Télédétection des variables climatiques et environnementales

Spatial observation is playing an increasingly important role in environmental sciences; it allows for monitoring of continental surfaces, oceans, and the atmosphere over increasingly diverse time and spatial scales.

The course is divided into several sections:

1. An introduction presenting spatial observation in the context of global change monitoring; it briefly describes how a space mission is developed, balancing societal needs and observational constraints.
2. The course then introduces the basics of radiation and the associated quantities (radiance intensity, flux, etc.).
3. Next, it addresses surface sensing, where various applications such as temperature monitoring (SST, LST), vegetation cover, and fires are reviewed.
4. Atmospheric radiative transfer is then presented to understand how spatial observation is used to track global atmospheric changes.
5. The course introduces inverse methods for environmental sciences.
6. Finally, the course covers the concepts of measurement errors, uncertainties, and validation.

By the end of the course, the student will have understood satellite measurement and how it is used for various applications in environmental sciences. They will also have gained insight into the main Earth observation space missions and their objectives.

Theoretical course

References, bibliography, and recommended reading

• A First Course in Atmospheric Radiation, G. Petty, Sundog Publishing, 2nd edition, 2006
• Remote Sensing and Global Environmental Change, S. Purkis and V. Klemas, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011

Course notes

• Université virtuelle

Contacts

• Sophie Bauduin; sophie.bauduin@ulb.be
• Lieven Clarisse; lieven.clarisse@ulb.be
• Simon Whitburn; simon.whitburn@ulb.be

Campus

Solbosch

Method(s) of evaluation

• Oral examination

Oral examination

Oral exam

Mark calculation method (including weighting of intermediary marks)

The note will be based on the exam.

Language(s) of evaluation

• english
• french