One of the primary missions of the YCEO is to support education and training in the use of satellite remote sensing for the Yale community. Each year the YCEO supports one or more courses at Yale for upper level undergraduate and graduate students. In addition, the YCEO periodically offers a series of two-hour workshops to introduce the topic of remote sensing and enable students to perform basic image analysis. If you wish to discuss remote sensing education you can contact one of the YCEO Faculty Advisors or member of the YCEO staff.
The semester long course covers the theory and application of satellite remote sensing as a tool for environmental science. The lectures and lab exercises during the first half of the course include the fundamentals of electromagnetic radiation, reflection and absorption, satellite and sensor technology, GIS, map projections, and digital image analysis, as well as practical training with advanced image processing software and internet data acquisition techniques. The latter half of the course consists of a series of environmental case studies which use satellite image processing techniques to solve a particular problem or answer a particular question. These applications may include: forest harvesting and land use, geomorphology, ecology, epidemiology and infectious disease, archaeology, oceanography, geology, hydrology, meteorology and climate studies. In addition to weekly labs, each student complets an independent term research project and presents the results in lieu of a final examination.
This is an advanced course on the use of satellite remote sensing to monitor terrestrial land‐use and land‐cover change. The course combines lectures, seminar discussions, and labs to emphasize digital image processing techniques to detect landscape dynamics using data from satellite sensors. Lab assignments will focus on data from the Landsat sensors. Topics include pre‐processing data for change detection, accuracy assessment of change maps, and methodologies to detect changes such as urban
expansion, deforestation, seasonal variations in vegetation, agricultural expansion, vegetation health,
and wildfires.
Prerequisites: F&ES 77001a/ARCG 762a/G&G 562a or consent of instructor.
The Center has developed a series of satellite-based remote sensing workshops, each approximately 2 hours in length. There is a lecture covering relevant materials for the first half hour, followed by a 90 minute lab exercise. Workshops are limited to 12 students per session and pre-registration is required so an account can be created for you at the Center. Please contact Larry Bonneau at the Yale Center for Earth Observation to enroll in a workshop.
The first workshop, Introduction to Remote Sensing and ENVI Software, will discuss basic concepts of remote sensing and provide students with the opportunity to work with remote sensing software to display and manipulate imagery. This is a prerequisite to subsequent workshops.
The second workshop in the series is Converting Satellite Images into Data. This workshop introduces methods to quantify and categorize satellite images. Students will classifiy images and create useful indexes from satellite images.
The third workshop in the series is Using Vector Data with Raster-Based Satellite Imagery. GIS data can be used to define study areas, focus analysis, and enhance image displays and maps.
The final workshop in the series is Image Interpretation Techniques. Students will experiment with a variety of image analysis techniques to help identify features in the landscape.
Additional workshops may be offered if there is a demand. Several topics are under consideration include:
You should contact Larry Bonneau at the Yale Center for Earth Observation if you are interested in attending an upcoming workshop.
For those of you without the time or inclination to take a semester-long course, or just want an introduction to these technologies, you can explore the World Wide Web. The internet contains a large amount of information about Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). There are tutorials, FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions), pictures and long lists of links to interesting places. Educators may be interested in the following set of links for introductory information on Remote Sensing and GIS, as well as sources of free or low-cost data.
19 March 2013