A fractal analysis of shadowed and sunlit areas

Abstract

Analyses of remote-sensing imagery from a fractal perspective have become more frequent in the literature. However, one aspect which has not been considered specifically is how images integrate a mix of several, possibly very different, fractal processes. In this exploratory investigation, the fractal dimensions of sunlit and shadowed areas of surfaces of known fractal dimensions were determined. It was found that the shadowed areas lend to have fractal dimensions approaching 2.0, whereas, surprisingly, sunlit areas have fractal dimensions which are inversely related to the fractal dimension of the surface.