People and Pixels Linking Remote Sensing and Social Science (1998) / Chapter Skim
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2 A Brief History of Remote Sensing Applications, with Emphasis on Landsat
2 A Brief History of Remote Sensing Applications, with Emphasis on Landsat
Pages 28-50
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From page 28... ...
On command, all of them make measurements of the land surface, transmitting spectral data to a global network of strategically located ground receiving stations. Data from these earth-observing satellites are used to map, monitor, and manage the earth's natural and cultural resources.
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From page 29... ...
Aerial photography remains an important application of remote sensing, with a sophisticated range of cameras being used to collect information on geology, land use, agricultural conditions, forestry, water pollution, natural disasters, urban planning, wildlife management, and environmental impact assessments (Lillesand and Kiefer, 1987~. Evelyn Pruitt of the Office of Naval Research originally coined the term "remote sensing." GROWTH OF THE REMOTE SENSING COMMUNITY The Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM)
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From page 30... ...
By the mid- to late 1970s, many of these young professionals were employed on collaborative federal government research projects for proof-of-concept applications embracing the whole range of natural and cultural resources. The Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment (LACIE)
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provides the continuous hemispheric coverage of cloud cover and other aspects of the atmospheric circulation shown on evening weather forecasts as a visual confirmation of approaching weather, particularly extreme events such as hurricanes. Other satellites, launched predominantly for ocean research applications, such as Nimbus, SeaSat, and SeaWifs, have provided information of relevance in coastal zone studies and fisheries management (Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network, 1997~.
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From page 32... ...
At this point, Landsat still dominates remote sensing applications in the United States. FORCES MOTIVATING THE DEVELOPMENT OF REMOTE SENSING At first, civilian space remote sensing consisted of experimental missions to develop proofs of concept for any applications that had a sound scientific basisand some, perhaps, that did not.
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From page 33... ...
It is not as widely known, however, that the defense/intelligence community has always used data from civilian satellite systems in carrying out its security mission (National Space Council, 1989~. While there were, and still are, many security limitations imposed on the first generation of earthobserving systems, there was nevertheless a defensible argument that such a system should be developed.
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From page 34... ...
that an Earth Resources Observation Satellite (EROS) be built, launched, and operated.
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The EROS mission was to archive and distribute remotely sensed data, and to support remote sensing research and applications development within Interior.2 To carry out the EROS responsibilities, USGS built the EROS Data Center (EDC)
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From page 36... ...
That charter did not include earth resource data handling, processing, archiving, or distribution to a large and diverse scientific community, or to an even larger group of public and private users. Consequently, NASA reached agreement with several resource management agencies to transfer responsibility for the program' s ground segment, while NASA retained responsibility for the space segment.
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From page 37... ...
Six detectors for each spectral band provided six scan lines on each active scan. The combination of scanning geometry, satellite orbit, and earth rotation produced the global coverage originally suggested by Arthur C
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The MSS sensors aboard Landsats-4 and -5 were identical to earlier ones. Both sensors detected reflected radiation in the visible and near -IR bands, but the TM sensor provided seven spectral channels of data as compared with only four channels collected by MSS.
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Landsat-1 not only inaugurated a global research agenda, but also spawned a genre of careers in engineering and the natural sciences. Arguably, Landsat-1 provided academic geographers with real-world data for applying and testing their theoretical models, thus giving their discipline access to its first new set of spatial analytical tools since the electronic calculator.
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From page 40... ...
Landsat MSS and TM data have also become important in global and local studies of biodiversity and biogeography, and have become key to the emerging framework of "landscape ecology," whereby remote sensing is used to identify vegetation gaps and patterns in the landscape that influence habitats and ecosystem functioning and dynamics. These early modeling efforts evolved into satellite applications that address
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From page 41... ...
Among the major players in this crisis were an ever-growing community of Landsat data users, including the news-gathering media, which wanted inexpensive, publicly accessible data; an increasingly vociferous industrial sector that was concerned about pending international competition and believed privatization would preserve America's niche in commercial earth observations; and a federal establishment disinclined to privatize all land, ocean, and weather satellite data systems. In its effort to reduce the size of government, the first Reagan Administration moved quickly to privatize the Landsat program.
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From page 42... ...
Although data continuity has never been defined, and program continuity remains a political question, Congress continues to legislate most aspects of America's space remote sensing activities. Following another series of program reviews, the National Space Council released its National Space Policy Directive #5, which established new goals and implementation guidelines for the Landsat program (Office of the President, 1992~.
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From page 43... ...
Japan and Europe have launched Earth Resources Satellites, which use synthetic aperture radar to provide information on the physical and electrical conditions of terrain. These radar satellites are beginning to provide information of relevance to studies of fire, deforestation, crop monitoring, and urbanization (Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network, 1997; Office of Technology Assessment, 1993~.
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From page 44... ...
Beyond Landsat-7 The 1992 Land Remote Sensing Policy Act called for developing costeffective advanced-technology alternatives for maintaining data continuity beyond Landsat-7 (Scheffner, 1994~. To address this requirement, NASA plans to launch EO-1 as part of its New Millennium Program (Ungar,1997~.
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From page 45... ...
It lists only so-called earth resources satellites having sensors operating in the visible and near infrared spectrum, and channels roughly equivalent to those of the Landsat MSS or TM sensors. In the past 25 years there have been nearly 20 launches and 4 distinct international systems (a fifth will become operational with the launch of the China/Brazil Earth Resources Satellite)
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From page 46... ...
For the 25 years from 1972 to 1997, synoptic, high-quality data have been routinely acquired, processed into an ever-improving array of digital and photographic products, and used to better measure and monitor earth resources. The Landsat series has provided new insights into geologic, agricultural, and land-use surveys, and opened new paths in the exploration of new resources.
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From page 47... ...
Luce, C.T. 1967 Earth Resources Observation Satellite Program (EROS)
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Office of the President 1988 Unclassified Excerpts from the New National Security Directive on National Space Policy: February 8, Washington, D.C. 1992 National Space Policy Directive #5.
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U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration 1973a Symposium on Significant Results Obtained from the Earth Resources Technology Satellite-l: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA SP-327, Vol.
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so A BRIEF HISTORY OF REMOTE SENSING APPLICATIONS 1988 Earth System Science: A Closer View: Earth System Science Committee, NASA Advisory Council, Office for Interdisciplinary Earth Studies, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo. Waldrop, M.M.
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