Investigation using data from ERTS to develop and implement utilization of living marine resources
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
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The author has identified the following significant results. Photointerpretation methods have been most successfully applied in the less vegetated test sites where several previously unknown geologic features have been recognized and known ones extended. Northwest mid-Tertiary faults in the ELY, Nevada area are observed to offset north-trending ranges and abruptly terminate older Mesozoic structures. In the Ray, Arizona area the observed patterns of fault and fracture systems appear to be related to the locations of known porphyry copper deposits. In the Tanacross, Alaska area a number of regional circular features observed may represent near surface intrusions and, therefore, permissive environments for copper porphyries.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
There are no author-identified significant resutls in this report.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
The author has identified the following significant results. Collection of ground truth data provided ground cover percent and the components of ground cover makeup. Percent bare soil appears to have greatest influence on imagery density of sites studied. Forage density estimates can be made on band 5 of MSS, provided site category identification is known. Additional data are provided concerning forage density and vegetation-soil relationship by color composites of MSS imagery. Reflectance differences shown on MSS bands 6 and 7 by Sand Hills lakes are related to water quality and possibly more specifically to total dissolved ions present in the water. Winter imagery with snow cover and low sun angle shows a marked enhancement of topography are associated with differences in forage density. High altitude color infrared photography appears to be a usable tool for recognition, measurement, and evaluation of go-back land.
Continuing interpretation of the test area in Finney County, Kansas, has revealed that winter wheat can be successfully identified. This successful identification is based on human recognition of tonal signatures on MSS images. Several different but highly successful interpretation strategies have been employed. These strategies involve the use of both spectral and temporal inputs. Good results have been obtained from a single MSS-5 image acquired at a critical time in the crop cycle (planting). On a test sample of 54,612 acres, 89 percent of the acreage was correctly classified as wheat or non-wheat and the estimated wheat acreage (19,516 acres) was 99 percent of the actual acreage of wheat in the sample area.
Examination of satellite imagery over the Atlantic Coastal Plain near Washington, D. C. shows numerous lineaments, which cannot be accounted for by any known cultural or natural features. At least some of these lineaments represent the surface expression of faults, for one of them has been correlated with the outcrop of a fault that had been traced for several miles in southern Prince Georges County, Maryland. If a substantial number of these lineaments do indeed represent fault traces, the fact that they show on the surface suggests that the geologic history of the Coastal Plain is much more complex than has previously been recognized, and that faulting may have occurred in the Holocene, much later than has generally been recognized. The importance that such recent movements could have on future development of the Coastal Plain should be emphasized.
Structural analysis is being carried out on bands MSS 5 and 7 of scene 1085-17294. Geologic strucutre is primarily revealed in the topographic relief and drainage. Topographic linears are particularly well developed in the bighorn uplift. Many of these occur along known faults and shear zones in the Precambrian core; several have not been previously mapped. These linears, however, do not continue into the younger rocks of the flanks or do so in a much less marked manner than in the core. Linears are far less abundant in the basin or are manifested only in very subtle tonal contrasts and somewhat straight drainage segments. Some of the linears are aligned along trends previously postulated on the basis of surface mapping to be lineaments. The imagery reveals little or no evidence of strike-slip displacements along these lineaments.
Soil association maps show the spatial relationships of land units having characteristic soil depths and textures, available water capacities, permeabilities, pH characteristics, plasticity indices, liquid limits, and the like, from which broad interpretations can be made such as how the soil is suited as a source for top soil, and as a source for sand and gravel, and how corrosive the soil is for steel and concrete, and what crop and grass yields can be expected. Film color composites of bands 4, 5 and 7 viewed over a light table with magnification show the soil associations of western South Dakota that are now recognized, and, in addition, several new soil association areas have been brought to light.
A study area was selected in Lancaster and Lebanon Counties, two of the major agricultural counties in Pennsylvania. This area was delineated on positive transparencies on MSS data collected on October 11, 1972 (1080-15185). Channel seven was used to delineate general land forms, drainage patterns, water and urban areas. Channel five was used to delineate highway networks. These identifiable features were useful aids for locating areas on the computer output. Computer generated maps were used to delineate broad land use categories, such as forest land, agricultural land, urban areas and water. These digital maps have a scale of approximately 1:24,000 thereby allowing direct comparison with U.S.G.S. 7.5 minute quadrangle sheets. Aircraft data were used as a form of ground truth useful for the delineation of land use patterns.
An electronic satellite image analysis console (ESIAC) is being employed to process imagery for use by USGS investigators in several different disciplines studying dynamic hydrologic conditions. The ESIAC provides facilities for storing registered image sequences in a magnetic video disc memory for subsequent recall, enhancement, and animated display in monochrome or color. Quantitative measurements of distances, areas, and brightness profiles can be extracted digitally under operator supervision. Initial results are presented for the display and measurement of snowfield extent, glacier development, sediment plumes from estuary discharge, playa inventory, phreatophyte and other vegetative changes.
The feasibility of using multispectral satellite imagery to monitor the characteristics of estuarine waters is being investigated. Preliminary comparisons of MSS imagery with suspended matter concentrations, particle counts, chlorophyll, transmittance and bathymetry have been made. Some visual correlation of radiance with particulates and chlorophyll has been established. Effects of bathymetry are present, and their relation to transmittance and radiance is being investigated. Greatest detail in suspended matter is revealed by MSS band 5. Near-surface suspended sediment load and chlorophyll can be observed in bands 6 and 7. Images received to date have partially defined extent and location of high suspensate concentrations. Net quantity of suspended matter in the lower Bay has been decreasing since the inception of the study, and represents the diminution of turbid flood waters carried into the Bay in late September, 1972. The results so far point to the utility of MSS imagery in monitoring estuarine water character for the assessment of siltation, productivity, and water types.
Cook Inlet is a large tide-dominated estuary in southern Alaska. Highly turbid streams enter the upper inlet, providing an excellent tracer for circulation in the lower inlet. MSS 4 and 5 images both can be used in this area to plot sediment and pollutant trajectories, areas of (probable) commercial fish concentration, and the entire circulation regime.
Light penetration in water is affected by plankton, algae, and dissolved and suspended matter. As a consequence, the composition of backscattered light from below the air-sea interface is determined by the nature of the constituents in the water column. In contrast to the absorption spectrum of chemically pure chlorophyll in solution, algae suspensions absorb and scatter light more uniformly throughout the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Because of their spectral absorption and scattering properties plankton concentration can be estimated by measuring the spectral backscattered radiance over water. Experiments using this approach were performed in upwelling regions along the northwest coast of Africa.
Coverage of approximately one-third of the test site, the state of New Mexico, had been received by January 31, 1973 and all of the images received were MSS products. Features noted during visual inspection of 91/2 x 91/2 prints include major structural forms, vegetation patterns, drainage patterns and outcrops of geologic formations having marked color contrasts. The Border Hills Structural Zone and the Y-O Structural Zone are prominently reflected in coverage of the Pecos Valley. A study of available maps and remote sensing material covering the Deming-Columbus area indicated that the limit of detection and the resolution of MSS products are not as good as those of aerial photographs, geologic maps, and manned-satellite photographs. The limit of detection of high contrast features on MSS prints in approximately 1000 feet or 300 meters for linear features and about 18 acres for roughly circular areas.
The nadir radiances of many models of the earth atmosphere system were computed for a fixed solar zenith angle. These data indicate that the standard deviations of the multispectral scanner responses to changes in water vapor and aerosols would be small on a continental-wide basis.