One of the advantages of satellite-based thermal infrared remote sensing is that you can view nearly all of the thermal areas in the park at once. But there also are challenges and limitations to satellite remote sensing. For example, the temperature of Yellowstone's thermal areas is often not much higher than the temperature of the surroundings during the day because the Sun heats the Earth's surface. Using thermal infrared images that are acquired at night minimizes the influence of the Sun, allowing us to estimate just the geothermal component of the temperature.
Overall, research in thermal infrared remote sensing of Yellowstone has helped assess and update maps of the park's thermal areas, created new thermal anomaly maps, estimated the geothermal heat output, and established background thermal patterns. Examination of how these maps change over time will provide important evidence for how natural and human-induced processes affect some of Yellowstone's most iconic features.