Satellites and Crops

I thought that the description of satellite imaging in the case study of chapter eight was very intriguing. It seems that satellite images are like extremely detailed digital camera pictures. I also thought that the use of infrared bands to measure the brightness that needs to be recorded was interesting. I remember that when we were talking about maps in class, we learned that different plants reflect different infrared signals, and that because of this, satellite pictures can determine what is being grown where. For example, the police could use satellite imaging to determine if drugs are being grown among other crops in order to hide the drugs. Since, for example, corn and marijuana would reflect different infrared signals, police might be interested in searching a cornfield for marijuana if there was a patch in the corn that did not show up the same way as the rest of the field.
Besides determining what is being grown where, satellite images can help determine how well different plants of the same crop are growing. Healthy plants reflect infrared light much better than unhealthy plants do, so a darker spot on a satellite image could indicate that plants are not doing very well in a certain are. This information could be very useful for farmers, because they could then investigate to identify and solve the problem with their crops.