1

Aral Sea profileAral Sea profile

250

km

196019601960 1985 1986 19871960 1985 1986 1987

1988 1989 1990 19911988 1989 1990 1991

1992 1993 1994 19951992 1993 1994 1995

1996 1997 1998 2010 ?1996 1997 1998 2010 ?

Selection of areaSelection of area

Aral Sea

Kzyl-Orda

Syrdarya river

Ajdarkul lake

Cardara water supply reservoir

Area of interest

185

km

185 km

Dried seabed

Salt residuals

24 February 2000

2 April 1999 17 May 1998

2

7 June 2000 4 July 1998

21 August 1998 22 September 1998

3 October 1999 25 November 1998

3

Image ProcessingImage Processing

17 May 2001 4 July 2001

21 August 2001 22 September 2001

False colour: Band 6 (thermal) on Red

Band 4 (near-infrared) on Green

Band 2 (green) on Blue• Landsat• The era of Landsat satellites started in 1973 with

the launch of the first MSS satellite. Since then, the specifications of the Landsat satellites have improved and data from the ETM+ sensor on Landsat 7 provides 15 m panchromatic data and 30 m multispectral data. A huge archive of data is available, making Landsat an ideal and cost-effective choice in change detection applications.

• A single Landsat scene covers app. 185 x 185 km.

• The revisit time is also good, 16 days between acquisitions.

0.52-0.902.09-2.3510.4-12.51.55-1.750.78-0.900.63-0.690.53-0.610.45-0.52ETM +

Panchr.Band 8

MidinfraredBand 7

Therm.infraredBand 6

Mid.infraredBand 5

NearinfraredBand 4

RedBand 3

GreenBand 2

BlueBand 1

Sensor

Bandwidth (µm)

TM AND ETM+ SPECTRAL BANDWIDTHS FOR LANDSAT 7 ETM+

• QuickBird• Featuring the highest spatial resolution of any

commercial remote sensing satellite, QuickBirdoffers 60 cm resolution (panchromatic or pansharpened) and 2.4 m multispectral collected in a wide swath of 16.5 km which means that large areas can be acquired in one image. Prices start from as low as app. 500 US $ for a 5 x 5 km area.

Pan:450 - 900 nmBlue: 450 - 520 nmGreen:520 - 600 nmRed:630 - 690 nmNear IR: 760 - 900 nm

Image Bands

Pan: 0.61 m (nadir) to 0.72 m (25° off-nadir)MS: 2.44 m (nadir) to 2.88 m (25° off-nadir)

Resolution: 11 bitsDigitization 23 meter horizontal (CE90%)Metric Accuracy 16.5 km x 16.5 km at nadirSwath Width 1-3.5 days depending on latitude (30° off-nadir)Revisit Time 93.5 minutesOrbit Time

10:30 a.m. (descending node)Equator Crossing Time

7.1 km/secondSpeed 97.2 degrees, sun-synchronousOrbit Inclination 450 kmOrbit Altitude October 18, 2001Launch Date

QuickBird Characteristics

4

Tehran, Iran -QuickBird

• Ikonos• Ikonos was launched by SpaceImaging in 1999

and was the first commercial satellite in the world to offer very high resolution satellite data. Ikonosoffers spatial resolutions of 1 m panchromatic or pansharpened and 4 m multispectral. Digital elevation models (DEM) can be produced by tilting the camera in the along-flight direction.

Pan:450 - 900 nmBlue: 450 - 520 nmGreen:520 - 600 nmRed:630 - 690 nmNear IR: 760 - 900 nm

Image Bands

Pan: 0.81 m (nadir) to 1.00 m (26° off-nadir)MS: 3.2 m (nadir) to 4.00 m (26° off-nadir)

Resolution: 11 bitsDigitization 12 meter horizontal (CE90%)Metric Accuracy 11 km x 11 km at nadirSwath Width 1.5-3 days depending on latitude Revisit Time 98 minutesOrbit Time

10:30 a.m. (descending node)Equator Crossing Time

7 km/secondSpeed 98.1 degrees, sun-synchronousOrbit Inclination 681 kmOrbit Altitude September 24, 1999Launch Date

Ikonos Characteristics

Airport -Frankfurt Ikonos

SPOTVarious SPOT sensors are currently in orbit with spatial resolutions from 20 m down to 2.5 metres. The SPOT

archive dates back to 1986 when SPOT-1 was launched and this makes SPOT an ideal solution for time series

analysis. Like QuickBird and Ikonos, the SPOT satellite can be programmed to acquire new images from any

location on Earth.

Pan:500-730nmGr:500-590nmRed:610-680nmNIR:780-890nm

SW:1.58-2.75µm

Pan:500-730nmGr:500-590nmRed:610-680nmNIR:780-890nm

SW:1.58-2.75µm

Pan:500-730nmGr:500-590nmRed:610-680nmNIR:780-890nm

Image Bands

Pan: 2.5-5 m

MS: 10-20 m

Pan: 10 m

MS: 20 m

Pan: 10 m

MS: 20 m

Resolution:

8 bitsDigitization

50 m350 m350 mMetric Accuracy

60 x 60 km at nadirSwath Width

2-3 daysRevisit Time

101.4 minutesOrbit Time

10:30 a.m. Equator Crossing Time

7.4 km/secondSpeed

98.7 degreesOrbit Inclination

822 kmOrbit Altitude

2 May 200524 Mar 199822 Jan 1990Launch Date

SPOT 5SPOT 4SPOT 2

SPOT Characteristics

5

Saudi Arabia SPOT

17 May 2001

4 July 2001 21 August 2001

22 September 2001

Spatial ResolutionSpatial Resolution

6

Image of Eiffel Tower – Paris

QuickBird satellite: 0.6m resolution Ikonos satellite: 1m

True colour

Image of Libya Airport

Spot satellite: 2.5m resolution

Image of Oman for Geological purposes

Landsat satellite: 15m resolution

Image of Yemen for Geological purposes

Aster satellite: 15m resolution

False colour composite:Red: SWIR band; Green: NIR band; Blue: Red band. In this display scheme, vegetation appears in shades of green. Bare soils and clearcutareas appear purplish or magenta.The patch of bright red area on the left is the location of active fires. A smoke plume originating from the active fire site appears faint bluish in colour.

7

False colour composite:Red: NIR band; Green: Red band; Blue: Green band. Vegetation appears in shades of red.The smoke plume appears bright bluish white. 2 bit image

4 bit image 8 bit image

16 bit image

Thermal image of coast displaying temperatures