Multispectral imaging is an optical acquisition method that records scene radiance or reflectance in multiple discrete spectral bands, typically spanning the visible, near-infrared, and sometimes shortwave infrared regions. Using bandpass filters, tunable filters, or sensor arrays with spectrally selective elements, it generates co-registered images where each band captures wavelength-dependent material properties. Quantitative analysis of these bands enables spectral feature extraction, classification, and segmentation based on differences in absorption, scattering, or fluorescence. In research, multispectral imaging is applied to non-destructive assessment, tissue characterization, remote sensing, and cultural heritage analysis, often serving as a lower-complexity, higher-throughput alternative to full hyperspectral imaging.
A new study finds that commercial satellite imagery data often outperforms public data sets when identifying surface water, but that public data sets may be better at detecting water hidden by forest cover. Satellite imagery ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 27, 2026
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Fires are a recurring phenomenon in central South America, often intensified by drought and deforestation. In 2024, wildfire activity reached its highest levels in 20 years, affecting vast areas of the Amazon rainforest and ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 25, 2026
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Researchers at UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability have developed the most high-resolution statewide maps of California's kelp forests to date, giving researchers, conservationists and community members ...
Ecology
Mar 18, 2026
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New research from Monash University and Phillip Island Nature Parks is using thermal and infrared drone technology to spot marine debris entanglements in Australian fur seals. Entanglement is an escalating threat to marine ...
Ecology
Mar 10, 2026
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Electrical engineers at Duke University have demonstrated the fastest pyroelectric photodetector to date, which works by absorbing heat generated by incoming light. Capable of capturing light from the entire electromagnetic ...
Optics & Photonics
Mar 4, 2026
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Every winter, thousands of tourists travel to high-latitude regions like Scandinavia, Canada, and Alaska hoping to see the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights. Vincent Ledvina, an aurora guide and Ph.D. student in space physics ...
Astronomy
Feb 24, 2026
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Wildfires and power outages caused by vegetation near powerlines have contributed to some of the state's most destructive fires.
Environment
Feb 20, 2026
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NASA's Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) was built for the ambitious purpose of performing an all-sky survey. The data it collects from more than 450 million ...
Astronomy
Feb 11, 2026
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43
How do the different parts of an adult plant communicate with each other when it suffers an injury, is waterlogged, burnt or exposed to environmental stress? Today we can answer this question thanks to an innovative optical ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 11, 2026
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A research team from the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (AIRCAS) has developed a new method combining deep learning with physical radiative transfer modeling to improve the retrieval ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 2, 2026
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