Theoretical Background and State of the Art

Abstract

This chapter provides a short overview of the principles of remote sensing outlines current studies focused on the Euphrates River Basin (ERB) and presents a survey of the literature available on the topics that the thesis covers. Within the confines of this study, remote sensing is defined as the measurement of emitted or reflected electromagnetic radiation, or spectral behaviors, from a target object by a multispectral satellite sensor. This thesis contains four main sections: land use/land cover classification, the mapping of irrigated areas, irrigated agriculture mapping (especially crops classification), and land use/land cover change detection mapping. A great number of papers have been published on the above four topics. In this section a small range is given, based on significance and likeness to this thesis, with the goal of providing no wide-ranging survey, but of giving an experience of the techniques, applications and performances found in the literature.