-1- REMOTE SENSING COURSES Syllabus - Theory 1 - Basic Principles of Remote Sensing Prof. dr. Frank Veroustraete and Prof. dr. ir. Roeland Samson (Department of Bioscience engineering) Contents Remote Sensing Courses ..................................................................................................... 1 Syllabus - Theory 1 - Basic Principles of Remote Sensing ............................................... 1 Introduction......................................................................................................................... 2 Basic Principles of Electromagnetic Wave Propagation ....................................................... 3 Basic Concepts, Equations and Terms ................................................................................. 4 1.1 Spherical spreading ............................................................................................... 8 1.2 Absorption ............................................................................................................ 8 1.3 Scattering .............................................................................................................. 8 1.4 Resolution ............................................................................................................. 9 1.5 References ............................................................................................................ 9 The Electromagnetic Spectrum .......................................................................................... 10 1.6 Measuring the electromagnetic spectrum ............................................................. 10 1.7 Wavelength, Energy, and Frequency ................................................................... 11 1.8 A Radio Wave is not a Gamma-Ray, a Microwave is not an X-ray ... or is it?...... 12 1.9 Why do we have to be in space to enable the observation of the complete EM Spectrum? ..................................................................................................................... 13 1.10 Light as a Wave ............................................................................................... 14 Exercises ........................................................................................................................... 15