Applications of Remote Sensing

This article will provide you a detailed explanation of remote sensing technology. Before starting the main topic first, let us understand remote sensing.

What is Remote Sensing?

The process of acquiring information about the Earth's surface from a distance using a range of instruments and technology, such as satellites, aeroplanes, drones, or ground-based sensors, is known as remote sensing. Analysis and understanding the properties and alterations of the Earth's land, oceans, and atmosphere are possible using the extracted information. The information might also include images, spectra, and other measurements.

Types of Remote Sensing

There are two different types of Remote Sensing which are discussed below:

1. Passive Remote Sensing

Natural radiation that is released or reflected from the Earth's surface is detected via passive remote sensing. Utilizing sensors to pick up visible light, infrared radiation, and microwave radiation are the parts of passive remote sensing. Radiometers, multispectral scanners, and cameras are a few instances of passive remote sensing equipment.

2. Active Remote Sensing

On the other hand, active remote sensing uses sensors that radiate energy at the surface of the Earth and then track the energy that is reflected or scattered back. Technologies like radar, lidar, and sonar are used in active remote sensing. These technologies allow for the measurement of both the target's physical properties, such as texture and form, as well as the separation between the sensor and the desired item.

A more complete picture of the environment can be obtained by combining the passive and active remote sensing methods. For example, passive sensors can be used to track plant cover, while active sensors, such as radar, can track topography changes in the region.

Let's discuss the applications of remote sensing.

Applications of Remote sensing

Remote sensing is widely used in different fields like Agriculture, Surface changes, Biodiversity, Weather, Forestry, etc. The Remote sensing has led to the invention of various new technologies like world mapping, GPS, City Planning, etc. Working of remote sensing technology is possible mainly with the help of satellites revolving around the earth. The various applications of remote sensing are provided below:

1. Analysing the condition of rural roads

Using several GIS tools and Remote Sensing techniques, it is now feasible to analyse rural road conditions with inch-by-inch accuracy. For carriers, it is very time and cost-effective. It is quite helpful for the road ministry to analyse the condition of roads and make it repaired.

2. Land use and land cover mapping:

Nowadays, remote sensing may be a very useful tool for environmental and land management. It is quite beneficial for the revenue department for easier identification of changes in land and their work becomes quite easy with the help of remote sensing.

3. Collecting Earth's pictures from space

Several space organizations have a collection of pictures of the planet. It displays intriguing geometries of the globe, including the atmosphere, seas, land, etc. These data are gathered by EO-1, Terra, and Landsat.

4. Controlling Forest Fires

Forest Fires are unpredictable and they cause a lot of damage to animal diversity. Firefighters may be dispatched quickly to the right places using the information obtained by satellites utilizing remote sensing. This minimizes the chances of damage caused by such fires thereby saving a lot of animals and birds.

5. Agriculture Monitoring

By using remote sensing, farmers may monitor crop health, soil moisture, and vegetation conditions to maximize crop yields and reduce losses. Remote sensing even helps in improving the quality of vegetables and fruits so that all people can consume good quality food.

6. Observing climate changes

It is now possible to monitor climate change from the satellites like CERES, MODIS, AMSRE, TRMM, and MOPITT. The historical and present climate conditions can also be compared by the remote sensing.

7. Water resource management

With the help of remote sensing, water resources can be managed for drinking, agriculture, and other uses while also keeping an eye on water levels, quality, and usage.

8. Drought Monitoring

A particular area's weather patterns, including trends associated with drought, are tracked using remote sensing technologies. To track the drought, it can be useful to utilize the information to forecast the rainfall patterns of a region and to estimate the time interval between the current and the following rainfall.

9. Urban Planning

To better plan and manage cities, urban planners are using the remote sensing to better analyse the trends in urban growth, traffic patterns, and land use changes.

10. Public health

Remote sensing is also highly used in the health and medical field. Monitoring the transmission of diseases, tracking mosquito breeding grounds, and locating places vulnerable to disease outbreaks can all be done through remote sensing.

11. Archaeology and cultural heritage management

Remote sensing can be used to locate and map archaeological sites as well as monitor changes to cultural heritage sites brought on by both natural and human-caused factors.

12. Forest management

With the help of remote sensing, forest management and conservation activities can monitor forest health, identify forest fires, and calculate the amount of biomass in forests.

13. Transportation management

Planning and managing transportation systems can be made better by using remote sensing to keep an eye on traffic patterns, congestion, and accidents.

14. Mapping energy resources

Remote sensing is a useful tool to find and map prospective energy sources like wind and solar energy. It also helps in monitoring energy usage and emissions.

This is all about remote sensing and its applications. This technology has made lifestyle very easy and it even led to the invention of various new technologies in the world.