Detecting shallow subsurface anomalies with airborne and spaceborne remote sensing: A review
Advances in air and space sensor technology reveal new opportunities and innovative ways to remotely sense the Earth's subsurface. Considerable spatial coverage, fast and frequent image acquisition and very high radiometric, spectral, spatial and temporal resolution imaging systems can now dete...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Science of Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666017224000713 |
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| author | Adam M. Morley Tamsin A. Mather David M. Pyle J-Michael Kendall |
| author_facet | Adam M. Morley Tamsin A. Mather David M. Pyle J-Michael Kendall |
| author_sort | Adam M. Morley |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Advances in air and space sensor technology reveal new opportunities and innovative ways to remotely sense the Earth's subsurface. Considerable spatial coverage, fast and frequent image acquisition and very high radiometric, spectral, spatial and temporal resolution imaging systems can now detect near subsurface anomalies with impressive accuracy. The merits are extensive, with archaeological prospecting, environmental risk mitigation, natural resource exploration, defence and security and speleological research all benefitting from subsurface imaging capabilities over unknown territory, difficult terrain, hazardous environments and inaccessible ground. In this paper, we categorise the ground indicators and potential field characteristics of a general subsurface anomaly before reviewing and documenting over seventy air and space subsurface detection techniques using: photogrammetry, multispectral sensors, thermal infrared, hyperspectral imaging, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR), airborne gravity and aeromagnetics. The capabilities of each technique are evaluated by reviewing their ability to detect specific characteristics from subsurface anomalies and then they are tabulated by investigable feature and sensor type in seven technique tables. Research trends in motive, sensor type and subsurface anomaly characteristic are discussed and a short review of the major ground-truthing techniques used to verify airborne and spaceborne observations is considered. To close, we take a brief look at future research opportunities with very high resolution (VHR) datasets, multi-branch convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and active remote sensing in variable potential fields. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-bf1ca8d33d654fadb3fc4b49286e2d35 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2666-0172 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Science of Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj-art-bf1ca8d33d654fadb3fc4b49286e2d352025-01-12T05:25:45ZengElsevierScience of Remote Sensing2666-01722025-06-0111100187Detecting shallow subsurface anomalies with airborne and spaceborne remote sensing: A reviewAdam M. Morley0Tamsin A. Mather1David M. Pyle2J-Michael Kendall3Corresponding author.; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3AN, UKDepartment of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3AN, UKDepartment of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3AN, UKDepartment of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3AN, UKAdvances in air and space sensor technology reveal new opportunities and innovative ways to remotely sense the Earth's subsurface. Considerable spatial coverage, fast and frequent image acquisition and very high radiometric, spectral, spatial and temporal resolution imaging systems can now detect near subsurface anomalies with impressive accuracy. The merits are extensive, with archaeological prospecting, environmental risk mitigation, natural resource exploration, defence and security and speleological research all benefitting from subsurface imaging capabilities over unknown territory, difficult terrain, hazardous environments and inaccessible ground. In this paper, we categorise the ground indicators and potential field characteristics of a general subsurface anomaly before reviewing and documenting over seventy air and space subsurface detection techniques using: photogrammetry, multispectral sensors, thermal infrared, hyperspectral imaging, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR), airborne gravity and aeromagnetics. The capabilities of each technique are evaluated by reviewing their ability to detect specific characteristics from subsurface anomalies and then they are tabulated by investigable feature and sensor type in seven technique tables. Research trends in motive, sensor type and subsurface anomaly characteristic are discussed and a short review of the major ground-truthing techniques used to verify airborne and spaceborne observations is considered. To close, we take a brief look at future research opportunities with very high resolution (VHR) datasets, multi-branch convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and active remote sensing in variable potential fields.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666017224000713Remote sensingSubsurfaceAirborneSpacebornePhotogrammetryMultispectral |
| spellingShingle | Adam M. Morley Tamsin A. Mather David M. Pyle J-Michael Kendall Detecting shallow subsurface anomalies with airborne and spaceborne remote sensing: A review Science of Remote Sensing Remote sensing Subsurface Airborne Spaceborne Photogrammetry Multispectral |
| title | Detecting shallow subsurface anomalies with airborne and spaceborne remote sensing: A review |
| title_full | Detecting shallow subsurface anomalies with airborne and spaceborne remote sensing: A review |
| title_fullStr | Detecting shallow subsurface anomalies with airborne and spaceborne remote sensing: A review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Detecting shallow subsurface anomalies with airborne and spaceborne remote sensing: A review |
| title_short | Detecting shallow subsurface anomalies with airborne and spaceborne remote sensing: A review |
| title_sort | detecting shallow subsurface anomalies with airborne and spaceborne remote sensing a review |
| topic | Remote sensing Subsurface Airborne Spaceborne Photogrammetry Multispectral |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666017224000713 |
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