Earth is made of four interconnected global systems (spheres): geosphere (or lithosphere), biosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere. In the past three decades, we started to realize that many of the environmental problems are global or regional in scope, for example, climate change, El Niño, and deforestation. Yet our understanding of these spheres and the related environmental problems is limited by the ability to acquire needed information at a proper scale. Remote sensing, which we will learn in this class, can help.

Remote sensing is the technique to obtain data about an object without physical contact with it. It is a powerful tool for extracting quantitative information of Earth's surface and even subsurface. This course will provide a detailed understanding of remote sensing from physical principles to applications. Common platforms and tools for remote sensing will be introduced. Necessary skills to work on remote sensing data will be taught through labs. Students will also learn the remote sensing principles and applications through homework problems and the final independent research projects. In each week, there is a session named “Data of the week”, during which we learn certain aspects of remote sensing by examining remote sensing images.