(a) Advantages of Remote Sensing
- It is the only practical way to obtain data from inaccessible regions, e.g. Antarctica, Amazon forest.
- It helps in constructing cheap base maps in the absence of detailed land surveys.
- It detects the spread of natural calamities such as flood, forest fire and volcanic eruption, so that immediate rescue operations and planning can be carried out.
(b) Disadvantages of Remote Sensing
- It is difficult to prepare large scale maps from obtained satellite data.
- The technique is very expensive for small areas requiring one time analysis.
(c) Remote Sensing and Disaster Management
Remote sensing technology is highly used in disaster management to study the effects of earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones, volcanic eruption, floods and wildfires. The preliminary data is retrieved from satellites like LANDSAT, CARTOSAT, OCEANSAT, etc. Fire and flood details can be extracted and delivered to relevant authorities within two hours of satellite image capture.
E.g. major earthquakes in China and New Zealand, bushfire in Victoria and floods in Kerala. Dynamic phenomena such as flood, movement of wild animals, shoreline changes, finding lost ships and planes. Researchers use satellite imageries for these.