What Do Scientists Use Remote Sensing Data For?
Take a look at the picture of the Earth below. The image was collected by a satellite at a very high altitude, so that one side of the whole Earth is visible. On this scale, it is possible to see only large-scale features, such as the continents, the oceans and clouds in the atmosphere. When scientists look at remotely sensed images of the Earth, they are interested in different aspects of the large-scale features visible in the image above: the land, the oceans and ice, and the atmosphere. Scientific use of remote sensing data can be divided up into these areas of interest, i.e., • Land Studies (e.g. geology, agriculture, land management) • Ocean Studies (e.g. oceanography, ice studies) • Atmospheric Studies (e.g. meteorology) Within each area of interest, there are many measurements which can be made using remote sensing. Examples are given on the next page. It is only recently that scientists from the different disciplines have got together to incorporate their results and insights
