Certified Photogrammetrist Remote Sensing & Image Interpretation — Questions and Answers

Question 1: Which formula correctly defines the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)?

(Red − NIR)/(Red + NIR)
(NIR − Red)/(NIR + Red) (Correct answer)
(NIR − Green)/(NIR + Green)
NIR/Red

Correct answer: (NIR − Red)/(NIR + Red)

NDVI normalizes the difference between near-infrared and red reflectance, yielding values from −1 to +1.

Question 2: The strong near-infrared reflectance of healthy green leaves is primarily caused by what?

Chlorophyll absorption
Leaf water content
Internal scattering by the spongy mesophyll cell structure (Correct answer)
Waxy cuticle specular reflection

Correct answer: Internal scattering by the spongy mesophyll cell structure

Multiple scattering at cell wall–air interfaces in the spongy mesophyll produces high NIR reflectance.

Question 3: Which wavelength range is the primary atmospheric window used for thermal infrared sensing of Earth surface temperatures?

8–14 µm (Correct answer)
3–5 µm only
0.4–0.7 µm
1.4–1.9 µm

Correct answer: 8–14 µm

The 8–14 µm window has low atmospheric absorption and contains the peak emission of objects near Earth's ambient temperature.

Question 4: Rayleigh scattering, which causes haze in aerial imagery, affects which wavelengths most strongly?

Thermal infrared
Near-infrared
Red
Blue (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Blue

Rayleigh scattering is inversely proportional to the fourth power of wavelength, so shorter blue wavelengths scatter most.

Question 5: What is the spatial resolution of the panchromatic band on the Landsat 8/9 OLI sensor?

30 m
15 m (Correct answer)
10 m
60 m

Correct answer: 15 m

OLI band 8 (panchromatic) has 15 m resolution, while its multispectral bands are 30 m.

Question 6: A sensor with 12-bit radiometric resolution can record how many distinct brightness levels?

256
1,024
4,096 (Correct answer)
65,536

Correct answer: 4,096

Radiometric levels equal 2 raised to the bit depth, so 2¹² = 4,096.

Question 7: In standard color-infrared (false-color) aerial imagery, healthy vegetation typically appears as what color?

Red (Correct answer)
Green
Blue
Black

Correct answer: Red

CIR imagery displays NIR as red, so vegetation's high NIR reflectance renders it red.

Question 8: Which element of image interpretation is most useful for estimating the height and profile of a tall structure on a vertical aerial photo?

Tone
Texture
Site
Shadow (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Shadow

Shadows reveal an object's side profile and, with sun angle, allow height estimation.

Question 9: In image interpretation, 'texture' is best defined as what?

The overall color of an object
The frequency of tonal change within an area (Correct answer)
The geographic location of a feature
The spatial arrangement of repeated objects

Correct answer: The frequency of tonal change within an area

Texture describes the fineness or coarseness produced by tonal variation too small to discern individually.

Question 10: Identifying a building as a high school because it is adjacent to a running track and football field uses which interpretation element?

Association (Correct answer)
Pattern
Size
Tone

Correct answer: Association

Association uses related nearby features to identify an object.

Question 11: Vertical exaggeration in stereoscopic viewing of aerial photos occurs mainly because of what?

Lens distortion
Film shrinkage
The air base-to-flying height ratio exceeds the viewer's eye base-to-viewing distance ratio (Correct answer)
Earth curvature

Correct answer: The air base-to-flying height ratio exceeds the viewer's eye base-to-viewing distance ratio

When B/H of the photography is larger than the equivalent viewing ratio, relief appears exaggerated.

Question 12: On a truly vertical aerial photograph, relief displacement of a tall object occurs in which direction?

Toward the principal point
Radially outward from the nadir point (Correct answer)
Parallel to the flight line
Perpendicular to the flight line

Correct answer: Radially outward from the nadir point

Relief displacement is radial from the nadir, with tops displaced outward for objects above datum.

Question 13: Using relief displacement on a vertical photo, object height h is calculated by which equation (d = displacement, r = radial distance to top, H = flying height above base)?

h = r·H/d
h = d·r/H
h = H/(d·r)
h = d·H/r (Correct answer)

Correct answer: h = d·H/r

Height equals displacement times flying height divided by the radial distance from nadir to the object's top.

Question 14: Regularly spaced rows of trees that identify an orchard are an example of which interpretation element?

Pattern (Correct answer)
Shape
Tone
Shadow

Correct answer: Pattern

Pattern is the spatial arrangement of objects, such as the grid spacing of orchard trees.

Question 15: In side-looking SAR imagery, layover occurs when which condition is met?

The terrain is perfectly flat
The backslope is steeper than the depression angle
The slope facing the radar is steeper than the local incidence angle (Correct answer)
The radar wavelength is shorter than the surface roughness

Correct answer: The slope facing the radar is steeper than the local incidence angle

When foreslope exceeds the incidence angle, the top returns before the base and is imaged closer to the sensor.

Question 16: The grainy 'salt-and-pepper' appearance in SAR imagery is called speckle and is commonly reduced by what?

Increasing the incidence angle
Multi-look processing or adaptive filtering (Correct answer)
Using a longer antenna
Histogram equalization

Correct answer: Multi-look processing or adaptive filtering

Speckle comes from coherent interference and is reduced by averaging independent looks or speckle filters.

Question 17: Sentinel-1 and RADARSAT operate in C-band, which has a wavelength of approximately what?

5.6 cm (Correct answer)
23 cm
3 cm
70 cm

Correct answer: 5.6 cm

C-band SAR wavelength is about 5.6 cm (roughly 3.75–7.5 cm range).

Question 18: Which radar band offers the greatest penetration into forest canopy among these options?

Ka-band
X-band
C-band
L-band (Correct answer)

Correct answer: L-band

Longer wavelengths like L-band (~23 cm) penetrate foliage further than shorter bands.

Question 19: In predawn thermal infrared imagery, water bodies typically appear how relative to surrounding dry land?

Cooler (darker)
Warmer (brighter) (Correct answer)
Identical in temperature
Invisible due to absorption

Correct answer: Warmer (brighter)

Water's high thermal capacity keeps it warmer than land, which cools quickly overnight.

Question 20: Using Wien's displacement law, an Earth surface at about 300 K has peak emission near which wavelength?

0.5 µm
3.0 µm
9.7 µm (Correct answer)
25 µm

Correct answer: 9.7 µm

Peak wavelength ≈ 2898 µm·K / 300 K ≈ 9.7 µm.

Question 21: Interferometric SAR (InSAR) derives elevation or surface deformation primarily from what measurement?

Phase difference between two SAR acquisitions (Correct answer)
Amplitude ratio of two bands
Doppler shift of a single pass
Polarization of the return only

Correct answer: Phase difference between two SAR acquisitions

InSAR exploits phase differences between coherent acquisitions to measure topography or displacement.

Certified Photogrammetrist Remote Sensing & Image Interpretation

Which formula correctly defines the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)?

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