Laboratory Exercise Number 2

Processing Spectral Signatures

DUE DATE: February 21, 2018
Objectives
1. To study the spectral characteristics of common land cover types
2. To acquire proficiency in processing spectral signatures
3. To relate measured spectral signatures to properties of materials/cover types

Data and Materials

1. Spectral signatures of different objects (banana leaf, beach sand, concrete pavement, grass,
pineapple, soil, steel roof).
2. Spectral response functions of different satellite remote sensing systems (first four bands of
Landsat 4, 5 and 7 TM, ASTER VNIR, SPOT5 and IKONOS.
3. Solar radiation data (extra-terrestrial and sea level)

Procedure
1. Compute the integrated spectral response function for each band of the sensors. The formula
is:
 max
ISRF   S   d  (0.1)
 min

2. Using the relative spectral response (RSR) function, compute for the weighted reflectance value
for each of the bands in Landsat 7 ETM+, SPOT 5, ASTER VNIR and IKONOS Multi for each of
the spectral signatures. Skip computation for the noisy ranges. The RSR-weighted reflectance
is
 max  b 
 R    S   d 
min  b 
R b   max  b 
(0.2)
 S   d 
min  b 

Plot values of R  b  against wavelength for each sensor type. Group your plots by object target
type.
3. Using the Internet and other references (Cite your source), find the published values of the
spectral range (minimum, maximum and central wavelength) of each of the sensors. Consider
these ranges as the response “curves”. How much difference in the computed reflectance for
the sensor bands would result by averaging the spectra over the range against that using
response functions? How about using the value of the central wavelength only?
4. If the soil spectra was obtained at 10:20 am in January 5, 2005 at 14° 20’ N 121° 13’ E,
compute for the spectral radiance of soil at a) sea level, b) extra-terrestrial level. On this day,
the Landsat ETM+ satellite passed over the area. Neglecting atmospheric effects, what is the
possible radiance detected by the sensor in the four bands?
5. How much would be the difference between the reflectance computed for the bands 1 to 4 of
 Landsat 7 ETM with that of Landsat 5 TM of the soil spectra. Quantify your result.
6. Landsat data is distributed in 8-bit (0-255) format. Would the difference between the sets of
visible-NIR bands for Landsat 4, 5 and 7 vary significantly?
7. Given the solar irradiance data at mean sea level, compute for the PAR (photosynthetically
active radiation) for each of the vegetation classes. How different is this value for the PAN
reflectance band value for SPOT 5, Landsat ETM+ and IKONOS.
8. Determine which of the bands available to you is best for discriminating a particular type from
another type. Make a matrix to include all type of cover pairs. Examine the bands of each
sensor type.
9. If you were to choose only two spectral bands (for each sensor) to discriminate between all
targets, which bands would you select and why?
10. Why is it important to examine the spectral reflectance curves of targets prior to a remote
sensing project?

Requirements
1. Write a report on your computations and answer to the questions above.
2. Include relevant equations and derivations if necessary.
3. Where appropriate, visualize your computations by plotting the results.