Remote sensing and Hydrology

Remote sensing:
-Measuring environmental variables without
any direct contact with a target
-Measuring strength of electromagnetic
radiation
-Extraction of valuable information from the
remote sensing data uses mathematically
and statistically based algorithms.

• Understand EM radiative transfer

•Understand sensor characteristics

resolution, orbit, etc.
Electromagnetic energy:
EM wave travel through vacuum at speed of light (c = 3 x 108
m/s). There are two field – electric field and magnetic field –
intersect at right angle. Both vectors are perpendicular to the
direction of wave (wave model)
Wavelength and frequency:

Frequency c
ν 
λ

Where c = speed of light

(3.0 x 108 m/s)
λ = wavelength

Longer wavelength has higher frequency

Electromagnetic spectrum:
The Sun, earth or any objects emit a continuous spectrum
of energy from gamma rays to radio waves.

Satellite sensors measure EM radiation from visible through

microwave range
Strength of energy emitted
depends on physical body
temperature (-> blackbody
radiation curve).

• Stefan-Boltzmann law
-> Determine total energy, f(T)

• Wein’s displacement law

-> Determine dominant λ
Measure of EM radiation
Radiant flux (Φλ) : energy per unit time, unit = [W]
Radiant flux density (Φλ/A) : unit = [W/m2]
Irradiance: incident radiant flux upon a unit area
Exitance: radiant flux leaving from a unit area
Radiance (Lλ) : Irradiance from a certain direction (θ), unit = [W/m2/sr]
Radiation budget equation
the total amount of incident radiant flux in specific wavelengths
incident (Φi) must be sum of radiant flux reflected from the
surface (Φreflected), the amount of radiant flux absorbed by the
surface (Φabsorbed), and the amount of radiant flux transmitted
through the surface (Φtransmitted):

Φi  Φreflected  Φabsorbed  Φtransmitted

incident
reflection

absorption

transmission
Hemispherical Reflectance, Absorptance, and Transmittance
Divide both side of radiation budget equation by incident radiance

1  ρreflected  ρabsorbed  ρtransmitted

Φabsorbed
Absorptance (emissivity) ρabsorbed 
Φi
Absorptance = emissivity (Kirchhoffs law)
Φtransmitte d
Transmittance ρtransmitte d 
Φi

Φreflected
Reflectance ρreflected 
Φi

Reflectance is often used for remote sensing analysis

All depend on wavelength and materials
Reflectance
Scattering
Redirection of EM radiation by hitting small particles
(typically in the atmosphere)
Three types of scattering:
Function of particle size (gas molecule,
water vapor) relative to wavelength For atmosphere

Rayleigh scattering
Particle size is smaller than wavelength
Scattering amount proportional to λ-4

Mie scattering
Particle size roughly equal to wavelength
Scattering amount proportional to λ-1

Nonselective scattering
Particle size is ~10 times larger than λ
Scattering amount not function of λ
Remote sensing sensor
Active vs. Passive

Active
• EM Energy is emitted by a sensor toward target
• Measure energy reflected by a target
e.g. radar

Passive
• Measure EM energy emitted by earth or sun
e.g. satellite sensors
Some terminology
Instantaneous field of view (IFOV):
The solid angle over which a measurement is made at any
instance. Given the sensor altitude and IFOV, spatial resolutions
(linear distance) is determined

Swath width
Width of the strip that can be scanned by the sensor.

Nadir
Point on the earth just underneath the sensor

A= IFOV
B= pixel size nadir

C= altitude

swath

Source: http://ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca/
 Satellite orbit
Polar orbit vs. Equatorial orbit
A polar orbit is 90 degree angle of inclination to the equator
(passing north and south poles), whereas an equatorial orbit is
zero degree angle of inclination to equator.
Sun-synchronous (polar orbit)
A special case of polar orbit. Platform pass the same location at
the (roughly) same local time.
Geostationary orbit (equatorial orbit)
A special case of equatorial orbit. Satellite rotate at the same
speed of earth rotation. A satellite appears to be still at the sky all
the time. A satellite altitude is very high (35850 km)

More info -> http://www.rap.ucar.edu/~djohnson/satellite/coverage.html

Polar orbit satellite

One rotation
Rotations per day

Advantage is daily global coverage

There are ascending path and descending path
Geostationary

Top view Side view

Need several satellites to cover the entire earth

Geostationary vs. Polar Orbit

G P
Altitude High Low
Speed Slow fast
IFOV Small large
Sensor resolution

Spatial – the size of field of view (pixel size)

Spectral – range of EM spectrum each band of sensor detects
Temporal – frequency of measurements at a certain location
Radiometric – sensitivity of a sensor to difference in EM energy strength
(recording resolution of sensor)

Radiometric: a sensor records EM energy as brightness value (integer)

Conversion from binary to decimal for 2-bit
2-bit 0 3 00 = 0x21 +0x20 = 0
01 = 0x21 +1x20 = 1
10 = 1x21 +0x20 = 2
11 = 1x21 +1x20 = 3

8-bit 0 255

9-bit 0 511
Sensor resolution

radiometric
Brightness value
spatial range Ass ociated
spatial Columns ( j) (typically 8 bit) gray-scale
1 2 3 4 5
Lines or 1 255 white
rows (i) 1 10 15 17 20 21
2
15 16 18 21 23 2
3 Bands (k )
17 18 20 22 22
4 3 spectral 127 gray
18 20 22 24 25

0 black

X axis Picture element (pixel) at location

Line 4, Column 4, in Band 1 has a
Brightness Value of 24, i.e., BV 4,4,1 = 24 .
Remote sensing – sensor (visible-thermal)

Landsat TM (Thematic Mapper )

Band No. Wavelength range (μm) Ground IFOV (m)

1 0.45–0.53 (visible-blue) 30
2 0.52–0.60 (visible-green) 30
3 0.63–0.69 (visible-red) 30
4 0.76–0.90 (Near infrared) 30
5 1.55–1.75 (Near infrared) 30
6 10.40–12.50 (Thermal) 120
7 2.08–2.35 (Mid infrared) 30

Platform = Landsat 4, 5 (sun-synchronous orbit)

Swath width = 185 km
16 day repeat cycle

More info -> http://landsat.usgs.gov/index.php

Remote sensing - sensor (visible-thermal)
Landsat ETM+ (Enhanced Thematic Mapper )

Band No. Wavelength range (μm) Ground IFOV (m)

1 0.45–0.515 (visible-blue) 30
2 0.525–0.605 (visible-green) 30
3 0.63–0.69 (visible-red) 30
4 0.75–0.90 (Near Infrared) 30
5 1.55–1.75 (Near Infrared) 30
6 10.40–12.50 (Thermal) 60
7 2.09–2.35 (Mid Infrared) 30
8 0.52–0.90 (panchromatic) 15

Platform = Landsat 7 (sun-synchronous orbit)

Swath width = 185 km
16 day repeat cycle

More info -> http://landsat.usgs.gov/index.php

Remote sensing - sensor (visible-thermal)
AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer)

Band No. Wavelength range (μm) Ground IFOV (km)

1 0.58–0.68 1.09
2 0.725–1.00 1.09
3A 1.58–1.64 1.09
3B 3.55–3.93 1.09
4 10.30–11.30 1.09
5 11.50–12.50 1.09

Platform = NOAA Polar orbiting Environment satellite

Swath width = 2400 km
Long history since 1979
Daily global coverage (morning and afternoon acquisition)

More info -> http://edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/1KM/avhrr_sensor.html

 Remote sensing - sensor (visible-thermal)
MODIS (Moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer)
There are 36 bands (0.4 - 14.385 μm) visible to thermal

Bands used for land surface

Band No. Wavelength range (μm) Ground IFOV (m)
1 0.620–0.670 250
2 0.841–0.876 250
3 0.459–0.479 500
4 0.545–0.565 500
5 1.230–1.250 500
6 1.628–1.652 500
7 2.105–2.155 500

Platform = EOS Terra and Aqua (Sun-synchronous orbit)

Terra (morning equator-crossing) and Aqua (morning equator-crossing)
Swath width = 2330 km

More info -> http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/specifications.php

Remote sensing – sensor (passive microwave)
Can measure precipitation, soil moisture, snowpack volume
(SWE, depth), Sea Surface temperature (SST)

Not affected by cloud (visible sensor is affected by cloud)

Coarse spatial resolution

 Polarization
Electric field component (or magnetic field) of EM energy
can vibrate in any directions perpendicular to the direction
of travel. This vibration direction can also evolve with time

vertical horizontal
Fixed vibration plane Rotating Vibration plane
Viewed along the travel direction
Brightness temperature (Tb)

Tb value is usually given for passive mircowave data.

Terrestrial matters are not perfect blackbody (graybody).

Total energy emitted by graybody = blackbody radiation (given by

plank law) times emissivity (0<ε<1)

Tb is given using emissivity (Tb = ε*T where T: actual physical

temperature [K])

Emissivity is function of polarization, frequency, and materials

Rayleigh-Jeans approximation

Plank’s law
2hc 2
E λ T  
1
λ5 expx   1
x  hc kλT

Rayleigh-Jeans approximation -> exp(x) ~ 1+x for longer λ

2c  k  T
E λ T  
λ4

Radiation of graybody is given by

2c  k  T 2c  k  Tb
I λ T   ε  E λ T   ε 
λ4 λ4
Remote sensing – sensor (passive microwave)
SSM/I (Special Sensor Microwave Imager)

Frequency (GHz) Polarization Ground IFOV (km)

19 λ=15.8 mm Horizontal 25
19 Vertical 25
22 λ=13.6 mm Vertical 25
37 λ= 8.8 mm Horizontal 25
37 Vertical 25
85 λ= 3.5 mm Horizontal 12.5
85 Vertical 12.5

Platform = Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP)

sun-synchronous orbit
Swath width = 1394 km
Daily global coverage (morning and afternoon acquisition)

More info -> http://nsidc.org/data/docs/daac/nsidc0032_ssmi_ease_tbs.gd.html

Remote sensing – sensor (passive microwave)
AMSR (Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer)

Frequency (GHz) Polarization Ground IFOV (km)

6.925 λ=43.3 mm H/V 56
10.65 λ=28.2 mm H/V 38
18.7 λ=16.0 mm H/V 21
23.8 λ=12.6 mm H/V 24
36.5 λ= 8.2 mm H/V 12
89.0 λ= 3.4 mm H/V 5.4

Platform = EOS (Earth Observing System) Aqua

Swath width = 1445 km
Daily global coverage (morning and afternoon acquisition)

More info -> http://www.ghcc.msfc.nasa.gov/AMSR/index.html

Application for snow measurement

Use visible – infrared sensors, passive microwave sensor,

depending on what needs to be measured

•Snow cover area (SCA)

Pixel level (Snow / no snow per pixel)
Subpixel level (percentage of SCA over pixel)
•Physical properties of snowpack
Albedo
Grain size
Depth (SWE)

Only estimate of depth (SWE) requires passive microwave data

SCA algorithm (Normalized difference snow index)
To discriminate between Snow and cloud Source: NOAA NOHRSC

For Landsat TM
TMband 2  TMband 5
NDSI 
TMband 2  TMband 5
Use reflectance

Snow if NDSI >0.4

No snow, otherwise

For MODIS
MODISband 4  MODISband 6 TM band2 TM band5
NDSI 
MODISband 4  MODISband 6 MODIS band4 MODIS band6

Snow if NDSI > 0.4 &

Reflectance (band 2) > 11%

No snow, otherwise
SCA algorithm (subpixel level SCA mapping)
Linear spectral mixture analysis
Reflectance measured at each band is a linear combination of
reflectance from individual surface (endmembers) such as snow,
rock, or vege

M
Rλ   Fi  Rλ,i  ε λ
i 1

Rλ: reflectance measured at band of wavelength λ

Rλ,i: reflectance of endmember, i, for band of wavelength λ
Fi : the fraction of endmember, i, over the pixel
M: the number of endmenber
ελ : residual error at wavelength λ

Find F for each endmember with numerical scheme that

minimizes the sum of error

Use multispectral sensors (MODIS, AVHRR, Landsat TM) or

hyperspectral sensors (better because of more bands)
 Subpixel level SCA mapping

Binary SCA mapping

Source: Dozier, J., and T. H. Painter, Multispectral and hyperspectral remote sensing of
alpine snow properties, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 32, 465-494
SWE (or snow depth) algorithm
Require passive microwave data because EM radiation from shorter
wavelength (visible – infrared sensors) cannot penetrate full depth of
snowpack, but microwave does.
Tb measured over the snow cover is “cold” compared to bare
ground because snow grains scatters microwave radiation (Mie
scattering)
Algorithm to extract SWE from Tb data set is under
development
Text for remote sensing and useful online
 John R. Jensen, Remote Sensing of the Environment:
http://www.cas.sc.edu/geog/rsbook/Lectures/Rse/index.html

 NASA remote sensing tutorial: http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/

 Natural resources Canada, Earth Sciences Sectors:

http://ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca/resource/tutor/fundam/index_e.php

Article for remote sensing for hydrology

Engman, T, E. Recent advances in remote sensing in hydrology,
Reviews of Geophysics, VOL. 33, NO. S1, 967-976, 1995.
- general overview of remote sensing application to hydrology, no
math, a little old
http://www.agu.org/revgeophys/engman00/engman00.html