GEOG2021

Prof P Lewis and Dr M. Disney

Unit Value: 0.5 units                           Year 2                                     Term 2

Brief Course Description

The course provides an introduction to remote sensing (RS) and environmental modelling, with the aim of enabling the student to make practical use of RS data for topics such as land cover mapping and use those data in a practical situation. The course is very practical in nature and assumes no prior understanding RS, modelling, or the computing required to process data. A range of RS activities are covered: measurement from space sensors; understanding the properties of the data; basic image processing; and using the data in environmental science. Computer based practicals are an integral part of the course and extend the lecture material.  There is an extended environmental science practical exercise encouraging links between this and other courses.

Course Aims

The course aims to enable the student to:

1. Understand the nature of RS data and how they are acquired.
2. Have some knowledge of the different types of RS instruments.
3. Understand basic image representation and processing.
4. Understand how RS data can be combined with other sources of data and data techniques (eg GIS)
5. Develop practical skills in these areas that may be used in a dissertation.
6. Lay the foundations for a third year course in Earth Observation.

Course Content

8 lectures and 12 practical sessions.

Lecture topics covered: basics of an RS system; different types of instruments; different domains of information; the properties of radiation; image representation; image processing; environmental modelling; introduction to extended practical. Lectures in the first half of term are supported by practicals where the students apply the understanding gained in the lectures to topics such as mapping forest changes in Brazil. Most of the second half of the course will be taken up with an extended practical (linking satellite observations of wetlands to a simple hydrological model).  The write-up on this will form part of the assessment. Practical exercises will use IDL/ENVI on Unix workstations.

Method of Teaching

Lectures, computer practicals.

Form of Assessment

Unseen written examination (60%), coursework on extended practical (40%).

Suggested Reading

Mather, 1999, “Computer Processing and Remotely-Sensed Images”.  J.Wiley and Sons.

Prerequisites

None: students are not expected to have had any prior contact with remote sensing or related computer skills.