/0 INTERDISCIPLINARZY ,\I'rICATIONS AND INTERPRETATION5 OF El'-, DATA WITHIN THE SUS-.FHA'-\ RIVER BASIN .8- 0. 451& Resource Inventory, Land U-., a,! 1',,uti,,n ct(' -- iq 5'' " cH tDo 0 1:H H 4ard~c Ztd -tj (D: H flt j'i w ia )= w 0J H L C+ flI'C 0 tn)- Hm -~ /l w GODDARD~LSPAC • : C C GreeneltMaryand ,IS/t02. td~d (A) Piepred or NSA V' *,oc1 CODDRD SPCE f--K&4 Mayln SC'92­Irenet . Repo" No. 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient's Catalog Na. 4. Title and Subtitle I-TERDISCIPLINARY APPLICATIONS 5. Report Date AND INTERPRETATIONS OF ERTS DATA WITHIN THE December 1975 SUSQUEHANNA RIVER BASIN 6. Performing Organization Code Resource Inventory. Land Use, and Pollution 7.Autho(s)rincipal Investigators: 8. Performing Organization Report No. G. J. McMurtry and G. W. Peter.sen %N ORSER-SSEL TP. 21-75 9. Performing Organizatl-ofFNnamnrnd Address 10. Work Unit-No. Office for Remote Sensing of Earth Resources 219 Electrical Engineering West 11. Contract or Grant No. The Pennsylvania State University NAS 5-23133 University Park, Pennsylvania 16802 13. Type of Report and Period Cavered 12. Sponsoring Agency Ham, and Address Type III (Final) GODDARD.SPACE FLIGHT CENTER . 1 Jun 1972A-30 Apr 1975 Greenbelt; Maryland 20771 4. Sponsoring Agency Code Technical Monitor: Edmund F. Szajna 15. Supplementary Notes Original photography may be purchased from EROS Data Center 10th and Dakob Avenue Sioux-Falls. SD'"57198 16. Abstract EfTS-l data of Pennsylvania have been analyzed and interpretation tech­ niques have been developed. The effectiveness of the data and of interdisci­ plinary, and university-industry related research has been evaluated and the potential value of these data to local and state agencies for the management of land resources has been demonstrated. Specific objectives have been ob­ tained within the categories of digital processing and pattern recognition, inventory of natural resources and land use, geology and hydrology, and environmental quality. Geologic interpretations have been made from ERTS-I imagery and digital data have been processed for detailed mapping, with quantitative anfalysis and evaluation. Photointerpretive techniques with aircraft photography have been used extensively for verification of digital data classifications. An inter­ disciplinary team and an interactive display system ate both highly recommended. The,major advantages of EPTS-l data are temporal coverage, large areal coverage, and their multispectral nature. It is recommended that the ground resolution be improved, that a thermal channel be added, and that orbital passes be more frequent. Turn-around time between requests for data and re­ ceipt by users should be considerably reduced. A national central data pro­ cessing network with regional data centers should be considered. Ground truth serial photography should be from over 5000 m and an MSS unit should be flown on the U2 aircraft. 17,ERTS-l data evaluation, HSS digital data 18. Distribution Statement processing, land use mapping, lineaments, mineral exploration, forest resources, mine refuse, strip mines, gypsy moths, hydrologyj geology, canonical analysis, duster analy­ sis, interdisciplinary research, interactive display, signature transference, environment. 19. security CiossiL. (of this report) 20. Scurity Clossif. (of this page) 21. No. of Pages 22. Price Unclassified Unclassified - 181 i O1IGINAL PAGE IS OF POOR QUALITY Preface This report presents a comprehensive review of the efforts of the Office for Remote Sensing of Earth Resources (ORSER) of the Space Science and Engineering Laboratory (SSEL) at The Pennsylvania State University, in analyzing ERTS-l data over the period 1 June 1972 through 30 April 1975. This has been an interdisciplinary effort involving nine faculty members and numerous graduate students from six departments in three colleges of the University. The general objectives of this project were to develop interpretation techniques for ERTS-1 data and evaluate the data temporally and spatially, to apply remote sensing techniques in regional resource management, to provide graduate and undergraduate instruction in remote sensing, and to evaluate the effectiveness of interdisciplinary and university-industry related research. The specific objectives were obtained within the cate­ gories of digital processing and pattern recognition, inventory of natural resources and land use, geology and hydrology, and environmental quality. The geographic area of interest covered that portion of the Susquehanna River Basin within the borders of the state of Pennsylvania. Experience on this project has indicated that the primary value of ERTS-I imagery is in making broad regional interpretations, such as deli­ neation of physiographic and generalized land use features and geologic mapping. Of special'value is the visibility of large but subtle features, such as lineaments, which are obscured by the details fo~nd:in data of ­ higher resolution. Detailed mapping with quantitative analysis and evalua­ tion is best performed using ERTS-l digital data. Both spectral and spatial resolution within the limits of the ERTS-l system can be preserved at all stages of the analysis..sAreas of 4thaor larger can be regularly-classified,....­ and smallervareas_may_be-identified depending on scene contrast and other -factors. ... .. .. .. A hybrid approach to the interpretation of MSS data appears to be highly desirable. In the case of ERTS-I data, this involves extensive use of photointerpretive techniques applied to aircraft underflight photography for purposes of verification and interpretation of the digital data proces­ sing results. Due to the large area covered by ERTS-l data and thenature of the problems to which such data are most suitably applied, an inter­ disciplinary team is recommended for most interpretations. The quality of ERTS-l data is generally very good. The data volume is large but reasonable, considering the extremely large area covered in a single scene. With only four channels (or possibly five in future missions), many facilities have computing capabilities which are adequate to handle and process these data. ii The major advantages of ERTS-I data are, (1) temporal coverage of the earth with good repeatibility, (2) large areal coverage, and (3) their multispectral nature. The principal limitations are, (1) lack of data over cloud-covered areas, (2) low ground resolution, (3) lack of a thermal infrared channel, (4) the length of time (18 days) between consecutive passes over a given area, and (5) the length of time between a request for data and its receipt by the user. In general, ERTS-l provides extremely useful data for many earth re­ sources applications. This project has demonstrated the feasibility of specific applications to a wide variety of problems in.the areas of inven­ tory of natural resources and land use, monitoring of environmental quality, and providing geologic information. ERTS-I data and the methods developed for their interpretation provide a valuable tool for regional management of natural resources and land use. It is recommended that the resolution of the satellite scanner be improved to approximately 25 m and that a thermal channel be added to the satellite scanner. The repetitive coverage of the satellite should be increased to intervals of a week or less and the turn-around time between requests for data and receipt by the users should be reduced to two weeks for routine requests and 24 to 48 hours for special requests. A national central data processing network with several regional data centers should be investigated seriously and implemented as soon as possible; this could reduce the time required to get the data to users and thus encourage more agencies to become users. An interactive display system should be used to aid in analysis and to reduce overall analysis time. Channel selection procedures should be employed to reduce data volume and analysis costs, unless adequate comput­ ing facilities and funds are available. For the purpose of ground truth for ERTS-l data processing, aerial photography should be obtained at altitudes of at least 5000 m above the ground surface. Care should be taken that aircraft missions are carried out at the desired time of the year and time of day, and on a course which covers the entire test site. The aircraft multispectral scanner should be calibrated and calibration information should be supplied to the user. A multispectral scanner should be flown on the U2 aircraft. This platform could minimize the problems encountered with low-flying aircraft and would give a pixel with much greater resolution than that of ERTS-l. Consideration should be given to making the U2 into an operational system, such that flights could be requested by a variety of users. iii Acknowledgements The work reported herein was primarily supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Goddard Space Flight Center, under Contract NAS 5-23133. In addition to the ERTS-1 data supplied, the air­ craft data acquired by NASA personnel were invaluable to the success of our research activities. Special appreciation is expressed to James Lindeman and James Weber of NASA-Houston for coordinating the U2 and C130 missions, and to Paul Alfonsi and Richard Dowd of NASA-Wallops for arranging the C54 missions and providing the photographic data. The efforts of Edmund Szajna for providing liaison as the Technical Monitor of this project are also appreciated. Supplementary support was provided by the Space Science and Engi­ neering Laboratory and its director, Paul Ebaugh, at The.Pennsylvania State University. In addition, the contribution of significant amounts of unfunded computer time by the University is gratefully acknowledged. The persons involved in the various aspects of the research described herein are identified by name in parentheses after the title of the sections in which their work is described. In addition to the above persons, a special note of appreciation is given to Ms. Danielle N. Applegate for her services as computer program­ mer and to Ms. Nanna B. Bolling, as image analyst and for compilation, editing, and production of this report.