ADVANCED ENVIRONMENTAL REMOTE SENSING

Prerequisites & course information

Requisites: LAND ARC/ENVIR ST/G L E/GEOG/GEOSCI 371 and graduate/professional standing (or FW ECOL 371 prior to Summer 2026) Course Designation: Grad 50% - Counts toward 50% graduate coursework requirement Repeatable for Credit: No Last Taught: Spring 2026 Learning Outcomes: 1. Demonstrate understanding of major theories, approaches, concepts, and methods in remote sensing science. Audience: Graduate 2. Apply knowledge of the nature and properties of electromagnetic radiation and how it is affected by interactions with the atmosphere and the Earth’s surface, including transmission, absorption, reflectance, refraction, and scatter. Audience: Graduate 3. Outline several historical models used to explain the nature of light (e.g. wave, particle), describe phenomena associated with each model, and discuss the principle of complementarity. Audience: Graduate 4. Recall the basic physical principles of radiation laws derived from Planck, Wien, and Stefan-Boltzmann, and describe how these principles make remote sensing possible. Audience: Graduate 5. Differentiate the effects of atmospheric scatter (Rayleigh, Mie, and non-selective scatter) on Earth observation imagery, and determine how to remove atmospheric effects (or differences) across images. Audience: Graduate 6. Understand the fundamental laws of radiative transfer, such as heating and cooling of the surface and atmospheric layers, and its effects in both clear and cloudy conditions. Audience: Graduate 7. Illustrate the inverse methodologies used to derive geophysical parameters from remote measurements. Audience: Graduate 8. Use this knowledge to interpret complex multispectral radiance data sets to derive geophysical information for environmental applications. Audience: Graduate 9. Describe the differences between heat, thermal energy, and emissivity, distinguish how the amount of energy stored determines the temperature, and determine how these properties affect thermal remote sensing image analysis. Audience: Graduate 10. Summarize how the earth's surface scatters incident radiation anisotropically at different wavelengths, and describe how this wavelength dependence can be characterized by the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF). Audience: Graduate 11. Understand the role of vegetation in terrestrial ecosystem processes, describe the propagation of radiative transfer in vegetation, and how vegetation biophysical variables can be derived and modeled using remote sensing data and mathematical solutions. Audience: Graduate 12. Propose and carry out an original research project using remote sensing data, including outlining a plan, assembling necessary data, executing the analysis, and synthesizing the results. Audience: Graduate 13. Communicate effectively through discussion, oral presentations, and written reports. Audience: Graduate Learning Outcomes: 1. Demonstrate understanding of major theories, approaches, concepts, and methods in remote sensing science. Audience: Graduate 2. Apply knowledge of the nature and properties of electromagnetic radiation and how it is affected by interactions with the atmosphere and the Earth’s surface, including transmission, absorption, reflectance, refraction, and scatter. Audience: Graduate 3. Outline several historical models used to explain the nature of light (e.g. wave, particle), describe phenomena associated with each model, and discuss the principle of complementarity. Audience: Graduate 4. Recall the basic physical principles of radiation laws derived from Planck, Wien, and Stefan-Boltzmann, and describe how these principles make remote sensing possible. Audience: Graduate 5. Differentiate the effects of atmospheric scatter (Rayleigh, Mie, and non-selective scatter) on Earth observation imagery, and determine how to remove atmospheric effects (or differences) across images. Audience: Graduate 6. Understand the fundamental laws of radiative transfer, such as heating and cooling of the surface and atmospheric layers, and its effects in both clear and cloudy conditions. Audience: Graduate 7. Illustrate the inverse methodologies used to derive geophysical parameters from remote measurements. Audience: Graduate 8. Use this knowledge to interpret complex multispectral radiance data sets to derive geophysical information for environmental applications. Audience: Graduate 9. Describe the differences between heat, thermal energy, and emissivity, distinguish how the amount of energy stored determines the temperature, and determine how these properties affect thermal remote sensing image analysis. Audience: Graduate 10. Summarize how the earth's surface scatters incident radiation anisotropically at different wavelengths, and describe how this wavelength dependence can be characterized by the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF). Audience: Graduate 11. Understand the role of vegetation in terrestrial ecosystem processes, describe the propagation of radiative transfer in vegetation, and how vegetation biophysical variables can be derived and modeled using remote sensing data and mathematical solutions. Audience: Graduate 12. Propose and carry out an original research project using remote sensing data, including outlining a plan, assembling necessary data, executing the analysis, and synthesizing the results. Audience: Graduate 13. Communicate effectively through discussion, oral presentations, and written reports. Audience: Graduate