Observation of the Earth and its Environment: Survey of Missions and Sensors (Fourth Edition)

OBSERVATION OF THE EARTH AND ITS ENVIRONMENT: SURVEY OF MISSIONS AND SENSORS (FOURTH EDITION) Herber Kramer, 2002, 1540 pp., $199.00, hardbound, Springer-Yerlag, ISBN 3-540-42388-5

Of all of the books in my office, this is the one that I refer to most frequently. Anyone working in the field of remote sensing will eventually need the answers to questions such as, "What is the instrument complement of UARS?" or "What is the spatial resolution of EROS-Al?" Even in this age of online resources, the best and fastest way to answer those questions is to consult this book. Herbert Kramer has provided a comprehensive and up-to-date compendium of spaceborne missions that are designed to perform not only earth remote sensing, but also upper-atmosphere and ionosphere sensing, near-earth space environmental monitoring, and technology demonstrations. Thus, the word "environment" in the book title should be interpreted in the broadest possible sense. Nearly all relevant spaceborne missions, past and present, and those that appear to be reasonably firmly planned, can be found. The encyclopedic portion of the text on spaceborne missions totals over 1000 pages, and that alone would compose a unique reference text. But there is much more to this book. The first chapter includes an exhaustive 157-page "short" history of earth observation. The section titled "Reference Data and Definitions" could itself be a useful 110-page guidebook on remote sensing technologies. And in keeping with the theme of choosing modest titles, the 84page section of "Acronyms and Abbreviations" is far more than that. It includes excellent descriptions of the functions of many remote sensingrelated organizations, useful tables, and concise histories of the organizational name changes and mergers that many companies around the world have undergone over the decades. I do not know anyone in this field who is not confused by those changes, and this summary is very helpful.

The portion of the book in which the spaceborne missions and sensors are detailed is both broad and deep. In parts A through N, the missions are organized into areas such as "Atmosphere/Radiation/Aeronomy Missions," "Commercial Imaging Satellites," "Data Collection Systems," "Earth Observation/Monitoring Missions," "Meteorology-GEO Missions," "Space Science/ Solar-Terrestrial Missions," and so on. The mission descriptions include in-depth information about the sponsor, the spacecraft, the hardware providers, and each individual sensor (instrument). Much information that is difficult to find elsewhere is presented in an organized fashion. For instance, there is a full description of the extensive sensor complement on the Russian Priroda module that was part of the Mir space station. There is a complete description of the Indian IRS series of satellites and their sensors. There is a table of the complete history of NOAA's weather satellites and sensor complements. There is even an inclusion of the odd little fact that the Russian OkeanO satellite series is a follow-up to the Okean-O 1 series.

The entire contents of the book are also provided on a CD-ROM. The CD also contains a 327-page survey of airborne sensors. The author states that most of his effort in updating this book since the third edition was published in 1996 was spent on the spaceborne missions, since that is where more of the changes occurred. But the information on airborne missions is quite useful and detailed. Remarkably, there is also an 80-page summary of remote sensing field campaigns. To my knowledge, this information has not been gathered in any other single resource.

This is the fourth and unquestionably the best (and quite possibly the last) edition of this book. Some of the aspects of my professional life require that I maintain cognizance of past, present, and planned earth remote sensing missions worldwide. I can thus attest to the quality and thoroughness of this book. Given the freeze date of mid-2001 on the information, nearly every mission that merits discussion is included. I could only identify two omissions that probably should have been included-namely, ARIES and AVStar. I personally know Herbert Kramer to be a tireless and dedicated individual, and it takes someone with those attributes to see a task like this to completion. In the interest of full disclosure, it should be stated that I provided the author with certain historical and mission information, definitions, technical and organizational advice, and proofreading. My opinion of the past editions was such that I was happy to donate my personal time to help with this latest effort.

No book of this magnitude and scope can be perfect, however, and this one is no exception. It is sorely in need of an alphabetical index of missions. The index of sensors is a help, but if you were looking for the mission SUNSAT, you probably wouldn't know the names of the sensors on board. The list of acronyms and abbreviations has selected page references, but not all mission names are acronyms and locating the others can be difficult. Additionally, the book often presupposes a detailed level of knowledge in the reader. For example, you will find the German BIRD fire-and-hot-spot monitoring mission under "Satellite Emergency Services and Environmental Monitoring" rather than "Earth Observation/Monitoring Missions." You will find the South African SUNSAT under "University/Student-Developed Satellites & Payloads." And, somewhat inappropriately, you will find the sea surface-winds QuikSCAT mission under "Atmosphere/Radiation/Aeronomy Missions."

There are also various technical problems with the book. Pushbroom and whiskbroom scanning are discussed under "Observation Schemes" on pages 12101212 and in the glossary on page 1355. While the figures are clear, the discussion of whiskbroom scanning is inaccurate, confusing, and poorly organized. The discussion of spatial resolution on pages 1235-1236 refers only to the geometrical projection of a detector onto the ground (IFOV). It does not discuss the role of integration time and the resultant smear of that projected footprint. Nor does it discuss the role of Ground Sample Distance, which can be found separately in the glossary on page 1339, nor the Modulation Transfer Function, which can be found on page 1351. The other quibbles I have with the book are relatively minor. Some have to do with an occasional incorrect usage of terms, such as the use of "timeliness"when "refresh" is intended-in the definition of "In-situ soundings" on page 1342. Less obvious flaws relate to the book's omissions. A definition of "beamsplitter" is found on page 1324, as a device that splits a light beam, but no definition is found for "dichroic beamsplitter," which is a device that is frequently used for spectral separation in multispectral imagers.

But those criticisms pale beside the overall value of the book. This book is a tour de force. It is an indispensable reference book that belongs on the bookshelf of every serious practitioner of remote sensing science and technology, and I have already enthusiastically recommended it to colleagues around the world. In my estimation, it is a unique resource and has my very highest recommendation.

-DAVID L. GLACKIN

[Author Affiliation]

David L. Glackin is a remote sensing scientist with The Aerospace Corporation, Los Angeles, California, where he is on senior staff. He has authored over 70 publications in remote sensing, solar physics, stellar atmospheres, geophysics, and image processing; given many invited talks and chaired sessions at international conferences; and worked on remote sensing physics, phenomenology, sensor concepts, sensor design, and data interpretation for earth environment and solar applications across the spectrum from X-rays to microwaves. He is also the principal author of the book Civil, Commercial and International Remote Sensing Systems and Geoprocessing.