The use of the LANDSAT Data Collection Systems (DCS) for relaying hydrologic data
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Paulson, R. W..
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
The author has identified the following significant results. This experiment successfully demonstrated that standard U.S. Geological Survey field instrumentation could be easily interfaced with the LANDSAT-DCS and the data made to flow smoothly to water resources management agencies. The experiment was conducted in the Delaware River basin. A truly operational system could not be deployed.
The author has identified the following significant results. This experiment was, and continues to be, an integration of the LANDSAT-DCS with the data collection and processing system of the Geological Survey. Although an experimental demonstration, it was a successful integration of a satellite relay system that is capable of continental data collection, and an existing governmental nationwide operational data processing and distributing networks. The Survey's data processing system uses a large general purpose computer with insufficient redundancy for 24-hour a day, 7 day a week operation. This is significant, but soluble obstacle to converting the experimental integration of the system to an operational integration.
The earth resources data acquisition systems on ERTS are providing data from the earth's surface that have great potential for resources management. The Data Collection System is providing water resources data several times a day from widely scattered locations in the Delaware River Basin. Within the constraints of an experimental test, the data are being processed and released to water resources agencies in near-real time. The results of ERTS investigations have shown that there is a potential application for satellite-borne systems for earth resources data acquisition. It is becoming clear that the solutions to many natural resource problems can be found faster and more efficiently with the help of data acquisition systems such as those on the ERTS observatory. Under operational conditions, low cost battery-operated DCP's could provide the Geological Survey with data from a large number of field instruments. These data could be used by the Geological Survey to monitor the operational status of field instrumentation and could be used by cooperating agencies to monitor a wide range of earth resources conditions. Under operational conditions, the data flow could be in real time. The delay from time of data acquisition by ERTS to the time of data availability to data users could be reduced to seconds, rather than the present lag time of a few hours.
The Earth Resources Technology Satellite Data Collection System has been shown to be, from the users vantage point, a reliable and simple system for collecting data from U.S. Geological Survey operational field instrumentation. It is technically feasible to expand the ERTS system into an operational polar-orbiting data collection system to gather data from the Geological Survey's Hydrologic Data Network. This could permit more efficient internal management of the Network, and could enable the Geological Survey to make data available to cooperating agencies in near-real time. The Geological Survey is conducting an analysis of the costs and benefits of satellite data-relay systems.
The author has identified the following significant results. Approximately 70 percent of the DCP's being installed by Department of the Interior investigators have been successfully operated. These include DCP's operating in Iceland, Central America, Hawaii, and the Continental United States. The Data Collection System specifications are being met for frequency of data collection.
Preliminary analysis of ERTS-1 relayed water resources data in Delaware River Basin
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
The author has identified the following significant results. Twenty Data Collection Platforms (DCP) are being field installed on USGS water resources stations in the Delaware River Basin. DCP's have been successfully installed and are operating well on five stream gaging stations, three observation wells, and one water quality monitor in the basin. DCP's have been installed at nine additional water quality monitors, and work is progressing on interfacing the platforms to the monitors. ERTS-related water resources data from the platforms are being provided in near real time, by the Goddard Space Flight Center to the Pennsylvania district, Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey. On a daily basis, the data are computer processed by the Survey and provided to the Delaware River Basin Commission. Each daily summary contains data that were relayed during 4 or 5 of the 15 orbits made by ERTS-1 during the previous day. Water resources parameters relays by the platforms include dissolved oxygen concentrations, temperature, pH, specific conductance, well level, and stream gage height, which is used to compute stream flow for the daily summary.
Preliminary analysis of ERTS-DCS data from water-resources stations in the Delaware River Basin indicates that the Data-Collection System is performing well. Data-Collections Platforms have been successfully interfaced with five stream-gaging station and three ground-water observation wells and are being interfaced with 12 water-quality monitors in the basin. Data are being relayed during four or five ERTS orbital passes per day, which is within the design specifications of the ERTS-DCS.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
The planned integration of the existing water quality monitoring and data processing systems in the Delaware River Basin with a data relay experiment proposed for the ERTS-1 is discussed. The experiment is designed to use ERTS-1 as a data relay link for a maximum of 20 hydrologic stations in the basin, including stream gaging, reservoir level, ground water level, and water quality monitoring stations. This experiment has the potential for reducing the time lag between data collection and dissemination to less than 12 hours. The experiment will also provide impetus to develop an operational system of real time data processing and dissemination to handle the large quantity of data that will be obtained from the stations in the basin. The results of this experiment will demonstrate the relative merits of satellite relay of data versus conventional means of data telemetry and will provide a basis for the development of operational satellite relay of hydrologic data.
A discussion is presented of the planned integration of the existing Delaware River Basin water quality monitoring and data processing systems with a data relay experiment proposed for the Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS)-A, which will be launched in 1972. The experiment is designed to use ERTS-A as a data relay link for a maximum of 20 hydrologic stations in the basin, including streamgaging, reservoir level, ground water level,and water quality monitoring stations. This experiment has the potential for reducing the timelag between data collection and dissemination to less than 12 hours. At present there is a significant timelag between the time when the data are recorded at a monitoring site and the water resources agencies receive the data. The timelag exists because most of these instruments operate in remote locations without telementry, and the data records are removed manually, generally at a weekly frequency. For most water quality monitoring, the data do not reach water resources agencies for a period of 2 weeks to 2 months.
Aerial photography and infrared imagery of Delaware Estuary hydrology
Investigating feasibility of using remote sensors for studying estuaries from aircraft or spacecraft platforms