CORE GEOGG141 – Principles and practice of Remote Sensing
(15 credits)
Term 1 (2015-16)
Staff:
Dr. Mat Disney (convenor) (MD), Prof. Philip Lewis (just Lewis, PL), Dr. Jose Gomez-Dans (JGD), all
Geography.
Dr. M. Disney, room 113 Pearson Building, tel. 7679 0592 (x30592)
mathias.disney@ucl.ac.uk
Course web page
http://www2.geog.ucl.ac.uk/~mdisney/teaching/GEOGG141/GEOGG141.html
Including PDF of lecture notes and journal article links.
Aims:
 To provide knowledge and understanding of the basic concepts, principles and applications of
remote sensing, particularly the geometric and radiometric principles;
 To provide examples of applications of principles to a variety of topics in remote sensing,
particularly related to data collection, radiation, resolution, sampling, mission choices.
 To introduce the principles of the radiative transfer problem in heterogeneous media, as an
example application of fundamental principles.
 To provide some background to remote sensing organizations and policy through seminars.
Content:
The module will provide an introduction to the basic concepts and principles of remote sensing. It will
include 3 components: i) radiometric principles underlying remote sensing: electromagnetic radiation;
basic laws of electromagnetic radiation; absorption, reflection and emission; atmospheric effects;
radiation interactions with the surface, radiative transfer; ii) assumptions and trade-offs for particular
applications: orbital mechanics and choices; spatial, spectral, temporal, angular and radiometric
resolution; data pre-processing; scanners; iii) time-resolved remote sensing including: RADAR
principles; the RADAR equation; RADAR resolution; phase information and SAR interferometry;
LIDAR remote sensing, the LIDAR equation and applications.
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Introduction to remote sensing (MD)
Radiation principles, EM spectrum, blackbody (MD)
EM spectrum terms, definitions and concepts (MD)
Radiative transfer princinples and assumptions (MD)
Spatial, spectral resolution and sampling (MD, PL, JGD)
Pre-processing chain, ground segment, radiometric resolution, scanners (MD)
LIDAR remote sensing (MD)
RADAR remote sensing: principles (MD)
Revision (MD)
Dr. Disney will also arrange (compulsory) seminar sessions on some evenings through the term,
intended to provide an insight into commercial, industrial, policy and academic-related applications of
EO, delivered by invited guest speakers. These seminars will usually be on Tuesdays and typically run
from 5-6pm, and are intended to provide opportunities for discussion on internships, employment
opportunities and possibilities for dissertation project outside UCL. They will be publicised by Dr.
Disney via email, on the course webpages and via Moodle. There is also a very relevant Industrial
seminar programme organized by Dr. Claire Ellul and Dietmar Backes in CEGE. These are on a
Thursday from 18:00, generally by practitioners from industry and the commercial sector. The details
of the provisional programme are here: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/gis/seminars. Lastly, the Geography
Department Physical Geography seminar series is on Thursday lunchtimes in Pearson G07. Keep an
eye out for email details as these may be of interest and relevance and are open to all.
Assessment:
3 hour unseen examination, which takes place at the start of Term 2.
Format:
The course is based upon lectures, with occasional seminars provided by outside speakers from
industry, government etc. (see above)
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the course students should:
 Have knowledge and understanding of the basic concepts, principles and applications of
remote sensing.
 Be able to derive solutions to given quantitative problems particularly related to geometric
principles, EM radiation, LIDAR and RADAR systems
 Have an understanding of the trade-offs in sensor design, orbit, resolution etc. required for a
range of applications
 Have an understanding of the propagation of radiation transfer in vegetation, and be able to
explain the problem, and propose mathematical solutions
Class schedule:
This module runs in Term 1 2015-16. Note that not all afternoon sessions will be used.
Week Date
Day/Time
Len
Class
Room
6
06/10 Tue 11:00
2
Introduction & Radiation Principles I
Pearson G07
Staff
MD
7
13/10
Tue 11:00
2
Radiation Principles: II
Pearson G07
MD
8
8
9
9
10
20/10
20/10
27/10
27/10
03/11
Tue 11:00
Tue 14:00
Tue 11:00
Tue 14:00
Tue 14:00
2
2
2
2
2
Spatial, spectral sampling
Radiative Transfer: I
Angular, temporal sampling
Radiative transfer: II
Pre-processing, ground segment
Pearson G07
Pearson G07
Pearson G07
Pearson G07
Pearson G07
TBC
MD
TBC
MD
PL
11
11
12
10/11
10/11
17/11
Tue 11:00
2
Reading Week
Reading Week
RADAR remote sensing: I
Pearson G07
PL
13
24/11
Tue 11:00
2
RADAR remote sensing: II
Pearson G07
MD
14
01/12
Tue 11:00
2
LIDAR remote sensing: I
Pearson G07
MD
15
08/12
Tue 11:00
2
LIDAR remote sensing: II
Pearson G07
MD
Pearson G07
MD
16
15/12 Tue 11:00
2
Revision & problem class (ALL)
NOTE: text in red denotes PM sessions
Contact time = ~32-34 hours
Key contacts:
MD = Mat Disney (mathias.disney@ucl.ac.uk)
PL = Philip Lewis (p.lewis@ucl.ac.uk)
JGD = Jose Gomez-Dans (j.gomez-dans@ucl.ac.uk )
Examinations
The examination will be a combination of essay-type and problem-solving questions. Candidates will
answer three questions on this part of the course from a choice of four in 2 hours. The PPRS MSc
module (CEGE046) has run with different module codes in the past, so the past papers are: CEGE046
(2008-2010); GEOMG017 (2007-8), GEOGRSC1 (2005-6), GEOGGR01 (2007 referred/deferred
paper). Past exam papers are kept in the library (http://exam-papers.ucl.ac.uk/SocHist/Geog/).
NOTE: The course was modified for the 2011 academic year and now contains the radiative transfer
elements of the Vegetation Science option module from previous years (CEGEG065). Exam papers.
The course also changed significantly in 2005 and 2007 so you should ignore Q4 on the 2006
GEOGRSC1 paper, Q1 on the 2005 GEOGRSC1 paper, and Q3 on the 2007 GEOGGR01 paper.
Course material
All teaching notes are available from the course webpage and moodle.
Books
Remote Sensing principles
Campbell, J. B. (2007) Introduction to Remote Sensing (2nd Ed), London, Taylor and Francis, 4th edn.
(a good general textbook covering theory with a little bit on image interpretation).
Jensen, John R. (2006) Remote Sensing of the Environment: an Earth Resources Perspective, Hall
and Prentice, New Jersey, 2nd ed. (an excellent, slightly more advanced textbook covering theory and
applications but not image processing. A solid investment).
Jones, H. and Vaughan, R. (2010, paperback) Remote Sensing of Vegetation: Principles, Techniques,
and Applications, OUP, Oxford. (A graduate-level textbook covering theory and applications related to
vegetation – more specialized but a very good primer in the field).
Liang, S. (2004) Quantitative Remote Sensing of Land Surfaces, Wiley-Blackwell (an excellent,
advanced textbook covering radiation transfer, theory and algorithms. Expensive, so try the library).
Lillesand, T., Kiefer, R. and Chipman, J. (2004) Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation. John Wiley
and Sons, NY, 5th ed.. (Good general textbook with image processing as well).
Monteith, J. L and Unsworth, M. H. (1990) Principles of Environmental Physics, Edward Arnold:
Routledge, Chapman and Hall, NY, 2nd ed. (an excellent book covering basic physics – lots of useful
parts here on radiation, surface energy budgets, modelling etc. – a real gem).
Purkis, S. J. and Klemas, V. V. (2011) Remote Sensing and Global Environmental Change, WileyBlackwell (a good account of various remote sensing applications, strong on ocean and coral reefs).
A longer list of journal articles is provided on the course web page