Earth Science and Climate Change

GIS, Remote Sensing and Geospatial Sciences

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The collection of information about an area or a particular object without coming in contact is the science of remote sensing. Satellites and aircrafts are most commonly employed for remote sensing. Remote Sensing is limited to methods which utilize electromagnetic radiation to detect and/ or measure the characteristics of the target. Remote Sensing has grown from aerial photography in its earliest stages to utilizing electronic-optical sensors which produce multispectral images that are analyzed by computer software. Remote sensing finds use in atmospheric monitoring, oceans and coastal monitoring, hydrological and geological sciences, forestry and agriculture.  Geographic Information System is designed to stock, retrieve, manage, analyze and interpret all kinds of spatial and geographic data. GIS has leaped from physically overlaying maps on top of one another to look up any map on a computer and change and overlay these maps to create complex data sets and new information. Another advancement in GIS technology is its relationship with GPS system. GIS provides real-time, on ground data that GPS utilizes to apprise its users of their location and surroundings. Three dimensional displays and the ability to overlay one 3-D map on top of another is now very common- the next step will be the introduction of four dimensional maps, which would add the dimension of time as well.