ABSTRACT
Environmental monitoring using remote sensing is a top-down approach in which an instrument, usually mounted on a satellite, is used to produce images of Earth's atmosphere and surface. Using such instruments, it is possible to detect features at electromagnetic wavelengths that the human eye cannot sense. There are several Earth observation programmes aimed at environmental monitoring. One of the first was Landsat project, a joint programme between the United States Geological Survey and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration whose main goal was to collect global land surface images. Copernicus is the European Commission programme for monitoring Earth. For a comprehensive and reliable environmental monitoring system, people require sensors capable of sensing the whole Earth's surface, across a wide range of wavelengths, and on a daily basis. One of the strongest controls on Earth system's energy balance is the land surface condition, in particular, the albedo that determines the fraction of the incident radiation that is reflected back into space.
