Regularizing variograms of airborne MSS imagery

Previously, researchers have regularized (increased the spatial resolution of) remotely sensed imagery simply by averaging pixels to form estimates for the larger cells. It is possible to represent the relations between pixels in remotely sensed images using the variogram. A mathematical model may be fitted to the experimental variogram, and this model may be regularized to new spatial resolutions using a simple equation. Thus, the model rather than the data may be regularized. Airborne MSS imagery with a spatial resolution of 1.5 m were obtained of an area of lowland heath in Dorset, England. The experimental variogram of a site within this image was computed and fitted with the logarithmic model. This model was then regularized to six spatial resolutions. The predicted regularized variograms were compared to experimental variograms for real imagery obtained at each of the six spatial resolutions. Discrepancies arose in three of the six cases, and these differences were not attributable to variation in the speed of the aircraft