POTENTIAL AND LIMITATIONS OF INFORMATION EXTRACTION ON THE TERRESTRIAL BIOSPHERE FROM SATELLITE REMOTE-SENSING

The extraction of information on terrestrial environments from satelli te observations requires the use of quantitative models to interpret t he radiation data collected in space. Several approaches are feasible, ranging from the development of models capable of explaining the natu re of the measured physical signal or of characterizing the state of t he system under observation, to the establishment of empirical correla tions between the variables of interest and the remote measurements. T he premises and implications of these approaches are discussed with sp ecial emphasis on the mathematical and numerical requirements. Finding s are condensed in 10 formal propositions, in the hope of clarifying t he nature and domain of applicability of remote sensing. (C) Elsevier Science Inc., 1996.