Geography
What is a GIS? GIS stands for Geographic Information System A tool people can use to map and analyze geographic data Organizes data by where it occurs
Why is Geography Important? Our activities and decisions involve location in some way Examples: – Where to buy bread on the way home from work – Where to build new roads or hospitals
What is Remote Sensing? Geographers use pictures taken from satellites and sensors to help solve everyday problems. – Examples include aerial imagery, infrared (IR) and microwave sensors, and sonar
What agencies might use remote sensing? Weather forecasters Foresters Agriculture Ocean researchers Biologists Polar researchers Provided by the SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE
How can we use remote sensing? Some of the ways (but not all!) we can use remote sensing: Weather Land use Populations of organisms in the ocean Monitoring sea ice
An example One way that remote sensing can be used is in tracking land use changes through time.
Remote sensing can also be used to detect vegetation and land types and even natural disasters. When using an infrared (IR) sensor, vegetation appears bright red and is easy to spot. IR sensors also allow tornado tracks to be easily seen. LANDSAT ETM+ IR composite image of Delaware Inland Bays Photo from NASA Science News; ASTER sensor