Resolution (remote sensing)

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The resolution of a remote sensing recording system distinguishes four characteristics with the help of which the remote sensing data and recording systems can be categorized in remote sensing ( English image resolution ). A distinction is made between spatial, spectral, temporal and radiometric resolution.

Different remote sensing resolutions

  • Spatial (or geometric) resolution (English spatial resolution )
    The spatial resolution of a remote sensing system indicates the area of ​​a pixel on the earth's surface (for example Landsat TM : 30 × 30 m). Aircraft-borne systems achieve spatial resolutions in the centimeter to meter range. With satellite support, pixel sizes between 1 m (high-resolution) and 1 km (coarse-scale) are achieved.
  • Spectral resolution (engl. Spectral resolution )
    The spectral resolution characterizes the number of spectral channels of a sensor (as well as their spectral bandwidth) (e.g., Landsat TM : 7 spectral channels). A distinction is made between different systems: panchromatic (1 spectral channel), multispectral (between 2 and about 10 spectral channels) and hyperspectral (between 10 and several hundred spectral channels).
  • Time (or temporal) resolution (. Engl temporal resolution )
    The time (or temporal ) resolution of a remote sensing system are the amount of time between two flights, and the same area on (e.g., Landsat TM : 16 days). Meteorological recording systems sometimes record several recordings during a day (especially geostationary satellites), while the time intervals of typical earth observation and environmental satellites vary between 1 day (including MODIS) and several weeks.
  • Radiometric resolution (Engl. Radiometric resolution )
    The radiometric resolution of a digital scanner gives the number of distinguishable graytone a sensor on (for example, Landsat TM : 8 bits or 256 graytone). Most remote sensing systems quantify the recorded data in 8 or 12 bits.

See also

literature

  • Lillesand, TM & RW Kiefer: Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation.- Wiley, 2004, ISBN 3-540-25128-6
  • Rees, WG: Physical Principles of Remote Sensing.- Cambridge University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-471-15227-7
  • Richards, JA & Jia, X .: Remote Sensing Digital Image Analysis: An Introduction.- Springer Verlag, 2006, ISBN 0-521-66034-3

Web links