study the
interactions among the Earth's atmosphere, lands,
oceans, and radiant energy (heat and light).
EOS Terra orbits the Earth from pole to pole
descending across the equator in the morning when
cloud cover is minimal and its view of the
surface is least obstructed.
21
The sensors on EOS Terra will work much like a
camera. The five Terra onboard sensors are
ASTER, or Advanced Spaceborne Thermal
Emission and Reflection Radiometer CERES,
or Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System
MISR, or Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer
MODIS, or Moderate-resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer MOPITT, or
Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere.
Both TERRA and AQUA merge together all the data
captured by the Sensors onboard to produce value
added products.
22
SST TERRA/AQUA provide oceanographers with the
radiometric resolution and precision, the
scientific calibration, the spatial coverage, and
the ability to remove atmospheric effects (such
as clouds and aerosols) that will enable
measurements of sea surface temperature accurate
to within 0.5oC. These data will enable a better
understanding of ocean-atmosphere coupling.
Phytoplankton provides comprehensive
measurements of biomass as well as dissolved
organic matter in the upper ocean. These
measurements of the "standing stock" of the base
of the marine food web are critical to
understanding the interactions between ocean
circulation and productivity.
Terra provides for the first time the ability to
measure "fluorescence," or energy emitted by
phytoplankton during photosynthesis. Fluorescence
measurements relate to estimates of the rates of
marine productivity. This combination will
significantly improve our understanding of the
ocean and climate.
23
QuickSCAT An Earth-orbiting NASA scatterometer
(a microwave radar) measures wind velocity (both
speed and direction) over the ocean. These data
will complement Terra by providing essential
information on processes that drive ocean
circulation. Winds affect the degree of ocean
mixing as well as providing the momentum to drive
ocean currents. QuikSCAT provides
high-resolution maps of wind velocity to study
specific processes such as coastal upwelling, as
well as global-scale maps of winds to examine
large-scale processes such as El Nino.
24
Indian Remote Sensing Satellite

• Main purpose commercial imaging industry.
• Total of 8 satellites targeted for
• Integrated Mission for Sustainable development
• National Level Crop Acreage and Production
• Wasteland inventory
• Zoning and forestry landslides
• The launch of the Indias first civilian remote
  sensing satellite IRS-1A was launched in March
  1988 .
• Subsequently, IRS-1B having similar sensors was
  launched in August 1991, and provided better
  repetitivity.

25
The PAN and WiFS sensors on IRS-1C (December
1995) IRS-1D (September 1997) provided
increased coverage for resources survey and
management, urban planning, forest studies and
disaster monitoring and environmental studies.
26

• IRS-P3 carried the X-ray astronomy payload for
  space science studies, besides WiFS and MOS
  sensors.
• IRS-P4, is dedicated to ocean applications was
  launched in May 1999.
• Ocean colour monitor (OCM) in 8-spectral bands
• Multi-frequency Scanning Microwave Radiometer
  (MSMR)
• IRS-P6 focuses on agricultural applications with
  its sensors.
• IRS-P5, with its high-resolution 2.5 m PAN is the
  satellite used for cartographic applications.
• Launched into polar orbit on May 5, 2005. It has
  has two panchromatic cameras that can be used for
  in flight stereo viewing or wide swath mode
  acquisitions (54 km swath).

27
IRS Timetable 00-09
28
LANDSAT satellites

• Satellite programe, based in the US, since 1965,
  with a first launch in 1972.
• Only two operational satellites remain 5 and 7
• Landsat 7 (Apr , 1999) transmits 532 images/day
• Panchromatic band with 15m resolution
• TIR channel with 60m spatial resolution
• Sun-synchronous 15-day period
• Some distortion due to failed Scan line
  Corrector, and gaps are filled with historic data.

29
SPOT satellite

• Satellite Earth Observation System European
  based system
• (FRANCE-SWEDEN-BELGIUM).
• Sun-synchronous
• Total of 5 SPOT satellites have been launched, of
  which only 3 are
• Operational
• SPOT 2 1 pan (10m) 3 MULTI-SPECT (20M)
  green/red/NIR
• SPOT 4 1 pan (10m) 3 MULTI-SPECT (20M) 1
  SHORTWAVE INFRARED (20M)
• Green/red/NIR/SWIR
• SPOT 5 2 pan (5m) combined to generate 2.5m 3
  multi-spectral
• (10m) 1 shortwave infrared (20m)
  green/red/NIR/SWIR
• All programmable

30
Other satellites/data sources
ORBVIEW http//www.geoeye.com/. IKONOS http/
/www.geoeye.com/ QuickBird http//www.satimaging
corp.com/gallery-quickbird.html RADARSAT http//
www.radarsat2.info/ ERS http//earth.esa.int/er
s/
31
Typical Price list
5 m resolution single band 70x70km IRS-P6 4700
Euros IRS-1C/1D 4150 Euros Level-1G8
Band, Landsat 7 60x60km Scene 600USD

Ortho 850USD Landsat 5 Ortho
700USD (new and archive bands) SPOT 20m
colour 10m BW 60x60km 2440 Euros
54x54km 2440 Euros 27x27km 1190
Euros 13x13km 640 Euros
2.5m colour 60x60km 9180
Euros 54x54km 9180 Euros
27x27km 4300 Euros 13x13km 2370 Euros
32
ACCESSING DOWNLOADING MODIS DATA
http//modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/
33
List of parameters
34
Definition of parameters
35
(No Transcript)
36
Image scaling 8-bit unsigned integer, 4320 x
8640 Scaling logarithmic
Scaling Equation Base((Slopel3m_data)
Intercept) Parameter value Base 10.0
Slope 0.01524 Intercept -2.0
Chlorophyll a concentration (mg/m3)
37
The Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship
System (CLASS) is an electronic library of NOAA
environmental data. This web site provides
capabilities for finding and obtaining those
data. CLASS is NOAA's main on-line facility for
the distribution of NOAA, such as Polar-orbiting
Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) data,
NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental
Satellite (GOES) data, and derived data.
38
QSCAT Data
12L Katrina
Geophysical Data Products (0.25x0.25deg
resolution) Surface Wind Speed wind speed 10 m
above sea level, derived from surface roughness
(wind stress) Surface Wind Direction the angle
of air movement Rain Information
Scatterometer data is less accurate in rain. Data
products include a scatterometer derived rain
flag, and collocated radiometer columnar rain
rates space
39
TERRA and QuikSCAT (together with other Earth
observing satellites such as SeaWiFS, TRMM, and
Landsat-7 provide oceanographers with
unprecedented data for scientific studies of the
air-sea couplings and their effects on the marine
biosphere. With these data, scientists can
refine their models of the ocean's physical,
biological, and chemical influences on global
climatic and environmental change.