Reading the Earth from Orbit: A Narrative Review of Remote Sensing's Literature --- Multispectral, Hyperspectral, and Radar
Year: 2026
Type: review
Abstract: Remote sensing turned the earth's surface into a readable document: satellites' multispectral and hyperspectral scanners and radar instruments read the planet in wavelengths and geometries no human eye sees. This article presents a narrative review of that literature. The synthesis is organized around three themes: the canon and its instruments, in which Lillesand and Kiefer's, Campbell and Wynne's, Jensen's, and Curran's textbooks fixed the physics --- reflectance, resolution, and the sensor's trade-offs; the spectral and radar frontiers, in which Goetz and Vane's imaging spectrometry, Oliver and Quegan's and Henderson and Lewis's radar manuals, Zebker and Goldstein's interferometric topography, and Massonnet and Feigl's deformation interferometry opened the hyperspectral cube and the SAR's phase --- chemistry and millimeters from orbit; and the open-data settlement, in which Woodcock's free-Landsat declaration, Wulder's continuity analysis, and the missions' archive established the era's economy --- four decades of earth observation available to every researcher. It is concluded that the literature describes three simultaneous revolutions --- spectral, geometric, and economic --- and their union: the earth read in chemistry from hyperspectra, in millimeters from radar phase, and in history from the free archives, remote sensing becoming the planet's long-term memory.
Authors: Revista, Zen, GEOGRAPHY, 10
Institution: Faculdades Guarulhos
Language: English
Topic: Remote Sensing and Land Use
Subfield: Geography, Planning and Development
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7204815419