Help with Remote Sensing Finals: Spatial Res., Radiometric Res., Resampling

[ChrisKooij]

hey guys,
I'm in a serious pickle, its finals week and I have a final for remote sensing coming up. I was recently hit by a car riding my bike to school and have struggled studying for this final. I feel like I have a grasp on the main concepts of the course but am reaching out to any experts who might help me clarify some questions that I have.

1. My first question has to do with spatial resolution of images. obviously finer resolution images have a lot of benefits, but what are the benefits of coarse resolution imagery besides the lower amount of data? I remember my teacher talking about looking at tank tracks during the Persian Gulf War when he worked for the government. He said that the coarser resolution imagery was better for finding the tank positions along the border, WHY?

2. Please describe radiometric resolution. Why is having more a better thing? Compare the difference in radiometric resolution from the Landsat legacy sensors (4, 5, 7) to the new Landsat 8 sensor and describe in detail the differences between the two systems. What does the increase in radiometric resolution for Landsat 8 allow you to do differently regarding remote sensing applications

3. The last question is about resampling of imagery based on differences in resolution. I know that you should always resample based on the higher resolution imagery but I am having a hard time articulating exactly why.

<Mentor's note: Moved into General Physics due to the generality of the question, and the absence of qualities like specific equations to match our homework forum.>

 

[jedishrfu]

I would ask your prof some or all of these questions. I know it seems strange but he or she may answer specially if they were mentioned in class.

Also connect with your classmates to see if anyone can provide some insight.

You’ll get a much faster response than from here.

I think with the tank tracks they would appear as a line in a coarser image. Think of editing an image if you zoom in way too far you’ll see blocky pixels and can’t determine any features but as you zoom out you start to recognize things at that scale.

This article talks about it a bit.

https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/

 

[jedishrfu]

Resampling the higher resolution, could that be to eliminate any blurring in the image detail?

http://fromcameratoprint.com/FAQs/whyresample.html

It looks like resampling can make a better image than resizing the image.

Here’s something on Landsat 8

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landsat_8