Field Instrumentation for Environmental Remote Sensing

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Much of remote sensing is based on the principle that important information can be derived by examining the radiative characteristics of matter at a variety of electromagnetic wavelengths. It is rare, however, for students to have the opportunity to measure these radiative characteristics directly. This proposal would give students hands-on experience with state-of-the art remote sensing and mapping instrumentation (e.g., radiometers, digital cameras, and GPS receivers). Giving students experience and skills with instrumentation should become a more fundamental part of the undergraduate geography curriculum. Field experiences, in particular, allow both geography major and non-majors to apply classroom theory to real-world phenomena. In addition, these experiences and skills allow students to obtain jobs outside academia and to enhance their records for entry into graduate school. The National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) has begun to establish guidelines for an ideal remote sensing curriculum at the undergraduate level. One recommendation has been to teach a Remote Sensing Field Techniques course. In particular, the NCGIA recommendation is to allow students to collect field data, calibrate radiometers, and to assess errors in remote sensing observations. Without appropriate instrumentation, these tasks are impossible. This ILI-IP project would allow remote sensing field techniques to be taught to a variety of students in several courses and contexts at Indiana University. The results from this project will be submitted to professional journals and NCGIA as a model for undergraduate field experience in remote sensing.