Because of their great distance from Earth and their extra-sensitive equipment, satellites, such as Landsat 5, can provide information about Earth that would not otherwise be available. In order to determine the extent of environmental change, students are first taught how to identify regions on a satellite image.
Students next learn several techniques for estimating the area of regions of interest.
Deciding which portions of the image to measure requires the students to develop an understanding of the electromagnetic spectrum. Students are also exposed to the statistical nature of discrete digitized images.