The History of Multispectral and Hyperspectral Data

The key science underpinning spectral remote sensing is that things reflect light differently depending on their physical characteristics. So if we can measure something's reflectance, then that allows us to derive information about it. We know that when a leaf dies, it changes color from green to red. And this is because there's chlorophyll in the leaf, which absorbs a lot of visible light. This breaks down and it ends up having greatly increased its red reflectance. As a result, as leaves die, they will actually undergo a first in-depth change in colour. But with these hyperspectral eyes, assuming your brain doesn't just melt from that extra visual content, you can still see them