Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
On May 30, 2013, data from the Landsat 8 satellite (launched on February
11, 2013) became available. This project, known as the Landsat Data Continuity
Mission (LDCM), acquires high-quality data that meet both NASA and the United
States Geological Survey (USGS) scientific and operational requirements for
observing land use and change. Landsat 8 operates in the visible, near-infrared,
shortwave infrared, and thermal infrared spectrums. It uses the Operational Land
Imager (OLI) sensor and the Thermal InfraRed Sensor (TIRS). The OLI collects
data in nine shortwave bands, eight spectral bands at 30-m resolution and one
panchromatic band at 15 m. The TIRS captures data in two long wave thermal
bands with 100-m resolution. Its data is delivered with the OLI data as a single
product. The USGS currently distributes Landsat data at no charge to users, via the
Internet.
The early French SPOT (
Syst`me pour d
Observation de la Terre
,
http://www.
cnes.fr/web/CNES-en/1415-spot.php
)
satellites had two imaging sensors referred to
as High Resolution Visible (HRV). These instruments have two different images
modes: multispectral and panchromatic. The following SPOT missions (i.e., SPOT
4 and SPOT 5) had similar sensors and the VEGETATION instrument (
http://www.
The vegetation program delivers measurements specifically designed to monitor
land surface parameters, approximately once a day on a global basis (some gaps
remain near the equator). It has a medium spatial resolution of 1 km. The mission is
now nearing the end of its life cycle. SPOT 6 was launched in September 2012
(
http://www.geo-airbusds.com/en/147-spot-6-7-satellite-imagery
), while SPOT
7 was launched on June 30, 2014.
There are some very noteworthy satellite missions, especially for the high spatial
resolution images that they provide. IKONOS (
http://www.digitalglobe.com/about-
us/content-collection#ikonos
)
is a commercial satellite that was launched on
24 September, 1999. It provides multispectral and panchromatic images, and was
the first to collect publicly available high-resolution imagery at 0.82-m (i.e., in the
panchromatic band) and 3.2-m resolution (i.e., multispectral mode) at nadir.
Some other commercial satellite projects are Quickbird, WorldView-1, World-
com/about-us/content-collection
)
for details of these missions.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS, see
http://
modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/
)
that was included in NASA
'
s Earth Observing Systems
(EOS) project is important for monitoring agriculture resources. It is a scientific
instrument launched by NASA in 1999 on board the Terra satellite, and in 2002 on
board the Aqua satellite. MODIS Terra
'
s orbit passes from north to south across the
equator in the morning, while Aqua passes south to north over the equator in the
afternoon. MODIS has a vital role supporting policy makers in making appropriate
decisions concerning environmental protection. See Roy et al. (
2002
) for more
information.
The Proba-V sensors (
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Technology/Proba_
'
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