GEOG 551: Principles of Remote Sensing

Exercise #10

Remote Sensing of Soils and Geomorphology

Due Date: December 13, 2006


Objectives

  • To understand and identify spectral characteristics of various soil grain sizes and textures.
  • To understand and identify geomorphic features based on patterns found in remotely sensed imagery.

It is important to have accurate information about the location, quality and abundance of soils, minerals, and rocks in order to conserve these often irreplaceable natural resources. Remote sensing can provide information about the chemical composition of rocks and minerals, assist in understanding unique absorption bands associated with specific mineral types, and help to identify geobotanical relationships that can be used to identify soil geochemistry or rock types.

Part I. Particle Size Mapping on a Mississippi Sand Bar

In the first part of this exercise, we will attempt to identify the spectral properties of various soil grain sizes and textures from an Airborne Terrestrial Applications Sensor (ATLAS) dataset acquired on a sand bar at mile 640 of the Mississippi River on September 10, 1999. The study area is located in northwestern Mississippi just south of Friar's Point and Old Town Bend. This sand bar is mostly covered by water during the spring flood stage and exposed in the late summer months as the river level falls. The Mississippi River valley alluvium is formed from the erosion and deposition of gravel, sand, silt, and clay. In general, the alluvium consists of a gradation of particle sizes beginning with a coarse gravelly sand matrix at the bottom, then finer sands, then silts, and clays upwards to the surface. Natural color photography was also collected at an altitude of 4,200 feet AGL. At the time the mission was flown, a field crew collected in situ data using a GPS to map out various soil particle sizes on the sand bar. The ATLAS data comes from research conducted by the NASA Affiliated Research Center in the Department of Geography (Luders et al., 1999).

ASSIGNMENT

1) Using the ATLAS dataset, create one graph containing the spectral profiles (14 bands) of each of the following sand bar features at each UTM coordinate listed in the table below. You may want to use the higher resolution aerial photo to further investigate the study area. Create one graph with of all six feature spectral profiles and hand it in with your lab.
 

2) After analyzing each of the spectral curves, describe why each feature responds differently throughout the spectrum. Which band(s) provide the best discrimination and poorest discrimination for all particle size classes?

Part II. Geomorphic Pattern Recognition in Remotely Sensed Data

3) The following images were acquired by astronauts onboard the Space Shuttle. After reading the text, identify at least one geomorphic feature from each image based on the observed patterns in the remotely sensed imagery. Describe what type of landform it is (i.e., eolian (dune type), fluvial (drainage patterns), glacial, etc.)


A
B
C
D
E

F
G
H
I
J

K
L
M
N
O

P
Q
R
S
T

Luders, J., S. Schill, J. R. Jensen, and G. Olson, 1999, Sand and Gravel Particle Size Discrimination Using Using Airborne Terrestrial Applications (ATLAS) Sensor, SSC, MS: NASA Stennis Space Center, Commercial Remote Sensing Report, 45 pp.

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Last Modified: 12 January 2005