What are the 5 types of satellite images?
When working with satellite imagery, you can categorize them into various types based on the data they capture and the purpose they serve.
Here are five common types of satellite images:
1. Visible Light Images: These images capture the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, including colours the human eye can perceive. Visible light images are often used for general observations, weather forecasting, and assessing the visual appearance of Earth’s surface. They provide details on land cover, clouds, and the overall landscape.
2. Infrared Images: Infrared imagery is acquired using sensors that detect infrared radiation emitted or reflected by objects on Earth. Infrared images are helpful for applications like weather monitoring (tracking cloud temperature and moisture), land surface temperature analysis, and vegetation health assessment. They can reveal temperature differences and identify areas of moisture or heat stress.
3. Multispectral Images: A combination of the above are multispectral images, which are composed of data collected in several distinct bands across the electromagnetic spectrum, including both visual and infrared light. These images provide information beyond what is visible to the human eye, including data in the infrared and near-infrared bands. Multispectral imagery is valuable for land cover classification, crop health assessment, and environmental monitoring, among other applications.
4. Hyperspectral Images: Hyperspectral imaging captures data across the electromagnetic spectrum in numerous narrow and contiguous spectral bands. Hyperspectral images provide a wealth of spectral information for each pixel in the image. This data type is used for detailed analysis of materials, mineral exploration, vegetation species identification, and pollution detection, among other applications.
5. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Images: SAR is a radar-based imaging technology that can operate in various wavelengths, including microwave and radar. SAR images are handy for all-weather, day-and-night observations because they are not dependent on sunlight. SAR data can be employed for applications like terrain mapping, flood monitoring, sea ice tracking, and detecting changes in land surface deformations.
These are just a few examples of satellite image types, and many more specialized forms and combinations of data are available from Earth-observing satellites. The choice of image type depends on the specific application and the kind of information required for analysis and decision-making.
