(20 points) Consider that you want to use a remote sensing system on a single Ea
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(20 points) Consider that you want to use a remote sensing system on a single Earth- orbiting satellite to study Earth's boreal (northern) forests over the circumpolar high latitudes. You want to acquire time series observations under consistent solar conditions (e.g. you want to observe the forests in Siberia and Canada at the same time of day throughout the year). You must consider a set of constraints on the system design and deployment, based on your science needs. Answer the following: 2. (a) Describe what kind of orbit you would place the satellite in. Explain your answer (b) Assume you wanted to use an imaging sensor. What parts of the electromagnetic spectrum would you NOT use? Why? (c) Consider that you want to study the vegetation water content. What part of the electromagnetic spectrum would you use? Why? (d) If you want to observe vegetation photochemistry so you can study photosynthesis and vegetation productivity, what part of the electromagnetic spectrum would you use? Why? (e) Explain the limitations associated with acquiring time series measurements needed to study photochemistry as in (d) above.Explanation / Answer
a) The satellite should be placed in a sun-synchronous orbit for recording the observations at the same local time every day.
b) The bands which don't reflect or absorb radiation after interacting with vegetation would not be useful. Such bands usually comprise of wavelength less than 0.45 um and more than 2.3 um would not provide any valuable information regarding vegetation.
c) For studying the water content or the moisture in the vegetation, the bands most useful would 1.57 to 1.65 um and 2.1 to 2.2 um. This is because of the significant changes in spectral reflectance as the water content in the vegetation changes.
d) For studying the photosynthesis and vegetation productivity, the green band, i.e. 0.53 - 0.59 um would be useful as it will detect the peak values of vegetation. The green component of the visible spectrum is significantly reflected as compared to the red and blue components, thus enabling us to identify the region of photochemical reflectance.
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