Image enhancement and

visualization
Multi-band operations

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Content
z Introduction
z Perception of colour and colour

spaces
z Colour composites
z Arithmetic Operations
z Ratios
z Normalized Difference Vegetation
Index (NDVI)
2

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Perception of Colour

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Visible Part of the EM Spectrum

Spectral colours correspond to wavelengths

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Tri-stimuli Model for Colour Vision

z Three kinds of cones
z Three layers on colour film
z Red-Green-Blue dots on TV-screen

(RGB)
z Yellow-Magenta-Cyan for printing
(YMC)
z Intensity-Hue-Saturation (IHS)
z Colour cube
5

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Sensitivity of Cones and Rods

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Additive and Subtractive

Colours

Screen
display
7

Christine Pohl

Printing
PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Additive Colour Model

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Colour Cube

10

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

11

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Colour Image Display

(Example)

12

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Comparison
Normal linear / Piecewise linear

13

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

RGB Colour Composites

(Virtually Hawaii 1999)

14

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

TM Colour
Composites

15

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Multispectral Image Acquisition

16

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Single Band Pseudo Colour

Display

17

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Common Band Combinations

for CCs
Landsat color composite images
Instrument

Bands

Colors

Type

MSS(1-3)

4, 5, 7

B, G, R

Std. false color

MSS (4-5)

1, 2, 4

B, G, R

Std. false color

TM (4-5)

1, 2, 3

B, G, R

Natural color

TM (4-5)

2, 3, 4

B, G, R

Std. false color

TM (4-5)

1, 2, 7

B, G, R

Special composite

TM (4-5)

2, 3, 5

B, G, R

Special composite

TM (4-5)

3, 7, 5

B, G, R

Special composite

TM (4-5)

4, 5, 7

B, G, R

Infrared composite

(http://academic.emporia.edu/aberjame/remote/landsat/landsat.htm)
18

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Colour Composites TM

Natural CC

False CC

(http://academic.emporia.edu/aberjame/remote/landsat/landsat.htm)
19

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Contrast Enhancement

Lake Van, Turkey

TM CC (127)

20

Christine Pohl

Lake Van, Turkey

Enhanced Image
(Land/Water Mask)
PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

10

Contrast Enhancement

TM FCC

Stretched to enhance Urban areas

21

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Contrast Enhancement

TM FCC

Stretched to enhance vegetated areas

22

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

11

Contrast Enhancement

TM FCC

Stretched to enhance water areas

23

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Fusion Through IHS Domain

24

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

12

Example Multiplication for

VIR/SAR Fusion

SPOT XS

SPOT PAN

ERSERS-1 SAR 1

ERSERS-1 SAR 2

XS HPF ERS1F PAN HPF

MUL

Original images
25

Christine Pohl

XS HPF ERS1F PAN HPF

MUL

Fused images
PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Background
z Arithmetic Operations
z Performed on 2 or more co-registered
images
z Images may be

+
26

Christine Pohl

Separate spectral bands of a single

multispectral image
Individual bands from images collected at
different dates (multitemporal)

/
PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

13

Addition

z Form of averaging
z Dynamic range of output image is

kept equal to that of the input images

z Rescaling needed (e.g. division by
number of images)
z Averaging can be carried out on
multiple images to reduce noise
component
z Useful for VIR/SAR image fusion
27

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Example - Addition for Fusion

VIR/SAR

SPOT PAN

ERSERS-1 SAR 1

SPOT XS

ERSERS-1 SAR 2

Original images
28

Christine Pohl

XS HPF ERS1F PAN HPF

SUM

XS HPF ERS2F PAN HPF

SUM

Fused images
PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

14

Subtraction

z Carried out on a pair of images taken

at different times
z Assessment of degree of changes
z Performed on a pixel-by-pixel basis
z Resulting range 255 to +255
Rescaling

necessary: e.g. add 255 and

divide by two (=> 0-255)
DNf = (255 + DN1 DN2)/2

29

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Subtraction

z If only magnitude is important and not direction of

change then absolute value can be used:

DNf = | DN1 DN2 |

z Difference image tends to have histogram with

peak at 127.
Frequency

No change

Change

0
30

Christine Pohl

Change

100

127

150

(Mather, 1999)

255

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

15

Division or Ratioing

z Most widely used in RS applications:

z Geological
z Ecological
z Agricultural
z Ratios detect magnitude of

differences between spectral bands

z Valid for certain land cover type (e.g.
vegetation)
z Useful for image fusion
31

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Definitions
z Ratioing

The process of dividing the pixels in

one image by the corresponding
pixels in a second image.
z One of the most commonly used
transformation applied to remotely
sensed images.

32

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

16

Application of Ratios
z Certain aspects of the shape of

spectral reflectance curves of

different Earth surface cover types
can be brought out by ratioing.
z Undesirable effects on recorded
radiances (e.g. variable illumination)
caused by variations in topography.

33

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Use of Ratios
z Ratios discriminate subtle spectral

variances
z Ratios clearly portray the variations of
slopes of spectral reflectance curves
between two bands involved
z Ratios are independent of the absolute
pixel values
z Ratios can be used to generate false
colour composites by combining three
monochromatic ratio data sets

34

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

17

Interpretation of Ratio
Images
z Ratios are intensity blind
z Dissimilar materials with different absolute
radiance but having similar slopes of their spectral
reflectance curves may appear identical
z Happens if materials have similar image texture
z Solution
z Hybrid Colour Ratio Composite

35

Display two ratio images in two primary colours

Display on individual band in third primary colour

Restores a portion of lost absolute radiance

infomration

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Ratios for Elimination of

Topographic Effect
z Assumption: A &

B same cover
type
z Radiance at B is
only 50% of
radiance at A
z

Point A is located
on slope facing the
Sun

Radiance A
NIR: 160
Red: 60
Ratio: 2.666
Radiance B
NIR: 75
Red: 28
Ratio: 2.678

z Ratio nearly
Christine Pohl

(Mather, 1999)

identical
36

Sun

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

18

Spectral Information of a Leaf

z Individual leaf
z VIS (chlorophyll) - absorptance
z NIR (cell walls - air transitions) - reflectance
z MIR (water) - absorptance

37

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Discrimination between
Vegetation and Water using Ratio
SPOT
Band 3

SPOT
Band 2

Barley

z Band 2 = Red band

z Band 3 = NIR band
z Spectral reflectance

Digital Counts

between the two

bands
z

Water

z Ratio NIR/Red
z

Wavelength

Vegetation increases
substantial
Water declines

Vegetation: > 1
Water: < 1
(Mather, 1999)

38

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

19

Vegetation Index
z Ratio of NIR and Red band of an image set
is used as vegetation index (related to
biomass and green leaf area index - LAI)
z Vigorous vegetation
z
z

reflects strongly in NIR band

Absorbs radiation in visible Red band

z Ratio NIR/Red:
z Close to 1 if object reflects similarly in both bands
(e.g. clouds)
z >1 if NIR reflectance higher than reflectance in Red
band (e.g. vigorous vegetation)
Leaf Area Index (LAI) is the ratio of green leaf area per unit soil
soil area.
39

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Vegetation Indices
z Based on model of distribution of

data values on 2 or more spectral

bands
z Visualization of
z
z
z

Biomass (amount of vegetative matter)

Green leaf area index (LAI)
State of health of plants

LAI important to quantify biological and physical processes.

(productivity, plant respiration, transpiration, photosynthesis, nutrient cycles)
40

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

20

NDVI
monitors vegetation conditions

z Normalized Difference Vegetation Index

Ranges from 1 to +1
Postive values correspond to
vegetated surfaces
Negative values are generally
water, clouds or bare soil

z Indicator of vegetation health & productivity

41

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Interpretation of Vegetation
Indices
z Healthy vegetation = high index
z Stressed vegetation = lower index

Source: NOAA AVHRR Images

42

Christine Pohl

(RS Core Curriculum)

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

21

NDVI vs NIR/Red
z Ratio value is not affected by

absolute pixel values

z NDVI used to study global vegetation
z

E.g. NOAA AVHRR (bands 1 & 2)

z Simple ratios are affected by external

factors
z

z
z
43

Atmosphere (path radiance, scattering,

skylight)
Illumination
Viewing angle (off-nadir, wide field of view)

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Problems
z Ratios enhance noise patterns
z Ratios only compensate for

multiplicative illumination effects

z

Atmospheric haze is an additive factor and

will not be compensated by ratios

z Ratios less than 1 are common;

rounding to integer values will

compress much of the ratio data into
gray level 0 or 1
Scaling

44

Christine Pohl

of the data is very important!

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

22

References
z Paul M. Mather (1999): Computer Processing of Remotely-

Sensed Images, An Introduction, New York: Wiley, ISBN 0-47198550-3

z M.D. Steven (1998): The sensitivity of the OSAVI vegetation
index to observational parameters, Remote Sensing of the
Environment, Vol. 63, pp. 49-60
z Lillesand, T.M. and Kiefer, R.W., Remote Sensing and Image
Interpretation, 3rd Ed., 1994, J. Wiley & Sons, 720 pp.
z RS Core Curriculum:
http://www.cla.sc.edu/geog/rslab/rsccnew/mod8/exercises/TSA.HTM

45

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Further Reading
z RSD65, ITC lecture note by Wan Bakx, 1995
z Richards, J.A., Remote sensing digital image analysis: an introduction,

z
z
z

46

2nd revised and enlarged edition, Berlin etc. - Springer Verlag, 1993,
ISBN 3-540-54840-8.
Lillesand, T.M. and Kiefer, R.W., Remote Sensing and Image
Interpretation, 3rd Ed., 1993, J. Wiley & Sons, 720 pp.
Muller, J.-P. (Ed.), Digital Image Processing in Remote Sensing, London
etc., Taylor & Francis, 1988, ISBN 0-85066-314-8, 275 pp.
Jhne, B., Digital image processing: Concepts, algorithms, and scientific
applications, 2nd edition, Berlin etc., Springer Verlag, 1993, ISBN 3-54056941-3, 390 pp.
Mather, P.M., Computer Processing of Remotely-Sensed Images: an
Introduction, Wiley: New York 1999, ISBN 0-471-98550-3

Christine Pohl

PoRS - PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

23