An introduction to the spatio-temporal analysis of satellite remote sensing data for geostatisticians

Abstract

Satellite remote sensing data have become available in meteorology, agriculture, forestry, geology, regional planning, hydrology or natural environment sciences since several decades ago, because satellites provide routinely high quality images with different temporal and spatial resolutions. Joining, combining or smoothing these images for a better quality of information is a challenge not always properly solved. In this regard, geostatistics, as the spatio-temporal stochastic techniques of geo-referenced data, is a very helpful and powerful tool not enough explored in this area yet. Here, we analyze the current use of some of the geostatistical tools in satellite image analysis, and provide an introduction to this subject for potential researchers.