Remote Sensing of Earth Resources and Environment – serie

Remote sensing is the study of a region from a distance, particularly from an airplane or a spacecraft. It is a tool that can be used in conjunction with other methods of research and investigation. This tool is especially applicable to the study of the deserts and arid lands of the Earth because of their immense size and their inaccessibility to detailed study by conventional means. In this book examples are given of the utility of aerial photographs and space images in the study of semi-arid, arid, and hyper-arid terrains. Emphasis is placed on the physical features and terrain types using examples from around the world. The authors I have called upon to prepare each chapter are renowned specialists whose contributions have received international recognition. To the general reader, this book is a review of our knowledge of the relatively dry parts of the Earth, their classification and varied features, their evolution in space and time, and their development potentials. To the specialist, it is a detailed account of the deserts and arid lands, not only in North America, but also their relatively unknown counterparts in North Africa, Australia, China, India, and Arabia.

The purpose of this book is to introduce land planners to the principles of remote sensing and to the applications remote sensing has to the land planning process. The potential applications to land planning are many and varied. For example, remote sensing techniques, and aerial photography in particular, can provide planners with an overview of their communities they can obtain in no other way. These same techniques can also provide planners with a whole variety of land resource data and have the capability of updating these data on a syste­ matic basis. Maps, too, can be produced from a combination of remote sensing and cartographic techniques - engineering maps, topographic maps, property maps, and a host of other thematic maps. These maps and the photos from which they are made can be used by planners to explain proposed land use or zoning changes at public meetings. They may also be introduced as evidence in courts of law if later the results of these changes are contested by individual or groups of landowners. Since land planning tends to be conducted at local levels, the discussion in this book focuses on the uses of aerial photography - the most effective tool for small area analysis. The discussion is also directed at those who are not regular users of remote sensing techniques.

Satelli te oceanography, as the term is used in this book, is a generic term that means application of the technology of aerospace electromagnetic remote sensing to the study of the oceans. The key words here are "application of technology ••. to the study of the oceans." The goal is to learn more about our planet's hydrosphere. As such, remote sensing technology is another tool in the oceanographer's sea bag, just like a bathythermograph or a plankton net. But is a whole book necessary if remote sensing is just another tool? While it is true that no one has written a whole book on plankton nets, volumes have been written about what is found in those nets. Today's state-of-the-art measurements from spacecraft or aircraft first must be interpreted in terms of their physics; then the interpretations must be understood in terms of oceanic processes. This is not materially different from the analogy to Ii plankton net; marine biolo­ gists still argue about what didn't get caught in the net.

The purpose of this book is to introduce land planners to the principles of remote sensing and to the applications remote sensing has to the land planning process. The potential applications to land planning are many and varied. For example, remote sensing techniques, and aerial photography in particular, can provide planners with an overview of their communities they can obtain in no other way. These same techniques can also provide planners with a whole variety of land resource data and have the capability of updating these data on a syste­ matic basis. Maps, too, can be produced from a combination of remote sensing and cartographic techniques - engineering maps, topographic maps, property maps, and a host of other thematic maps. These maps and the photos from which they are made can be used by planners to explain proposed land use or zoning changes at public meetings. They may also be introduced as evidence in courts of law if later the results of these changes are contested by individual or groups of landowners. Since land planning tends to be conducted at local levels, the discussion in this book focuses on the uses of aerial photography - the most effective tool for small area analysis. The discussion is also directed at those who are not regular users of remote sensing techniques.

Remote sensing is the study of a region from a distance, particularly from an airplane or a spacecraft. It is a tool that can be used in conjunction with other methods of research and investigation. This tool is especially applicable to the study of the deserts and arid lands of the Earth because of their immense size and their inaccessibility to detailed study by conventional means. In this book examples are given of the utility of aerial photographs and space images in the study of semi-arid, arid, and hyper-arid terrains. Emphasis is placed on the physical features and terrain types using examples from around the world. The authors I have called upon to prepare each chapter are renowned specialists whose contributions have received international recognition. To the general reader, this book is a review of our knowledge of the relatively dry parts of the Earth, their classification and varied features, their evolution in space and time, and their development potentials. To the specialist, it is a detailed account of the deserts and arid lands, not only in North America, but also their relatively unknown counterparts in North Africa, Australia, China, India, and Arabia.