ARS | Publication request: Thermal remote sensing: theory, sensors, and applications

Submitted to: Manual of Remote Sensing
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: January 2, 2009
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Applications of thermal infrared remote sensing for Earth science research are both varied and wide in scope. They range from understanding thermal energy responses that drive land-atmosphere energy exchanges in the hydrologic cycle, to measurement of dielectric surface properties for snow, ice, and geologic substrate, to monitoring natural hazards such as volcanoes and forest fires, and to observing and monitoring the effects of human impacts on the environment. Although there are numerous volumes that illustrate the utility of thermal IR remote sensing for Earth science research (e.g., previous editions of the Manual of Remote Sensing), we wish here to annunciate the exceptional utility of the interpretation of TIR data by exploring several application areas that illustrate the virtues of thermal remote sensing for Earth science research. These areas are certainly not all-encompassing, but they do provide a relatively in-depth view of how TIR data have been used to observe and measure specific phenomenon that readily lend themselves to study through thermal remote sensing. These application areas are: 1) snow and ice; 2) land, specifically as related to topography, elevation and thermal inversions, and geothermal applications; 3) monitoring of volcanoes, 4) monitoring of natural disasters; 5) evapotranspiration and water management; and 6) monitoring the urban environment and the urban heat island effect. This chapter defines physical concepts involved in thermal remote sensing, and gives examples of how thermal imagery are being used in Earth science today.