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The utilization of information derived from LANDSAT multispectral scanner data to estimate the impact of proposed timber harvests on potential elk use is briefly discussed. The evaluations were conducted in Northeastern Oregon where several herds of Rocky Mountain elk range in the Blue Mountains. The inventory product is a geographically referenced data base containing land cover types and habitat components (cover/forage).
The establishment of image analysis facilities for the operational utilization of LANDSAT data in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington is discussed. The hardware and software resources are described for each facility along with the range of services.
The nature of the HCMM data set and the general geologic application of thermal inertia imaging using HCMM data were studied. The CCT's of five sites of interest were obtained and displayed. The upgrading of the image display system was investigated. Fragment/block size distributions in various terrain types wre characterized with emphasis on volcanic terrain. The SEASAT L-band radar images of volcanic landforms at Newberry Volcano, Oregon, were analyzed and compared to imagery from LANDSAT band 7.
Atmospheric observations spanning the past three years show that methane increased at 1.2 (plus or minus 0.3)% per year at Cape Grim in Tasmania (41 deg S). This rate of increase can be compared to the 1.9 (plus or minus 0.4)% per year observed at Cape Meares in Oregon (45 deg N) over the past two years. Over the corresponding period the concentration at Cape Grim increased by 1.4 (plus or minus 0.4)% per year. The Southern Hemisphere data also suggest seasonal variations with minimum concentrations in March and maximum in September. These results are based on 26 large-volume stable air samples collected cryogenically in stainless steel flasks and 75 smaller-volume air samples collected in glass flasks, all analyzed by a gas chromatograph using a flame ionization detector.
The present investigation is concerned with an analysis of the atmospheric angular momentum balance, based on the simulation data of the Oregon State University two-level atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM). An attempt is also made to gain an understanding of the involved processes. Preliminary results on the angular momentum and mass balance in the AGCM are shown. The basic equations are examined, and questions of turbulent momentum transfer are investigated. The methods of analysis are discussed, taking into account time-averaged balance equations, time and longitude-averaged balance equations, mean meridional circulation, the mean meridional balance of relative angular momentum, and standing and transient components of motion.
Large-scale aerial photography was used to interpret Landsat multispectral scanner data processed through an unsupervised classifier. After scale adjustment and interpretation by application of an elk-habitat photointerpretation legend, the photographs were registered with the spectral classification, and the co-occurrence of spectral picture elements with photointerpreted habitat classes was tabulated. Analysis of the resulting table of data permitted the description of spectral classes in terms meaningful and useful to elk research and management unit in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon.
Analysis of HCMM data shows that the resolution provided by the thermal data is inadequate to permit the identification of individual lava flows within the volcanic test sites. Thermal data of southern California reveals that dune complexes at Kelso and Algodomes are found to be too small to permit adequate investigation of their structure. As part of the study of the San Francisco volcanic field, marked variations in the thermal properties of the region between Flagstaff and the Utah State border were observed. Several well-defined units within the Grand Canyon and the Colorado Plateau were recognized and appear to be very suitable for analysis with HCMM, SEASAT and LANDSAT images. Although individual volcanic constructs within the Cascade Range are too small to permit detailed characterization with the thermal data, the regional volcano/tectonic setting offers a good opportunity for comparing the possible thermal distinction between this area and sedimentary fold belts such as those found in the eastern United States. Strong intra-regional variations in vegetation cover were also tentatively identified for the Oregon test site.
The history of a 3-year effort in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington to establish operational capabilities to analyze LANDSAT digital data and apply the results to natural resources management programs is related. Currently a number of agencies are conduct operational applications projects utilizing the data analysis facilities available and LANDSAT-derived data are being used by these agencies in their day-to-day operations. The image analysis systems and software used in each state are described and the participating state and local agencies are listed.
This paper describes the initial utility experiences of operating three MOD-2s during the Engineering Acceptance Testing. Electrical quantities of bus voltage, phase currents and power are initially being recorded to evaluate impacts to customers on the 69-kV subtransmission line during synchronization and operation of one or more WTSs. To date, effects on the system have been essentially undetectable. Measurements of television signal strengths were taken at an existing television remote pickup and relay station at the WTS site. Potential TV signal interference problems from the WTSs have been avoided by replacing the remote pickups with microwave repeater links for the four TV channels received from Portland, Oregon. Preliminary measurements of audible and sub-audible noise levels indicate that the upwind rotor, tubular tower design of the MOD-2 does not have the pulsing high intensity infrasound problems experienced by the MOD-1 machine at Boone, North Carolina.
The states encompassed by the Western Regional Applications Program (WRAP) include Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. The features of the western United States which both help and hinder the use of LANDSAT are discussed as well as their effects on the institutional approaches used for resources management in these states. Operational alternatives and some of the representative LANDSAT projects that WRAP is engaged in are presented.
The effectiveness of airborne multispectral imagery for identifying vegetation indicative of serpentine soils, which usually contain deposits of Ni, Cr, and Co, was examined with ground truth data. Analyses were carried out in SW Oregon, the Jasper Ridge of the Santa Cruz Mountains, and the Sierra Nevada foothills. Airborne studies were performed with 10-channel scanner, a IR scanner, and with false color composites, while ground studies classified the vegetation and mineral contents of the soil. The airborne studies were successfully used to discern serpentine soils from nonultramafic rock types, although difficulties were encountered in separating serpentine from nonserpentinized peridotite. A lack of deciduous trees on serpentized land was noted.
It is determined that nitrous oxide (N2O) is increasing at about 0.9 ppb/yr in the northern hemisphere and at about 0.7 ppb/yr in the southern hemisphere, based on about 9000 ground-level measurements at Cape Meares, Oregon (45 deg N), and Cape Grim, Tasmania (42 deg S), spanning a three-year period. It is also shown that the N2O concentrations vary with season in the northern hemisphere, where the concentrations are 0.8 ppbv higher during April, May, and June compared to the rest of the year, and in the southern hemisphere where the concentrations are about 0.5 ppbv lower during March, April, and May compared to the rest of the year. An explanation of this increase as a sizeable anthropogenically-controlled land-based source is presented, based on an examination of the existing estimates of natural and anthropogenic sources of N2O. Mass-balance calculations are also presented which suggest that a natural land-based source, peaking in spring, would explain the main features of the observed seasonal cycle. A growth model is employed to extrapolate the observed increase of N2O into the future and the results are compared with exponential extrapolations.
The Atmospheric Lifetime Experiment is designed to determine accurately the atmospheric concentrations of the four halocarbons CFCl3, CF2Cl2, CCl4, and CH3CCl3, and also of N2O with emphasis on measurement of their long-term trends in the atmosphere. Comparison of these concentrations and trends for the four halocarbons with estimates of their industrial emission rates then enables calculations of their global circulation rates and globally averaged atmospheric lifetimes. The experiment utilizes automated dual-column electron-capture gas chromatographs which sample the background air about 4 times daily at the following globally distributed sites: Adrigole, Ireland, Cape Meares, Oregon; Ragged Point, Barbados; Point Matatula, American Samoa, and Cape Grim, Tasmania. The climatology of these 'clean air' sites and their ability to describe the global air mass are reviewed. The instrumentation and methods for data acquisition and processing are then described. An overview of the data obtained and the trends derived during the 3-year period from July 1978 through June 1981 for each of the five species being measured is presented.
Observations of the chlorofluorocarbon CFCl3 obtained several times daily over the period July 1978 to June 1981 at Adrigole, Ireland; Ragged Point, Barbados; Point Matatula, American Samoa; and Cape Grim, Tasmania are reported. In addition, observations at Cape Meares, Oregon are given for the period January 1980 to June 1981. On January 1, 1980, the average mixing ratio of CFCl3 in the lower troposphere is esimated to have been 168 pptv, and this is calculated to have been increasing 5.7 percent annually. Assuming that the only destruction of CFCl3 occurs in the stratosphere, the lifetime, on January 1, 1980, estimated by a trend technique is 83 + 73, or -27 years; the lifetime estimated from the global inventory of CFCl3 is to + 89 or -25 years. The maximum likelihood current lifetime estimate obtained by combining the estimates from both analysis techniques is 78 years.
Observations of dichlorodifluoromethane obtained several times daily over the period July 1978 to June 1981 at Adrigole, Ireland (52 deg N, 10 deg W), Ragged Point, Barbados (13 deg N, 59 deg W), Point Matatula, American Samoa (14 deg S, 171 deg W), and Cape Grim, Tasmania (41 deg S, 145 deg E), are reported. Observations at Cape Meares, Oregon (45 deg N, 124 deg W), are also given for the period November 1980 to June 1981. On January 1, 1980, the average mixing ratio of dichlorodifluoromethane in the lower troposphere is estimated to have been 285 pptv and to have been increasing at 6.0 percent/year. The atmospheric lifetime of this compound is estimated from this data by adjusting its destruction rate in a two-dimensional model of the atmosphere so as to provide the best fit to the observations. Assuming destruction of CF2Cl2 in the stratosphere only, the lifetime estimate for January 1, 1980, by the inventory technique is 69 + 36 or - 18 years. The trend technique principally provides a lower limit to the lifetime of 81 years. The results suggest a need for further assessment of dichlorodifluoromethane release estimates, particularly those from the USSR and eastern Europe.
Heat Capacity Mapping Mission thermal-inertia images of a diversity of terrains and geologic settings were examined in conjunction with topographic, geologic, geophysical, and LANDSAT data. The images were found to have attributes similar to bedrock maps. In the Cascades region, two new features were identified and a method was developed to characterize regional terranes using linear feature data. Two northeast-trending Lineaments were discovered in the Overthrust Belt of Montana and Idaho. The longer of the two extends from the Idaho-Oregon border, through the Idaho batholith and across the Lewis thrust. It coincides, along segments, with mapped faults and an aeromagnetic pattern change. A major lineament crossing the Colorado Plateau and the Southern Rocky Mountians was detected on several thermal-inertial images and evidence was found for the existence of a geologic discontinuity. Vegetation-covered areas in Richfield and the Silver City quadrangle (Arizona and New Mexico) displayed thermal-inertia differences within heavily vegetation areas although no apreciable correlation was found between vegetation cover and thermal inertia. Resistant ridges and knolls have high thermal inertias and thermal-inertia contrasts occurred at lithologic and fault contacts. In the heavy vegetated Pinaleno Mountains, Arizona, a Lithologic unit obscured on LANDSAT MSS data due to the vegetation cover, exhibited a thermal-inertia contrast with its surroundings.
The results of an analysis of more than 60,000 atmospheric measurements of carbon monoxide taken over 3-1/2 years at Cape Meares, Oregon (45 deg N, 125 deg W), indicate that the background concentration of this gas is increasing. The rate of increase, although uncertain, is about 6 percent per year on average. Human activities are the likely cause of a substantial portion of this observed increase; however, because of the short atmospheric lifetime of carbon monoxide and the relatively few years of observations, fluctuations of sources and sinks related to the natural variability of climate may have affected the observed trend. Increased carbon monoxide may deplete tropospheric hydroxyl radicals, slowing down the removal of dozens of man-made and anthropogenic trace gases and thus indirectly affecting the earth's climate and possibly the stratospheric ozone layer.
Color and color infrared aerial photography and imagery acquired from a Daedalus DEI-1260 multispectral airborne scanner were employed in an investigation to discriminate ultramafic rock types in a test site in southwest Oregon. An analysis of the relationships between vegetation characteristics and parent materials was performed using a vegetation classification and map developed for the project, lithologic information derived from published geologic maps of the region, and terrain information gathered in the field. Several analytical methods, including visual image analysis, band ratioing, principal components analysis, and contrast enhancement and subsequent color composite generation were used in the investigation. There was a close correspondence between vegetation types and major rock types. These were readily discriminated by the remote sensing techniques. It was found that ultramafic rock types were separable from non-ultramafic rock types and serpentine was distinguishable from non-serpentinized peridotite. Further investigations involving spectroradiometric and digital classification techniques are being performed to further identify rock types and to discriminate chromium and nickel-bearing rock types.