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At least 397 records · Page 22

Evaluation of ERTS-1 data applications to geologic mapping, structural analysis and mineral resource inventory of South America with special emphasis on the Andes Mountain region

The author has identified the following significant results. A color composite of image E1010-14035, dated 2 August 1972, covers the west central Bolivian Altiplano near Salar de Coipasa. It clearly shows the distribution of surface water and scant patches of vegetation. The Salar de Coipasa is the largest body of water in the area, about 130 sq km of dark blue fresh water. A lighter blue area south of the lake suggests a thin cover of highly saline water superposed on salt beds. The scattered vegetation patches are presumed to be native grasses, lichens, and possibly Indian potato and maiz areas. A detailed study has been made of the scene which provides 12 different interpretive overlays including geology, volcanology, soils, hydrology, and relative permeability. It was found that color composites provide at least 40% more information that do black and white renditions. An excellent example of change detection was provided by image E1244-14051, dated 24 March 1973. Water in the Salar de Coipasa had more than doubled as a result of the rains of the Bolivian winter, which generally occur in the February-March period. The Salars are excellent and highly sensitive moisture indicators in this highly arid region.

Carter, W. D.↗

Energy: An annotated bibliography

This bibliography is a compilation of approximately 4,300 selected references on energy and energy related topics. The references are arranged by date, with the latest works first, in the following subject categories: (1) energy and power - general; resources, supply/demand, and forecasting; policy, legislation, and regulation; research and development; environment; consumption and economics; and conservation, (2) energy and power sources - general, fossil fuels, hydrogen and methanol, organic wastes and waste heat, nuclear, geothermal, solar, wind, ocean/water, magnetohydrodynamics and electrohydrodynamics, and gas and steam turbines, and (3) energy and power storage and transmission. Literature from bibliographic sources dated January 1972 through July 1974 is covered, with some pertinent literature prior to 1972 included.

Blow, S. J.↗

Measurement of the earth resources technology satellite /ERTS-1/ multi-spectral scanner OTF from operational imagery

The optical transfer function (OTF) of some typical ERTS-1 multispectral imagery was obtained by comparison of matched sets of aircraft underflight and ERTS photographic and digital images. One-dimensional OTF analysis consisted in obtaining U-2 and ERTS microdensitometer scans followed by density to transmission conversion, microdensitometer aperture correction, exposure calibration, scan correlation scale optimization, OTF calculation, obtaining a form weighted average of the OTFs, transformation of the OTFs back to the spatial domain (giving the line spread function or LSF), and application of a window function to the LSF resulting in a smoothed OTF. Date-to-date comparison of ERTS OTFs showed a drop in quality on April 4, 1973, compared with January 4, 1973.

Schowengerdt, R. A.↗

NASA crop calendars: Wheat, barley, oats, rye, sorghum, soybeans, corn

Crop calenders used to determine when Earth Resources Technology Satellite ERTS data would provide the most accurate wheat acreage information and to minimize the amount of ground verified information needed are presented. Since barley, oats, and rye are considered 'confusion crops, i.e., hard to differentiate from wheat in ERTS imagery, specific dates are estimated for these crops in the following stages of development: (1) seed-bed operation, (2) planting or seeding, (3) intermediate growth, (4) dormancy, (5) development of crop to full ground cover, (6) heading or tasseling, and flowering, (7) harvesting, and (8) posting-harvest operations. Dormancy dates are included for fall-snow crops. A synopsis is given of each states' growing conditions, special cropping practices, and other characteristics which are helpful in identifying crops from ERTS imagery.

Stuckey, M. R.↗

Plan for the uniform mapping of earth resources and environmental complexes from Skylab imagery. Assessment of natural vegetation, environmental, and crop analogs

The author has identified the following significant results. For interpreting a wide range of natural vegetation analogs, S-190A color infrared and the ERTS-1 color composite were consistently more useful than were conventional color or black and white photos. Color infrared was superior for five vegetation analogs while color was superior for only three. The errors in identification appeared to associate more with black and white single band images than with multiband color. For rice crop analogs, spectral and spatial discriminations both contribute to the usefulness of images for data collection. Tests and subjective analyses conducted in this study indicated that the spectral bands exploited in color infrared film were the most useful for agricultural crop analysis. Accuracy of crop identification on any single date of Skylab images was less than that of multidate analysis due to differences in crop calendar, cultural practices used, rice variety, planting date, planting method, water use, fertilization, disease, or mechanical problems.

Poulton, C. E.↗

Snow cover monitoring by machine processing of multitemporal LANDSAT MSS data

LANDSAT frames were geometrically corrected and data sets from six different dates were overlaid to produce a 24 channel (six dates and four wavelength bands) data tape. Changes in the extent of the snowpack could be accurately and easily determined using a change detection technique on data which had previously been classified by the LARSYS software system. A second phase of the analysis involved determination of the relationship between spatial resolution or data sampling frequency and accuracy of measuring the area of the snowpack.

Luther, S. G.↗

NASA Global Atmospheric Sampling Program (GASP). Data report for tape VL0001

Atmospheric trace constituents in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere are now being measured as part of the NASA Global Atmospheric Sampling Program (GASP), using fully automated air sampling systems on board commercial 747 aircraft in routine airline service. Measurements of atmospheric ozone and related meteorological and flight information obtained during several GASP flights in March 1975 are now available from the National Climatic Center, Asheville, North Carolina. In addition to the data from the aircraft, tropopause pressure data obtained from the National Meteorological Center (NMC) archives for the dates of the flights are included. This report is the first of a series of reports which describes the data currently available from GASP, including flight routes and dates, instrumentation, the data processing procedure used, and data tape specifications.

Holdeman, J. D.↗

Soil, water, and vegetation conditions in south Texas

The author has identified the following significant results. Field spectral measurements and laboratory densitometric measurements showed that tree canopy reflectance differences among the Marrs, Redblush, and Valencia varieties in the visible spectral region were due to their different leaf chlorophyll concentrations. Field measurements of visible light reflectance were directly related to the tonal responses on infrared color photos of the varietal tree canopies. Consequently, densitometric measurements of the foliage on the infrared color transparency with red-filtered light successfully discriminated among the three varieties. Reflectance measurements with a field spectroradiometer on nine dates the growing season of two wheat varieties, Milam and Penjamo, documented their spectra over the 0.45 to 2.50 micron wavelength interval associated with plant cover and physiological development. An image analyzer system was used to optically planimeter the percentage of soil background, vegetation and shadow in the vertical photographs taken within the FOV of the spectroradiometer on each measurement date.

Wiegand, C. L.↗

Application of remote sensing in the determination of water quality in Nebraska reservoirs

In June, July, and August, 1975, ground truth was collected from Lake McConaughy, a 35,000 acre reservoir in western Nebraska, coincident with the overflights of LANDSAT. Water samples were collected on six different dates and analyzed for turbidity, suspended solids, and chlorophyll, parameters which had correlated well with CCT reflectances. The correlations and regressions reported were derived from data obtained on only three of the six sampling dates. The radiance values from each of the four spectral bands were printed out in the form of a map of Lake McConaughy. Reflectances in the various bands were then obtained from the map at the appropriate sampling sites. The dependent variables chlorophyll, suspended solids, and turbidity were compared to the independent variables - reflectances in the four bands - by regression analysis. Both multiple and univariate regressions were examined. It is concluded that CCT's from LANDSAT can be used to detect and quantify the water quality parameters suspended solids, turbidity, and chlorophyll.

Hergenrader, G. L.↗

NASA Global Atmospheric Sampling Program (GASP) data report for tape VL0003

Atmospheric ozone, and related flight and meteorological data for May 1975, obtained during 49 flights of a Pan American World Airways 747, are available as GASP tape VL0003 from the National Climatic Center, Asheville, North Carolina. In addition to the GASP data, tropopause pressure fields obtained from NMC archives for the dates of the GASP flights are included on the data tape. Flight routes and dates, instrumentation, data processing procedures, and data tape specifications are described.

Holdeman, J. D.↗

Rb, Sr and strontium isotopic composition, K/Ar age and large ion lithophile trace element abundances in rocks and glasses from the Wanapitei Lake impact structure

Shock metamorphosed rocks and shock-produced melt glasses from the Wanapitei Lake impact structure have been examined petrographically and by electron microprobe. Eleven clasts exhibiting varying degrees of shock metamorphism and eight impact-produced glasses have been analyzed for Rb, Sr and Sr isotopic composition. Five clasts and one glass have also been analyzed for large ion lithophile (LIL) trace element abundances including Li, Rb, Sr, and Ba and the REE's. The impact event forming the Wanapitei Lake structure occurred 37 m.y. ago based on K/Ar dating of glass and glassy whole-rock samples. Rb/Sr isotopic dating failed to provide a meaningful whole-rock or internal isochron. The isotopic composition of the glasses can be explained by impact-produced mixing and melting of metasediments.

Winzer, S. R.↗

Amino acids in modern and fossil woods

The amino acid composition and the extent of racemization in several modern and fossil woods are reported. The method of analysis is described, and data are presented on the total amino acid concentration, the amino acid ratios, and the enantiomeric ratios in each sample. It is found that the amino acid concentration per gram of dry wood decreases with age of the sample, that the extent of racemization increases with increasing age, and that the amounts of aspartic acid, threonine, and serine decrease relative to valine with increasing age. The relative racemization rates of amino acids in wood, bone, and aqueous solution are compared, and it is shown that racemization in wood is much slower than in bone or aqueous solution. Racemization results for woods from the Kalambo Falls area of Zambia are used to calculate a minimum age of 110,000 years for the transition between the Sangoan and Acheulian industries at that site. This result is shown to be consistent with numerous radiometric dates for older Acheulian sites in Africa and to compare well with geologically inferred dates for the beginning of the Eemian and the end of the Acheulian industry in southern Africa.

Lee, C.↗

Condensation time of the solar nebula from extinct I-129 in primitive meteorites

Mineral separates from five carbonaceous chondrites were dated by extinct 16 million year I-129, in an attempt to establish the condensation time of the solar nebula. Two Fe3O4 or Fe3O4-FeS samples from the Murchison and Orgueil meteorites are older than any other material dated thus far, and apparently formed within 200,000 years of each other. The great age, close isochronism, and primitive nature of the samples suggest that the event recorded was the condensation stage of the solar nebula. It provides a suitable zero point for the chronology of the early solar system. The I-129/I-127 ratio during condensation of the nebula was (1.46 plus or minus 0.04) times 0.0001. The recrystallized C4 chondrite Karoonda began to retain Xe-129 1.8 plus or minus 0.5 million years after the above event. This short cooling time implies rapid accretion (not exceeding 1 million years) and a shallow origin (not exceeding 10 km) below the surface of its parent body.-

Lewis, R. S.↗

Engineering analysis of LANDSAT 1 data for Southeast Asian agriculture

The author has identified the following significant results. LANDSAT spatial resolution was estimated to be adequate, but barely so, for the purpose of detailed assessment of rice or site status. This was due to the spatially fine grain, heterogenous nature of most rice areas. Use of two spectral bands of digital data (MSS 5 and MSS 6 or 7) appeared to be adequate for site recognition and gross site status assessment. Spectral/temporal signatures were found to be more powerful than spectra signatures alone and virtually essential for most analyses of rice growth and rice sites in the Philippine environment. Two band, two date signatures were estimated to be adequate for most purposes, although good results were achieved using one band two- or four-date signatures. A radiometric resolution of 64 levels in each band was found adequate for the analyses of LANDSAT digital data for site recognition and gross site or rice growth assessment.

Mcnair, A. J.↗

NASA Global Atmospheric Sampling Program (GASP) data report for tape VL0005

Atmospheric ozone, water vapor, and related flight and meteorological data were obtained during 214 flights of a United Airlines B-747 and two Pan American World Airways B-747's from March through June 1976. In addition, trichlorofluoromethane data obtained from laboratory analysis of two whole air samples collected in flight are reported. These data are available on GASP tape VL0005 from the National Climatic Center, Asheville, North Carolina. In addition to the GASP data, tropopause pressure fields obtained from NMC archives for the dates of the GASP flights are included on the data tape. Flight routes and dates, instrumentation, data processing procedures, and data tape specifications are described in this report. Selected analyses including ozone and sample bottle data are also presented.

Holdeman, J. D.↗

Planting data and wheat yield models

The author has identified the following significant results. A variable date starter model for spring wheat depending on temperature was more precise than a fixed date model. The same conclusions for fall-planted wheat were not reached. If the largest and smallest of eight temperatures were used to estimate daily maximum and minimum temperatures; respectively, a 1-4 F bias would be introduced into these extremes. For Kansas, a reduction of 0.5 bushels/acre in the root-mean-square-error between model and SRS yields was achieved by a six fold increase (7 to 42) in the density of weather stations. An additional reduction of 0.3 b/A was achieved by incorporating losses due to rusts in the model.

Feyerherm, A. M.↗

JAN transistor and diode characterization test program, JANTX diode 1N649-1

The data processing and calculation of statistical parameters was performed by the Tektronix computer system. The data acquired for easy vendor to vendor and date code to date code analysis are summarized. Each parameter is presented with test conditions, mean, standard deviation, lowest reading, 10% point (where 10% of all readings are equal to or less than the indicated reading), 90% point (where 90% of all readings are equal to or less than the indicated reading) and the highest reading.

Takeda, H.↗

Halley comet rendezvous with a SEPS vehicle

An analysis of the performance of a Solar Electric Propulsion System (SEPS) vehicle rendezvousing with Halley's comet just prior to its Frebruary 1986 perihelion is described. A calculus of variations mathematical formulation is used to maximize Halley arrival mass while giving effect to the influence of solar array size, launch date, arrival date, and insertion hyperbolic excess velocity. Numerical sensitivity relief, thrust system modeling, trajectory characteristics and ion engine operating conditions are discussed and illustrated. Results indicate a rendezvous is feasible with a minimal advance in solar cell and ion engine technology.

Burrows, R. R.↗