Remote sensing and the environment
Remote Sensing is the process of detecting and monitoring the physical characteristics of an area by measuring its reflected and emitted radiation at a distance (typically from satellite or aircraft). Special cameras collect remotely sensed images, which help researchers “sense” things about the Earth.
The use of remote sensing (RS) makes it possible to provide reliable information on environmental conditions, properties of the spatial structure of natural-territorial complexes, their dynamics and helps in accumulation of data for the development of the system natural resources monitoring.
By utilizing GIS modeling tools, potential impacts can be predicted and included in the management and monitoring programs. GIS and remote sensing could be used in environmental monitoring for Land use / Land cover analysis, wetland assessment and ground water modeling, habitat mapping, disaster management etc.
Remote Sensing replaces slower, costly data collection on the ground, providing fast and repetitive coverage of extremely large areas for everyday applications, ranging from weather forecasts to reports on natural disasters or climate change.
HOW IS REMOTE SENSING USED IN THE ENVIRONMENT?
The applications of remote sensing include land-use mapping, weather forecasting, environmental study, natural hazards study, and resource exploration.
- The information derived from remote sensing can be directly related to measuring important socio-economic impacts. Rates of land cover change and drought, for example, will strongly influence vegetation yield, which substantially impact upon human health and well-being.
- It helps to create information base on land use, land cover distribution, urban change detection, monitoring urban growth and urban environmental impact assessment. Satellite images enable us to better understand some of the intrinsic components of urban ecosystems and the interactions within whole urban environment.
- Most of the information used by soil scientists to map soil seriesis obtained by direct observation in the field. It is essential that subsurface soil profiles be examined and careful biological, chemical, and physical measurements be obtained within each soil horizon.
Larger areas can be sensed remotely in a very easy way and the whole data can be easily processed and analysed fast by using the computer and that data is utilised for various purposes. Data Collection is really very easy over a variety of scales and solutions.
