Variations in Apparent Surface Temperature as a Function of Imager Viewing Angle
Date
2010-05
Authors
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Remote sensing has the potential to be a useful tool for analyzing the physical
properties and spatio-temporal variations of sediments in intertidal environments. In order
for this goal to be achieved, we must first understand the behavior of these sediments under
different environmental conditions, such as temperature and moisture content. A variety of
remote sensors can have inherent errors as a function of viewing angle and the effect that
parameters like sediment type and nominal temperature have on these errors. Thus, these
effects must quantified. In order to have control over the type of sediment and temperature
of the samples being analyzed, we constructed a laboratory environment to explore the
effect that imager viewing angle has on different sediments for five nominal temperature
values. It is found that apparent temperature variations are only on the order of 1° C for
imager angles with respect to nadir up to about 30 degrees. However, for larger angles,
those more indicative of tower-based imager deployments, apparent temperature variations
on the order of 4° C were observed. Variations in error for temperature as well as sediment
type are also presented and discussed in this paper.
Description
Keywords
imager viewing angle, surface temperature, remote sensors, intertidal environments