Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “ErTe”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 343 records · Page 19

Facilitating the exploitation of ERTS imagery using snow enhancement techniques

The author has identified the following significant results. Detection and analysis of fracture systems can be more effectively conducted utilizing snow cover as an enhancement tool. From analysis within the Great Barrington Test Site it appears that the use of aeromagnetic data effectively supplements lineament data acquired using ERTS imagery. Coincidence of lineaments derived from aeromagnetics with lineaments interpreted from ERTS imagery apparently indicate the presence of mineralized fracture systems and dikes. Utilizing both tools can increase the speed and efficiency of mineral exploration and geological mapping in areas where bedrock is obscured by a thick unconsolidated sediment cover.

Wobber, F. J.↗

Pollution monitoring in Lake Champlain using ERTS-1 imagery

The author has identified the following significant results. Band 4 imagery of April 7 and 25 show contrasting pollution effects due to seasonal and discharge variations. The pollution plume emanating from the International Paper Co. mill just north of Fort Ticonderoga was first detected on October 10 ERTS-1 imagery and now has been documented during spring high lake level conditions. The plume was observed extending further to the north and east than under low water conditions of October 10. This northward extension reflects a stronger northward current flow expected in the turbid southern leg of Lake Champlain. The extensive plume of April 25 represents full plant operation while the April 5 scene shows some plume traces directly over the submerged diffuser, discharge pipe representing minimal discharge during weekend plant operation. The ERTS-1 documentation will be used in developing a model of plume behavior under varying environmental conditions and will hopefully serve to assist in a major resource decision pending at U.S. Supreme Court level.

Lind, A. O.↗

ERTS wideband tape recorder

The ERTS video bandwith tape recorder uses a rotary head to run the tape in transverse mode; the head wheel gives a head-to-tape surface speed of nearly 5080 centimeter per second. The electronics unit handles 15 megabit per second rate with a bit-error rate of 0.00001. An operational unit onboard ERTS A returned images from the 85 to 90 percent of the earth that are not available in real time.

Hayes, J. M.↗

Semi-automatic crop inventory from sequential ERTS-1 imagery

The detection of a newly introduced crop into the Imperial (California) Valley by sequential ERTS-1 imagery is proving that individual crop types can be identified by remote sensing techniques. Initial results have provided an extremely useful product for water agencies. A system for the identification of field conditions enables the production of a statistical summary within two to three days of receipt of the ERTS-1 imagery. The summary indicates the total acreage of producing crops and irrigated planted crops currently demanding water and further indicates freshly plowed fields that will be demanding water in the near future. Relating the field conditions to the crop calendar of the region by means of computer techniques will provide specific crop identification for the 8000 plus fields.

Johnson, C. W.↗

ERTS-1 evaluation of natural resources management applications in the Great Basin

The relatively cloud free weather in the Great Basin has allowed the accumulation of several dates of excellent ERTS-1 imagery. Mountains, valleys, playas, stream courses, canyons, alluvial fans, and other landforms are readily delineated on ERTS-1 imagery, particularly with MSS-5. Each band is useful for identifying and studying one or more natural resource features. For example, crested wheatgrass seedings were most easily identified and measured on MSS-7. Color enhancements simulating CIR were useful for depicting meadow and phreatophytic vegetation along water bodies and stream courses. Work is underway to inventory and monitor wildfire areas by age and successional status. Inventories have been completed on crested wheatgrass seedings over the entire State of Nevada, and inventories of playa surfaces, water surfaces, phreatophytic vegetation, snow cover, meadows, and other features is continuing. Vegetation ecotones are being delineated for vegetation mapping. The pinyon/juniper-northern desert shrub ecotone has been identified with considerable success. Phenology changes can be used to describe vegetation changes for management.

Tueller, P. T.↗

Testing the usefulness of ERTS-1 imagery for inventorying wildland resources in northern California

The usefulness of ERTS-1 imagery for inventorying wildland resources in northern California is discussed. Studies are being conducted in two large wildland areas, namely, the Feather River Watershed and the Northern Coastal Zone. The 2.5 million-acre Feather River headwaters area in northern California is the keystone watershed for the California Water Project, one of the most extensive and ambitious water resource developments ever attempted. Consequently, accurate and timely information on the quantity, quality and distribution of timber, forage, water and recreational resources is of immediate importance to each public agency and private group managing this vast, but inaccessible, wildland area. The Northern Coastal Zone (consisting of the counties of Marin, Sonoma, Mendicino, Humbolt and Del Norte) is relatively rural, with an economy based on agriculture, timber, commercial fishing and tourism. However, it is expected that intensive resource use resulting from increasing population will soon become a serious problem unless wise land use planning is undertaken. Thus, this coastal region is particularly well suited to investigations of the ways in which ERTS-1 imagery and other supporting data may be used in conducting land use evaluations.

Lauer, D. T.↗

Application of ERTS-1 imagery and underflight photography in the detection and monitoring of forest insect infestations in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California

The analysis of ERTS-1 imagery of areas in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California is discussed. The data is used to detect two types of insect infestational and to determine the extent of timber resources. Addition applications are the mapping of stream courses, mountain meadows, lakes, rock outcrops, and grazing land. The ERTS-1 data and underflight photography are used for this purpose.

Hall, R. C.↗

Agricultural applications of ERTS-1 data

In an attempt to evaluate the usefulness of ERTS imagery for the production of land use stratifications as a preliminary step in the crop inventory process, all land within San Joaquin County was delineated into broad land use and crop category classes based on their appearance on the ERTS-1 Color composite image. The stratification of the agricultural land use categories proved to be a relatively simple task, taking each of three interpreters approximately 30 minutes to complete. The three interpretations were quite similar requiring only minor revisions to produce a consensus stratification. A total of 13 different agricultural strata were recognized, differing both in general field size and relative proportions of crop types and degree of irrigation. Upon comparing these interpretations, it was concluded that nearly all boundaries were truly representative of differing cropping practices. In a number of cases, the stratifications agreed almost exactly with soil type boundaries as drawn by earlier soils surveys.

Draeger, W. C.↗

Identification of agricultural crops by computer processing of ERTS MSS data

Quantitative evaluation of computer-processed ERTS MSS data classifications has shown that major crop species (corn and soybeans) can be accurately identified. The classifications of satellite data over a 2000 square mile area not only covered more than 100 times the area previously covered using aircraft, but also yielded improved results through the use of temporal and spatial data in addition to the spectral information. Furthermore, training sets could be extended over far larger areas than was ever possible with aircraft scanner data. And, preliminary comparisons of acreage estimates from ERTS data and ground-based systems agreed well. The results demonstrate the potential utility of this technology for obtaining crop production information.

Bauer, M. E.↗

Evaluation of ERTS-1 imagery for geological sensing over the diverse geological terrains of New York State

Film positives of ERTS-1 imagery, both as received from NASA and photographically reprocessed, are analyzed by conventional and color additive viewing methods. The imagery reveals bedrock and surficial geological information at various scales. Features which can be identified to varying degrees include boundaries between major tectonic provinces, lithological contacts, foliation trends within massive gneisses, faults, and topographic lineaments. In the present imagery the greatest amount of spectral geology is displayed in the Adirondack region where bedrock geology is strongly linked to topography. Within this basement complex, the most prominantly displayed features are numerous north-northeast trending faults and topographic lineaments, and arcuate east-west valleys developed in some of the weaker metasedimentary rocks. The majority of the faults and lineaments shown on the geologic Map of New York at 1:250,000 appear in the ERTS imagery.

Isachsen, Y. W.↗

Analysis and application of ERTS-1 data for regional geological mapping

Combined visual and digital techniques of analysing ERTS-1 data for geologic information have been tried on selected areas in Pennsylvania. The major physiolographic and structural provinces show up well. Supervised mapping, following the imaged expression of known geologic features on ERTS band 5 enlargements (1:250,000) of parts of eastern Pennsylvania, delimited the Diabase Sills and the Precambrian rocks of the Reading Prong with remarkable accuracy. From unsupervised mapping, transgressive linear features are apparent in unexpected density, and exhibit strong control over river valley and stream channel directions. They are unaffected by bedrock type, age, or primary structural boundaries, which suggests they are either rejuvenated basement joint directions on different scales, or they are a recently impressed structure possibly associated with a drifting North American plate. With ground mapping and underflight data, 6 scales of linear features have been recognized.

Gold, D. P.↗

Preliminary assessment of geological applications of ERTS-1 imagery from selected areas of the Canadian Arctic

An assessment of geological applications of ERTS-1 imagery from selected areas of the Canadian Arctic is presented. The three levels of interpretation which may be recognized and employed to derive information from a single image or data format are outlined. It is stated that one immediate benefit from ERTS will be improved efficiency in planning for and operation of programs of regional geological mapping. Imagery of various areas of Canada are presented to show applications to regional mapping.

Gregory, A. F.↗

Mapping quaternary landforms and deposits in the Midwest and Great Plains by means of ERTS-1 multispectral imagery

ERTS-1 multispectral images are proving effective for differentiating many kinds of Quaternary surficial deposits and landforms units in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Examples of features that have been distinguished are: (1) the more prominent end moraines of the last glaciation; (2) certain possible palimpsests of older moraines mantled by younger deposits; (3) various abandoned river valleys, including suspected ones deeply filled by deposits; (4) river terraces; and (5) some known faults and a few previously unmapped lineaments that may be faults. The ERTS images are being used for systematic mapping of Quaternary landforms and deposits in about 20 potential study areas. Some study areas, already well mapped, provide checks on the reliability of mapping from the images. For other study areas, previously mapped only partly or not at all, our maps will be the first comprehensive, synoptic ones, and should be useful for regional land-use planning and ground-water, engineering-geology, and other environmental applications.

Morrison, R. B.↗

Relation of ERTS-1 detected geologic structure to known economic ore deposits

A preliminary analysis of ERTS-1 imagery of the Northern Coast Ranges and Sacramento Valley, California, has disclosed a potentially important fracture system which may be one of the controlling factors in the location of known mercury deposits in the Coast Ranges and which appears to be associated with some of the oil and gas fields within the Sacramento Valley. Recognition of this fracture system may prove to be an extremely useful exploration tool, hence careful analysis of subsequent ERTS imagery might delineate areas for field evaluation.

Rich, E. I.↗

Regional Tectonic Control of Tertiary Mineralization and Recent Faulting in the Southern Basin-Range Province, an Application of ERTS-1 Data

Research based on ERTS-1 MSS imagery and field work in the southern Basin-Range Province of California, Nevada and Arizona has shown regional tectonic control of volcanism, plutonism, mineralization and faulting. This paper covers an area centered on the Colorado River between 34 15' N and 36 45' N. During the mid-Tertiary, the area was the site of plutonism and genetically related volcanism fed by fissure systems now exposed as dike swarms. Dikes, elongate plutons, and coeval normal faults trend generally northward and are believed to have resulted from east-west crustal extension. In the extensional province, gold silver mineralization is closely related to Tertiary igneous activity. Similarities in ore, structural setting, and rock types define a metallogenic district of high potential for exploration. The ERTS imagery also provides a basis for regional inventory of small faults which cut alluvium. This capability for efficient regional surveys of Recent faulting should be considered in land use planning, geologic hazards study, civil engineering and hydrology.

Bechtold, I. C.↗

ERTS-1 image contributes to understanding of geologic structures related to Managua earthquake, 1972

ERTS-1 imaged the western portion of Nicaragua on December 24, 1972, one day after the central part of the city of Managua was devastated by a major earthquake which measured 5.6 on the Richter scale. ERTS-1 images reveal sets of lineaments (which may reflect fault systems) along any one of which movement could have taken place. One set includes a line of active volcanoes that parallels the coast and constitutes the southwestern edge of the Nicaraguan Depression, a regional graben which cuts obliquely across the Central American isthmus. This trend is offset approximately 10km in a right lateral geometric sense just west of the city of Managua. A parallel lineament, north of Lake Managua, marks the northeast edge of the graben. A second set, extends northward to northwestward from the mouth of the Rio Grande (Viejo) north of Lake Managua and can be projected southward across the lake to Managua. It is this set along which geometric offset of the volcanic lineament appears to have taken place.

Carter, W. D.↗

ERTS-1 imagery as an aid to the definition of the geotectonic domains of the southern African crystalline shield

Portions of two geotectonic environments in South Africa have been studied on ERTS-1 imagery. It was found that the broad synoptic view provided by this imagery is ideally suited to a study of the diagnostic macro-structures, and that the different geotectonic styles are clearly recorded. ERTS-1 imagery thus allows a more accurate definition than exists at present of the contact zones and internal structures of the two domains. The importance of this investigation as an aid to gaining on insight into the relevance of plate tectonics in Precambrian times is briefly discussed.

Viljoen, M. J.↗

Structural lineaments of Gaspe from ERTS imagery

A test study was conducted to assess the value of ERTS images for mapping geologic features of the Gaspe Peninsula, Quebec. The specific objectives of the study were: 1) to ascertain the best procedure to follow in order to obtain valuable geologic data as a result of interpretation; and 2) to indicate in which way these data could relate to mineral exploration. Of the four spectral bands of the Multispectral scanner, the band from 700 to 800 nanometers, which seems to possess the best informational content for geologic study, was selected for analysis. The original ERTS image at a scale of 1:3,700,000 was enlarged about 15 times and reproduced on film. Geologically meaningful lines, called structural lineaments, were outlined and classified according to five categories: morpho-lithologic boundaries, morpho-lithologic lineaments, fault traces, fracture zones and undefined lineaments. Comparison with the geologic map of Gaspe shows that morpho-lithologic boundaries correspond to contacts between regional stratigraphic units. Morpholithologic lineaments follow bedding trends, whereas fracture traces appear as sets of parallel lineaments, intersecting at high angles the previous category of lineaments. Fault traces mark more precisely the location of faults already mapped and spot the presence of presumable faults, not indicated on the geologic map.

Steffensen, R.↗