Remote Sensing: A Tool for
Environmental Management
By Sarah Ravensberg | Jul 4, 2018 | Environment
Download PDF: ISPL Insight – Remote Sensing
The representation of spatial data on maps has become an increasingly
valuable instrument in environmental planning and management. Data analysis
techniques have evolved from descriptive to perspective maps that display
spatial relationships on a visual information platform that we all now refer to as
Geographical Information Systems (GIS).
Where GIS represents powerful toolsets that are used for transforming and
displaying real-world spatial data; remote sensing data retrieved by air and
space located sources provides much of this valuable data for mapping and
environmental management and planning.
Remote sensing is the science of obtaining information about the Earth using
high-flying aircraft and satellites. The data is collected by sensors attached to
the aircraft that detect the energy that is reflected from Earth.
Remote sensors fall into two classifications; passive and active. In response to
external stimuli, passive sensors record the natural energy emitted from the
Earth’s surface. Reflected sunlight is the most common source of detected
radiation. Active sensors differ in that they use internal stimuli to collect data. A
common example is the use of a laser-beam remote sensing system, where
data is collected by projecting a laser to the Earth’s surface and measuring the
time it takes for it to be reflected back to the sensor.
Source: ResearchGate “Applications of remote sensing and GIS for damage assessment”
Remote sensing has a wide range of applications for environmental planning
and management. Coastal applications, ocean applications, hazard
assessments and natural resource management are just a few of the broad
areas under which fall an array of analyses such as; monitoring shoreline
changes, measuring ocean temperatures, tracking the impacts of natural
disasters and charting wildlife habitats. These types of analyses all aid in the
effective planning and management of the land and water, and its resources.
A significant area of research that is currently taking place in the remote sensing
field is NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Mission. Earth observation
satellites are used to retrieve data every 2-3 days that measure soil moisture in
the top 5 cm of soil over the Earth’s surface. Maximizing our knowledge of the
Earth’s topsoil layer is vital due to its extensive use in agriculture and supporting
vegetation growth. Soil moisture also contributes to our understanding of the
water cycle and forecasting weather and natural disasters for environmental
management.
Traditionally there are two separate methods of deriving soil moisture data from
space. Active sensors such as Radarsat-2 (a commercial radar satellite), which
illuminates its target using an Ultra-Fine beam to detect and recognize objects
and measure backscatter (the reflection of particles or waves back to the
direction of the satellite). Whilst this method returns data at a high spatial
resolution, it has a low accuracy. Passive sensors like the SMOS (Soil Moisture
and Ocean Salinity) Mission satellite measure naturally emitted microwave
radiation to record observations of sea surface salinity and soil moisture. The
sensors retrieve soil moisture data from brightness temperature observations
that are evident due to the large dielectric contrast between water and dry soil,
where the soil emissivity ‘epsilon’ yields a particular microwave frequency
depending on the moisture content it detects.
Radarsat-2 Source: Canadian Space Agency
NASA’s SMAP Mission strives to achieve the benefits of both active and
passive sensors by using two instruments; a radar (active) and a radiometer
(passive), to determine soil moisture content. The data observed from SMAP’s
measurements will advance multiple disciplines of environmental management.
In monitoring soil moisture, the SMAP provides critical information on moisture
deficits for defining agricultural drought and monitoring its severity. These
measurements can aid planning and management authorities in developing and
implementing measures to reduce vulnerability to drought, with its predictions
that can promote risk management as opposed to crisis management. The
higher resolution of SMAP’s direct soil moisture measurements will also benefit
the management of flooding, by assessing the wetness of soil before a
rainstorm, as well as weather forecasting, by providing meteorologists with
measurements on the amount of water available to be evaporated from land
surfaces.
Another form of satellite data that is frequently used in environmental
management, is Landsat imagery. Landsat satellites have maintained a
continuous stream of data about the Earth since 1972, with Landsat 9 planned
for launch into orbit in December 2020. The Landsat project ‘… represents the
world’s longest continuously acquired collection of space-based moderate-
resolution land remote sensing data.’ The current Landsat 8 satellite carries two
sensors; the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor
(TIRS). Orbiting the Earth every 89.9 minutes, the satellite covers the entirety
of the surface every 16 days. The OLI sensor retrieves information in the form
of nine spectral bands from 15 to 30 meter resolutions, whilst the TIRS retrieves
Band 10 and Band 11 100 meter spectral bad data.
Landsat data uses range from managing and monitoring resources for both
environmental and economic quality as well as public health and national
security. Applications include the analysis and management of agriculture and
forests, water resources, infrastructure, natural disasters, land cover change
and climatic changes. The most common index used by analysts in the remote
sensing field is the NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index). NDVI
quantifies areas of vegetation by measuring the difference between Near-
Infrared (NIR – Band 4 OLI sensor data) and red light (R – Band 3 OLI sensor
data). NIR is strongly reflected by vegetation and red light is absorbed by
vegetation. When calculated, NDVI values can range from the possibility of no
vegetation (-1) to dense vegetation (+1). This data is heavily used in agriculture
for precision farming, and in forest management to quantify leaf area indices
and deforestation.
Source: GeoAwesomeness
The capabilities of remote sensing make it a valuable tool in providing decision-
makers with large-area maps of target features in a quick manner, and over
consistent time intervals. Environmental practitioners seeking to use remote
sensing techniques have the availability of extensive data, methods and tools
at their disposal. Understandably, this choice can seem overwhelming for
practitioners due to the number of publications advocating new techniques and
arguing ‘best’ approaches to utilizing remote sensing tools and capabilities. If
you or your organization would like to discuss the most effective use of remote
sensing to enhance your business capabilities, please contact Integrate
Sustainability on 08 9468 0338 or enquiries@[Link].
References
Droj, G 2012. ‘GIS and remote sensing in environmental management’, Journal
of environmental protection and ecology, vol. 2, no. 10.
ESA 2018, ‘SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) Mission’, Sharing Earth
Observation Resources, ESA, accessed 20 June 2018,
[Link]
NASA 2018. ‘SMAP: Soil Moisture Active Passive’, Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
California Institute of Technology, NASA, accessed 20 June 2018,
[Link]
NOAA 2018, ‘What is remote sensing?’, National Ocean Service, NOAA, U.S.
Department of Commerce, accessed 20 June 2018,
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