What is Remote Sensing?

Remote sensing is defined as the detection of objects from a distance, such as the earth from orbiting satellites

ASTER satellite images taken before and after the Sichuan Earthquake in China in 2009.
 
Before - vegetated areas are red, bare ground grey
 
After – massive scale of landslides due to ground movement
 
and the flooding in downtown New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina in 2007, viewed from the French satellite SPOT (resolution 10m) (below)
 

After- flooded areas dark blue

 

In LSGI we use remote sensing for many applications in Hong Kong

 
Salinity concentrations in Pearl River Estuary from NASA’s Terra MODIS satellite(land areas masked to black)

 
ASTER satellite image of Kowloon’s Urban Heat Island on an August night
 
 
Landscape Heritage: The ancient tea terraces of Tai Mo Shan cannot be seen on the ground but are viewed from IKONOS satellite
 
 
 
 

 

 

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