GGS756-001 Fall 2019
Physical Principles of Remote Sensing

    Course Information
        Title: GGS756-001 Physical Principles of Remote Sensing
        CRN: 82106
        Time:  Tuesday 4:30 - 7:10 PM
        Classroom:  Hanover Hall L002
        Instructor:  Dr. John Qu
        Telephone: (703) 993-3958
        Office: Exploratory Hall, Room 2412
        Office Hour: Stop by 1:30-3: & 3:30 PM on Tuesdays or make appointment

    Course Description

    This course is designed to give students with limited Earth science satellite remote sensing background a thorough introduction to gather the basic concepts and fundamentals of physical principles of remote sensing. The main emphasis of this course is on the basic physical and mathematical principles underlying the satellite remote sensing techniques, including radiometric and geometric information, satellite orbit and geo-location simulation, science algorithm designing, atmosphere corrections, and in situ measurements in support of remote sensing. In addition, this class will provide a focus on the NASA current and future Earth Observing System (EOS) instruments, such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), NOAA JPSS Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), and USGS Landsat missions. These students will understand not only what satellite remote sensing systems do, but also how they work. This course aims to provide students all-inclusive overview of the state of the art in physical principles of remote sensing not only for monitoring global and regional atmosphere, ocean and land surface, but also for detecting local targets, such as, urban and suburban areas.

    Schedule
    Week one (08/27) Introduction to Earth science satellite remote sensing
    Week two (09/03) Physical fundamentals of remote sensing
    Week three (09/10) Top atmospheric solar radiation
    Week four (09/17) Atmospheric absorption and scattering
    Week five (09/24) Radiation transfer in the atmosphere
    Week six (10/01) Applications radiation transfer principles to remote sensing I
    Week seven (10/08) Applications radiation transfer principles to remote sensing II
    Week eight (10/15) Platform for remote sensing and Electro-optical systems
    Week nine (10/22) Satellite orbit and geo-location simulation
    Week ten (10/29) Sensor Data Record (SDR): data products
    Week eleven (11/05) SDR algorithms and calibrations
    Week twelve (11/12) Atmospheric correction and vegetation indices
    Week thirteen (11/19) Selected scientific Environmental Data Record (EDR) algorithms
    Week fourteen (11/26) Physical Principals of the “Earth Observation Big Data”
    Week fifteen (12/03) Student presentations
    Week sixteen (12/10) Final Term Paper Due

    Final project
    EOS, JPSS or NPP, Landsat related topics and focusing on physical principles of satellite remote sensing.

    Grading

  • Midterm 30%
  • Homework 20%
  • Final Project 50%

    •        (A=90-100, B=80-89, C=70-79, D=60-69, F=<60)

    Prerequisite
    Permission of the instructor

    Required Textbook: None

    Reference Books and Documents

    1. Kuo-Nan Liou, 2002, An Introduction to Atmospheric Radiation, Second Edition, Academic Press, ISBN 0-12-451451-0
    2. Charles Elachi, 1987, Introduction to the Physics of Remote Sensing Wiley Series in Remote Sensing, John Wiley & Sons Inc., ISBN-0-471-84810-7.
    3. Wiley J. Larson and James R. Wertz, 1997, Space Mission Analysis and Design, Space Technology Series. Kluwer Academic Publishers, ISBN 1-881883-01-9 (paperback), ISBN 0-7923-1998-2 (hardback).
    4. John J. Qu, Wei Gao, Menas Kafatos, Robert E. Murphy, Vincent V. Salomonson, 2006, Earth Science Satellite Remote Sensing Vol. 1: Science and Instruments http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-540-37293-6
    5. John J. Qu, Wei Gao, Menas Kafatos, Robert E. Murphy, Vincent V. Salomonson, 2006, Earth Science Satellite Remote Sensing Vol. 2 Data, Computational Processing, and Tools. http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-540-37294-3
    6. Some EOS, JPSS, and NPP Algorithm Theoretical Basis Documents (ATBDs) will be used during this class.


    Useful Links
    1. NASA Earth Observing System
    2. Seleced EOS instrument ATBDs
    3. NASA Visible Earth
    4. NASA/GSFC MODIS Direct readout
    5. NASA Remote Sensing Tutorial
    6. NPP Web Page
    7. JPSS Web Page
    8. NASA AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) program
    9. MODIS Rapid Response System
    10. USGS Landsat website