What this event is about
Students use images, spectra, and sensing concepts (resolution, bands, platforms) to answer Earth-science questions.
Study plan
Setup (team of 2, ~50 min, Class II calculator, two protractors, two rulers, three-ring binder; no removing pages at specimen stations)
- Weight practice toward interpretation/analysis (65–75%); concepts are 25–35%.
- Light properties: EM spectrum, reflection/refraction/absorption/scattering/polarization, irradiance/radiance. Quantitative only where asterisked: Wien’s law, wave equation; others qualitative (Snell’s, inverse-square irradiance, Stefan–Boltzmann).
- Sensors: passive optical/thermal (UV–TIR); active radar backscatter, SAR, basic InSAR interpretation, radar altimetry/elevation products (quantitative radar altimetry range*).
- Orbits: LEO/MEO/HEO, polar/non-polar, geostationary/geosynchronous; Kepler’s Third Law (qualitative per rules framing).
- Image characteristics: spatial, temporal, radiometric (SNR/sensitivity), spectral resolution; instrumentation list (scanners, multispectral, radiometers, altimeters, TIR, SAR, DEMs).
- Interpretation limited to listed satellites: Landsat 5–9 (TM/ETM/OLI), Sentinel-1A/1B, Sentinel-2A/2B, Terra (MODIS, ASTER), SRTM, ECOSTRESS, GOES — natural/false color, grayscale, thermal, radar, elevation, contours, classified maps.
- Mapping skills: marginal info, scale/orientation; measure distance, perimeter, area, altitude, elevation, slope/gradient.
- Earth observation themes: aerosols; albedo/temp/reflectance for land classification; elevation/subsidence; vegetation change; geohazards; glacial/fluvial processes; supervised/unsupervised classification & NLCD change; human implications (urbanization, deforestation, damage monitoring). Timed image stations weekly.
Tips
Always note the scale and north arrow before interpreting features.