The first part of the lecture series is focused on exploring the physical fundamentals of the main two earth observation technologies: optical and radar. I will cover the remote sensing process, from data acquisition to result presentation; the main theoretical concept behind remote sensing imaging, i.e. the electromagnetic spectrum; and we finally will explore the basic properties of optical and radar imagery.

The second part of this lecture series presents an overview of the many applications where remote sensing data has been used. After a general overview, I will enter more in detail into applications using optical data, with an introduction to vegetation mapping, and finally into radar applications, where I describe the complementarity of these two technologies.

The third part of the lecture series covers two specific case studies: an environmental one, i.e. the search for lithium in Cornwall, and a conservation one, i.e. the monitoring of wildlife corridors. The case studies are covered in depth, with a description of the remote sensing process behind them.

The fourth and final part of the lecture series is the practical one. I will show how to access earth observation data from both public and commercial providers; I will describe in detail the main public satellite missions; we will discover existing products generated with earth observation data; and finally I will briefly describe available tools and platform for data processing.