ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 442/542:

INTRODUCTION TO REMOTE SENSING

WINTER QUARTER, 2024

Instructor:
Dr. David Wallin; Office: ES342
Phone: 650-7526; e-mail: david.wallin@wwu.edu

Teaching Assistants:

Bo MacArthur; Office xxx; e-mail: : macartr2@wwu.edu

Anne Wilce; Office xxx; e-mail: : wilcea@wwu.edu



Text: Introduction to Remote Sensing, 6th edition, by J.B. Campbell, R.H. Wynne & V.A. Thomas.  I[DW1]  have been using this text for a number of years and older 2nd, 3rd, 4th  & 5th editions may be available.  The 6th (2023) includes one brand new chapter and each of the other chapters have been updated to varying degrees.  You can probably get by with an older edition if you can find it, however, if you do use an older edition, you are responsible for the new material in the 6th edition.  I will place copies a couple of older editions on reserve in the main library. AND, you can also access the 5th and 6th edition for FREE by checking it out as an ebook from the WWU library. This is a great option!

Additional readings as assigned: Books are on reserve in the Main library and journal articles and book chapters are available online (see links below) or on the Blackboard site.
Click here for list of readings on reserve in the Main Library

Other useful links for this course:
List of useful Remote Sensing Links 

Class Meeting Time: MWF 10:00-10:50, ES313
 Lab Meeting, AH16

 TR 3:00-3:50 (TA Anne Wilce) 

WF 2:00-3:50 (TA Bo MacArthur)

Office Hours:
Dr. Wallin: MTR 2:00-3:00 (sign-up on office door) and by appointment.
Anne Wilce: TBD and by appointment

Bo MacArthur: TBD and by appointment

 

Prerequisites: Completion of a 300-level course in either ESCI, ENVS, EGEO, BIOL, GEOL, ANTH or permission of instructor

Student Learning Objectives: Upon completion of the course, students will be well versed in theoretical framework for the field of remote sensing and be capable of using data from spaceborne and airborne sensors to derive information about the earth’s land and water features.

Academic Policies: Western’s policies regarding academic honesty; disability and religious accommodations; ethical conduct with technology; equal opportunity; finals; medical excuse; and student conduct that are applicable to all students can be found here: https://syllabi.wwu.edu/

 

 

 

Grades:  1. Midterm exam, 30%; Graduate Students, 25%
                2. Final exam, 30% ; Graduate Students, 25%
                3. Lab Reports, 35% Click here for a list of lab exercises and other information about the lab
                4. Attendance, 5%.
               5. Projects; Graduate Students Only, 10%. Project results will be presented both as a web page.
                                (Click here for information about the content of your Graduate Project)
                                (Click here for a guide to web page authoring for your Graduate Project)
                               
(Click here a list of links to Graduate Student Projects completed during previous years)

 

Late Assignments: grades reduced by 5%/day if turned in late without a valid excuse (illness, family crisis, etc.). Assignments that are more than one week late will not be accepted without a valid excuse (illness, family crisis, etc.)

 

Grading: A =93; A- 90-92; B+ 88-89; B 83-87; B- 80-82; C+ 78-79; C 73-77; C- 70-72; D 60-69; F 0-59
For any exam or other assignment, any appeals or corrections must be done within one week of receiving the graded assignment from me.

Academic Dishonesty: There has been a substantial increase in the number of cases of Academic Dishonesty in recent years.  For this reason, all faculty members have been instructed by the Registrar’s Office to provide students with explicit information about Academic Dishonesty.  Briefly stated, lying, cheating and stealing will not be tolerated in any form.  Actions of this type will result in severe consequences that could include a failing grade in the class and dismissal from the university.  Hopefully, this does not come as a surprise to anyone.  All students should review Appendix D, Academic Dishonesty Policy and Procedure Appendix D, Academic Dishonesty Policy and Procedure in the back of the University Catalog  for a more detailed discussion of what constitutes academic dishonesty.  For more information see the WWU Plagiarism Information Web Site.

Reasonable Accommodation: Reasonable accommodation for persons with documented disabilities should be established within the first week of class and arranged through Disability Resources for Students: Telephone 650-3083; email drs@wwu.edu and on the web at http://www.wwu.edu/depts/drs/

 

 

TENTATIVE LECTURE SCHEDULE:

This schedule will be revised and updated from time to time as the term progresses. You should check this page periodically for updates. This page was last updated on 12/14/2023.

 

Topic

Chapters from
Campbell

Week 1: 1/9- 12        

PART I: FOUNDATIONS; History of Remote Sensing ; EM Radiation

Chapter 1, 2

Tatem et al. Amer. Sci. Review 2008

Smith_G_2005_human_color_vision

Week 2: 1/15-19

PART II: IMAGE ACQUISITION; Image Classification, 

 

 

Chapter 12, Verbyla Chapters 6 & 7 (Book on reserve in main library and these chapters available on the Canvas site)

Week 3: 1/22-26

Remote Sensing Platforms, Digital Mapping Cameras, Digital Imagery

Each graduate student should meet with D. Wallin NO LATER THAN 1/22 to come up with a topic for your graduate project.  There is a 5% penalty/dayon your project grade for failure to meet this deadline.(Click here for details)

 Chapters 3, 4,5

Week 4: 1/29-2/2

Image Interpretation;

Graduate Student Project Outlines due by 1/29.  These outlines will be graded and will contribute 10% towards the grade for this project. .(Click here for details)

Chapters 6

Week 5: 2/5-9

Land Observation Satellites

Chapters 7

Optional: Irons et al. 2012. The next Landsat satellite: The Landsat Data Continuity Mission. Rem. Sens. Env. 122:11-21 Irons et al. 2012

And see: http://ldcm.nasa.gov/index.html

Week 6: 2/12-16

MID-TERM EXAM tentatively scheduled for Monday, Feb. 12

Change Detection

 

.  

Chapter 15, cohen_etal_1998.pdf

kennedy_etal_2007_rse.pdf

Potter et al. 2005

Week 7: 2/19-23

Image Resolution; Image Segmentation

Image_res&Imaged_Segmentation.ppt

Week 8: 2/26-3/1

Thermal Radiation;

PART II: ANALYSIS; Statistics & Preprocessing

Accuracy Assessment, Hyperspectral Remote Sensing.  Graduate Student Project Preliminary Results due by 2/26.  These results will be graded and will contribute 10% towards the grade for this project.  (Click here for details)

Chapter 10, 11

Changes in Spatial Ref Systems in 2022

Chapter 13, 14

Week 9: 3/4-8

Active Microwave and LIDAR

Geographic Information Systems, Land Use and Land Cover Classification

 

Chapters 8, 9

LIDAR Readings:

Lefsky_etal_2002_LIDAR_Remote_Sensing_Ecosystems

Chase_etal_2011_Lidar_Archaeology_Mayan_landscape_Belize_J_Archaeology

Chapter 15, 19

Week 10: 3/11-15

Odd and ends

 

Hydrospheric Sciences; Global Remote Sensing

 Graduate Student Final Projects due by 3/11.  (Click here for details)

 SATELLITE IMAGERY FOR REGIONAL FOREST ASSESSMENT

Impervious Surface Mappin

Chapter 18, 20

Finals week 3/18-22

Check University’s Timetable of Classes for date and time of final exam Click here for the WWU Online Final Exam Schedule

 

 

Links to papers that I will discuss in class:

Cohen, W.B., M. Fiorella, J. Gray, E. Helmer and K. Anderson.  1998.  An efficient and accurate method for mapping forest clearcuts in the Pacific Northwest using Landsat imagery.  Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 64(4):293-300.  cohen_etal_1998_apr_293-300.pdf

 

Cohen, W.B., T.A. Spies, R.J. Alig, D.R. Otter, T.K. Maiersperger and M. Fiorella.  2002.  Characterizing 23 years (1972-95) of stand replacement disturbance in western Oregon forests with Landsat imagery.  Ecosystems 5:122-137.  cohen_etal_2002.pdf

 

He, H.S., D.J. Mladenoff, V.C. Radeloff and T.R. Crow.  1998.  Integration of GIS and Satellite Data.  Ecological Applications 8(4):1072-1083 http://ezproxy.library.wwu.edu/login?url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=1051-0761%28199811%298%3A4%3C1072%3AIOGDAC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5

 

Imhoff, M.L., W.T. Lawrence, C.D. Elvidge, T. Paul, E. Levine, M.V. Privalsky and V. Brown.  1997.  Using nighttime DMSP/OLS images of city lights to estimate the impact of urban land use on soil resources in the United States.  Remote Sensing of Environment 59:105-117. http://ezproxy.library.wwu.edu/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0034-4257(97)00046-1

Impervious surface mapping using CIR Imagery COB_ColorIR2004_Processing.pdf

Kennedy, R.E., W.B. Cohen and T.A. Schroeder.  2007.  Trajectory-based change detection for automated characterization of forest disturbance dynamics.  Remote Sensing of Environment 110:370-386. kennedy_etal_2007_rse.pdf

Potter, C., P.-N. Tan, V. Kumar, C. Kucharik, S. Klooster, V. Genovese, W. Cohen and S. Healey.  2005.  Recent history of large-scale ecosystem disturbances in North America derived from the AVHRR satellite record.  Ecosystems 8:808-824.  http://www.springerlink.com/content/ln7135j19qhm8530/
 



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