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At least 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1973

Evaluation of ERTS-1 imagery for mapping Quaternary deposits and landforms in the Great Plains and Midwest

The author has identified the following significant results. The main landform associations and larger landforms are readily identifiable on the better images and commonly the gross associations of surficial Quaternary deposits also can be differentiated, primarily by information on landforms and soils. Maps showing the Quaternary geologic-terrain units that can be differentiated from the ERTS-1 images are being prepared for 20-odd potential study areas in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Among the more distinct features are the major moraines and outwash channels of the last (Wisconsin) glaciation. Analysis of dissection/drainage patterns from the synoptic imagery is proving useful for detecting anomalies that may be caused by stream diversions and moraines of pre-Wisconsin glaciations, by variable loess deposition, by tectonism, and other factors. Numerous abandoned river valleys have been mapped. Trend-lines of several known pre-Wisconsin moraine systems have been identified in Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas, and also several similar trend-lines, that may indicate previously unknown moraine systems of middle and possibly early Pleistocene age, have been found in Iowa and Missouri. The area inundated by a major flood in southwestern Iowa also has been delineated from ERTS-1 imagery.

Morrison, R. B.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Application of ERTS-1 imagery to detecting and mapping modern erosion features, and to monitoring erosional changes, in southern Arizona

The author has identified the following significant results. The red MSS band 5 gives the sharpest definition of modern arroyos. On the best images, modern arroy0s can be distinguished as narrow as 150 to 200 feet in reaches where their contrast with adjacent areas is only moderate, and as narrow as 60 to 75 feet where their contrast is high. Both the red and infrared bands show differences is soils and vegetation. In the late fall and winter imagery, band 7 generally is the most useful for mapping the areas of the more erodible soils. A map at 1:1,000,000 scale has been prepared that shows all the arroyos within the 17,000 square mile study area that have been identified from ERTS-1 images. Also, from U-2 color infrared airphotos, a 1:125,000 scale map has been made of a 50 mile reach along San Simon Wash, in southeastern Arizona. This map shows not only the arroyo channels and narrow flood plains that have developed since 1890, but also areas within a few miles of the wash that are severely guilled, severely sheet-eroded, and moderately sheet-eroded. Two important effects of the third largest recorded flood of the upper Gila River also have been determined from the ERTS-1 images. The inundated area is best displayed on band 7, and the areas of severe sand/gravel erosion/deposition show best on band 5.

Morrison, R. B.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Studies of the inner shelf and coastal sedimentation environment of the Beaufort Sea from ERTS-1

The author has identified the following significant results. Northward flowing rivers of Alaska inundate extensive areas of sea ice during spring breakup. This process has been studied under the ERTS-1 program. Drainage of large volumes of fresh water through the ice at holes and cracks (strudel) causes scour depressions, over 4 m deep, and up to 20 m across in the sea floor below. Strudel scours occur within 30 km of river mouths, generally in areas where ERTS-1 imagery shows less potential for drifting ice to scour the bottom than elsewhere. The shapes and distribution patterns of strudel scours correspond with those of strudel seen in the ice canopy. Densities of scours are highest in the inner areas of overlfow. But strudel scours also occur outside of overflow areas mapped during the last several years. These must be very old. One strudel scour investigated by diving is surrounded by a rim, has vertical walls exposing a tundra horizon, and terminates at a gravel layer 4 m below the lagoon floor. Another terminates at a semi-consolidated layer of silty clay. The gravel and silty clay are pre-Holocene deposits. Mixing of Holocene marine with older sediments by vertical strudel flow causes great variability in sediment types over small areas. These observations complicate interpretation of shallow water deposits of cold climates.

Reimnitz, E.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Survey of lake flooding from ERTS-1: Lake Champlain

The author has identified the following significant results. ERTS-1 imagery showing seasonal lake-level conditions in Lake-Champlain can be used to assess shoreline change and flooding extent. MSS bands 6 and 7 provide maximum land-water contrasts and are the most useful for shoreline location. Shoreline changes observed between ERTS coverages of October 10 (low water) and April 7 and 25 (high water) are readily apparent and enlargement of specific scenes by a factor of four provides data which can be transferred to a map base. The unique synoptic view provided by ERTS-1 will make it possible to map shoreline positions occurring at a specific lake stage. Due to present government concerns over abnormally high lake levels, resource management questions have been raised regarding the extent, nature, and occurrence of inundation magnitude of shoreline change, and lake volume change.

Lind, A. O.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Water Resources

Uses of ERTS-1 imagery and data for water resources surveys and management are summarized. Areas discussed are: (1) land use and geology; (2) flood plain and flood inundation mapping; (3) snow cover mapping; (4) glacier observations; (5) data collection systems; (6) surface waters; (7) wetlands mapping; (8) water quality; (9) soil mapping; (10) phreatophyte and riparian vegetation mapping; and (11) evapotranspiration.

Salomonson, V. V.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Preliminary road alinement through the Great Kavir in Iran by repetitive ERTS-1 coverage

Access to the Great Kavir is generally limited to the period August through October when some salt crusts will support limited vehicular movement. The condition of the salt crusts and their parent sediments during the long wet season have been unknown. This absence of information about the surface of the Great Kavir has prevented an intensive study of a possible road alinement which could shorten the present route between northern and central Iran by 760 km. False color diazo composites of bands 4, 5, and 7 were prepared from positives of ERTS-1 MSS images taken of the Great Kavir. These scenes presented a record of the seasonal hydrologic changes that occurred from the dry to the wet season. During the period of maximum inundation and lowest bearing strengths, as inferred from the image of May 12, 1973, it was possible to select a preliminary road alinement that would avoid the wettest or roughest areas and take advantage of the best terrain and shortest distance. The eventual road alinement should be based on a longer record of observation and on-site investigations.

Krinsley, D. B.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Sediment concentration mapping in tidal estuaries

An analytical procedure has been developed that considers the ERTS-1 multispectral scanner as a reflectance spectrophotometer. ADP techniques requiring only very limited computer capability are utilized to search the data defining the spectral reflectance characteristics of a scene on a pixel-by-pixel basis, identify each pixel whose spectral reflectance matches a reference spectrum, and generate maps that identify pixel locations where spectrum matches occur and identify the spectrum that was matched. If the reference spectra are known to represent a specific condition on the ground, a map of the distribution of that condition can be output as a dimensionally accurate overlay to maps of any selected scale. Two applications are described: (1) mapping the distribution of water masses exhibiting specific suspended sediment concentrations; and (2) determining the location and delineation of surface water bodies in the southeastern U. S. The techniques described are being successfully used to map the land area inundated by the 1973 spring flood in the Lower Mississippi River Valley, map sediment distributions in Lake Pontchartrain (in Louisiana) as a result of opening the Bonnet Carre Floodway during the spring flood, and inventory lakes and reservoirs.

Williamson, A. N.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Application of remote sensing techniques in land-use planning: Flood-plain delineation

The delineation of areas subject to inundation by means of remotely-sensed data acquisition represents a considerable saving in personnel time. Repeated input from aerial sensor sources provides the planner with a potent tool for the formation of a data base and for the monitoring of land use patterns over a period of time. The primary output of this project was a set of base map overlays at a scale of 1:62,500 delineating areas which require special regulations when proposed for land use involving human habitation or certain classes of storage. A secondary product of the study was county-wide maps of watershed configurations and of soil hydrologic groups. Further research is anticipated to extend the mapping of watershed areas outside the political boundaries of Cochise County, which will provide data for subsequent rainfall-runoff relationship studies in the area. All of the data provided will be incorporated into the Cochise County composite computer mapping project now operational. Results of this project have improved the pool of information available to the planning staff of Cochise County.

Altenstadter, J.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Water resources

ERTS-1 applications in snow and ice monitoring, surface water monitoring, including monitoring of wetland areas and flood inundated area mapping, and also watershed monitoring for runoff prediction are discussed. Results also indicate that geological features can be noted which relate to ground water. ERTS-1 data can be used successfully in operational situations by water resources management agencies.

Salomonson, V. V.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Improvement of water resources management through the use of satellites flood plain delineation

The delineation of flood-prone areas is an important activity in several parts of the world. Conventional methods map the topography surrounding the river via ground surveys and supplementary aerophotography. The conventional method costs approximately $2,000 per river-kilometer, is laborious and time-consuming. ERTS information can supplement this method by two complementary techniques: (1) the dynamic method images the floods as they occur, exploiting the fact that visible evidence of inundation remains for a substantial period after the high waters have receded; (2) the static method utilizes the fact that several flood plains have been found recognizable on ERTS imagery from distinctive, permanent indicators left by previous floods. For areas whose full development is still in the future, the dynamic method allows the gradual buildup with time of a flood plain map, by simply correlating existing ERTS imagery. The static method allows in several areas, a first-cut indication, of proneness to floods.

Castruccio, P. A.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Comparative studies of lunar, Martian, and Mercurian craters and plains

The spatial distribution of lunar smooth plains is not consistent with experimental simulations of melt rock emplacement during cratering in layered materials. Nor is it consistent with the location of melt rocks (suevite) near the Ries basin. Lunar smooth plains surrounding Imbrium are most extensive in areas where pre-existing craters are most degraded. This observation suggests that plains form by impact of basin and local primary crater ejecta, together with deposition of debris excavated by the resultant secondary cratering events. Craters within the belt of smooth plains surrounding the Caloris basin on Mercury are most degraded nearest the basin; this suggests that Mercurian smooth plains must, at least in part, be emplaced in a manner similar to plains surrounding the Imbrium basin. Mercurian uplands have a primary crater population deficient in small crater diameters (less than approximately 30 km). Lunar uplands far from major basins also have a crater population deficient in small crater sizes. Martian cratered terrain exhibits a similar crater deficiency, which was previously interpreted as due to obliteration of small craters (less than approximately 30 km) by some surface process. A crater size distribution deficient in small sizes (less than approximately 30 km) on the Mercurian, lunar, and Martian uplands has implications for the origin of debris bombarding the inner solar system during the period recorded by these surfaces. It is proposed that during late heavy bombardment, the inner solar system was inundated with bodies that broke up under tidal fission as they approached the planets. Such a mechanism would lend to production of a crater population deficient in small crater sizes, and it would also explain the large degree of spatial clustering of primary craters on Mercury, the moon, and Mars.

Oberbeck, V. R.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Apollo and the geology of the moon /Twenty-eighth William Smith Lecture/

Lunar geology evidence is examined for clues to the origin and evolution of the moon and earth. Seven evolutionary episodes, the last covering three billion years to the present day, are constructed for the moon. Parallel episodes in the earth's evolution are masked by the dynamic continuing evolution of the earth over a 4.5 billion year span, in contrast to the moon's quiescence and inability to retain fluids. Comparisons are drawn between the geochemistry and tectonics of the lunar basaltic maria and the earth's ocean basins. Lunar maria rocks differ strikingly in chemical composition from meteoritic matter and solar material. Inundation of frontside lunar maria basins by vast oceans of dark basalt mark the last of the major internally generated evolutionary episodes, and is attributed to consequences of meltdown of the lunar mantle and crust by radioisotope decay from below. Data are drawn primarily from Apollo missions 11-17, supplemented by other sources.

Schmitt, H. H.↗
NASA NTRS1976

The use of remote sensing imagery for environmental land use and flood hazard mapping

Flood hazard maps have been constructed for Graham, Yuma, and Yavapai Counties in Arizona using remote sensing techniques. Watershed maps of priority areas were selected on the basis of their interest to the county planning staff and represented areas of imminent or ongoing development and those known to be subject to inundation by storm runoff. Landsat color infrared imagery at scales of 1:1,000,000, 1:500,000, and 1:250,000 was used together with high-altitude aerial photography at scales of 1:120,000 and 1:60,000 to determine drainage patterns and erosional features, soil type, and the extent and type of ground cover. The satellite imagery was used in the form of 70 mm chips for enhancement in a color additive viewer and in all available enlargement modes. Field checking served as the main backup to the interpretations. Areas with high susceptibility to flooding were determined with a high level of confidence from the remotely sensed imagery.

Mouat, D. A.↗
NASA NTRS1977

The use of the LANDSAT data collection system and imagery in reservoir management and operation

The author has identified the following significant results. An increase in the data collection system's (DCS) ability to function in the flood control mission with no additional manpower was demonstrated during the storms which struck New England during April and May of 1975 and August 1976. It was found that for this watershed, creditable flood hydrographs could be generated from DCS data. It was concluded that an ideal DCS for reservoir regulation would draw features from LANDSAT and GOES. MSS grayscale computer printout and a USGS topographic map were compared, yielding an optimum computer classification map of the wetland areas of the Merrimack River estuary. A classification accuracy of 75% was obtained for the wetlands unit, taking into account the misclassified and the unclassified pixels. The MSS band 7 grayscale printouts of the Franklin Falls reservoir showed good agreement to USGS topographic maps in total area of water depicted at the low water reservoir stage and at the maximum inundation level. Preliminary analysis of the LANDSAT digital data using the GISS computer algorithms showed that the radiance of snow cover/vegetation varied from approximately 20 mW/sq cm sr in nonvegetated areas to less than 4 mW/sq cm sr for densely covered forested area.

Cooper, S.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Structural evolution of Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Ascreus Mons Tharsis region of Mars

Analysis of Viking Orbiter data suggests that Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Ascreus Mons, three large shield volcanoes of the Tharsis volcanoes of Mars, have had similar evolutionary trends. Arsia Mons appears to have developed in the following sequence: (1) construction of a main shield volcano, (2) outbreak of parasitic eruption centers on the northeast and southwest flanks, (3) volcano-tectonic subsidence of the summit and formation of concentric fractures and grabens, possibly by evacuation of an underlying magma chamber during eruption of copious lavas from parasitic eruption centers on the northeast and southwest flanks, and (4) continued volcanism along a fissure or rift bisecting the main shield, resulting in flooding of the floor of the volcano-tectonic depression and inundation of the northeast and southwest flanks by voluminous lavas locally forming parasitic shields. In terms of this sequence Pavonis Mons has developed to stage (3) and Ascreus Mons has evolved to stage (2). This interpretation is supported by crater frequency-diameter distributions in the 0.1- to 3.0-km diameter range.

Crumpler, L. S.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Developing in situ flood estimators using multi-date Landsat imagery

Landsat satellite imagery is being used as the primary source of information on flooding in the Black River Basin of northern New York State. Landsat images (Band 7) depicting flood conditions during several flood seasons since 1973 were obtained for analysis. Visual interpretation of these images is providing the basis for quantitatively relating in situ measurements of river discharge with the total area and geographic locations of inundation. This, in turn, will provide real-time estimation of flood losses over the entire river basin. This practical and inexpensive approach can provide sufficiently reliable information, and is applicable in other similar river basins.

Mcleester, J. N.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Continuation of measurement of hydrologic soil-cover complex with airborne scatterometers

The author has identified the following significant results. Analysis of radar scatterometry data obtained over five flight lines in Texas by NASA C-130 aircraft demonstrated that multivariant radar data can be used to distinguish difference in land use, and hence be an indicator of surface runoff characteristics. The capability of using microwave sensors to detect flood inundation of timbered land was also determined.

Blanchard, B. J.↗