Active Sensor

"Active sensors, provide their own source of energy to illuminate the objects they observe. An active sensor emits radiation in the direction of the target to be investigated. The sensor then detects and measures the radiation that is reflected or backscattered from the target." (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2018)

Sources

"Remote Sensors". Earthdata, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Last modified December 11, 2018.
https://earthdata.nasa.gov/user-resources/remote-sensors.
Accessed February 13, 2019.

Related Content

Article

Global Precipitation Mission: Improved, accurate and timely global precipitation information

Continuous and reliable global precipitation information is crucial for myriad of weather, climate and hydrological applications. The importance of precipitation in the form of rain, hail, sleet, snow etc. is known to science and clear to a layman. However, it’s quite tricky to measure past precipitation trends or predicting accurate future forecasts. There are three main categories of precipitation data sets available: ground based, satellite-based and blended products of ground and space data (Climate Data Guide, 2014).