New to This Edition
Randolph H. Wynne, PhD, is Professor in the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation at Virginia Tech. He also serves as Director of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program in Remote Sensing. He teaches courses focused on the environmental and natural resources applications of remote sensing at the senior and graduate levels. Dr. Wynne's research interests are in the applications of remote sensing to forestry, natural resource management, ecosystem ecology, and earth system science. He is a recipient of the Estes Memorial Teaching Award from the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing and the Award in Forest Science from the Society of American Foresters. Dr. Wynne is Coeditor of the journal Science of Remote Sensing and Associate Editor of Remote Sensing of Environment.
Valerie A. Thomas, PhD, is Professor in the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation at Virginia Tech. She also serves as Co-Director of the Center for Environmental Analytics and Remote Sensing within the College of Natural Resources and Environment. Dr. Thomas teaches remote sensing courses in forest lidar applications and hyperspectral applications for natural resources. She also teaches about the linkages between forests, society, and climate. Dr. Thomas's research related to remote sensing of forest cover, function, and change has been funded through federal and state agencies and by industry.
"The sixth edition of this classic text covers the fundamental principles of remote sensing as well as applications. A particular strength of the text is its coverage of the historical development of the field, from the first aerial photographs and Landsat satellites to today's small satellites, unmanned aircraft, and mobile sensors. The development of new sensor technologies, such as different types of lidar, is well described. Each chapter ends with lists of learning resources on the Internet, review questions, and references. I recommend this sixth edition as both a core text for undergraduate and graduate courses and a useful reference for remote sensing professionals."--Håkan Olsson, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Forest Remote Sensing, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
"Introduction to Remote Sensing has an excellent reputation as one of the preeminent textbooks for undergraduate courses in remote sensing and image processing. As a university instructor, I first used this text in 1996. Twenty-five years later, the sixth edition has evolved to keep pace with a highly technical discipline. The book captures how the field has changed in terms of remote sensing technologies, image processing techniques, and software packages. We are entering an era where new sensing technologies and publicly available high-resolution satellite data are readily accessible and available for short- and long-term studies; the opportunities provided by these changes are described in detail in the sixth edition. I thank the authors for their diligence in providing up-to-date information in this dynamic area. Congratulations!"--Paul Treitz, PhD, Department of Geography and Planning, Queen's University, Ontario, Canada
"I have found prior editions to cover all the topics I want my students to learn in Introductory Remote Sensing. In the sixth edition, the updated chapter on land observation satellites provides a nice overview of optical systems currently in operation, as well as history of the longer programs. The section on satellite systems in Chapter 3 provides some good background on the parts of satellites and their characteristics like orbit, footprints, and constellations. Other updates include a shorter chapter on the history of remote sensing, a new chapter on forestry, and some reorganization of the chapters. I look forward to adopting the sixth edition!"--Mary C. Henry, PhD, Department of Geography, Miami University