Remote Sensing Research & Development
A unique capability of the RMGSC is the ability to glean information using all source remote sensing technologies. Information to support decision makers is derived from Intelligence assets, commercial airborne and satellite sensors. RMGSC scientists perform research into new and more efficient methods for rapid access, evaluation, and provisioning of remotely sensed data for both in-house investigations and non-RMGSC end users.
Advanced Sensor Investigation in Support of Natural Hazards Research
The primary goals of this activity are to investigate various sensor capabilities and their potential to support the USGS Hazard Mission, to evaluate cost/benefit of each technology in comparison with traditional capabilities, evaluation of data fusion potential of combining the multiple sensors in an effort to establish new knowledge, and to identify the most effective processing tool requirements (systems, software, etc.) for each of the sensors. During FY07 RMGSC personnel will place a priority on the evaluation of the various sensor and platforms in terms of their potential to support land management issues and hazards. Also, specific scientific applications of the various remotely sensed data will be investigated along with derived products. These investigations will be applied to areas such as Grand County, Colorado (forest health and fire hazards), and Coastal Texas (hurricane hazard investigations).
LIDAR-imagery fusion showing casinos in Las Vegas, NV
In cooperation with the Texas State Forest Service the RMGSC will support hurricane risk assessment, early damage assessments and monitoring rehabilitation efforts. This research will examine the full range of remote sensing sensors, including hyperspectral, Lidar, radar, and thermal, with the specific goal to perform change detection and classifications along the coast with pre- and post-imagery. This method of change detection will not only identify changes in the coastline topography, but also contribute to rebuilding efforts and feasibility, and vegetation health and re-growth. Imagery data will be used to aid in preliminary damage assessments, land subsidence mapping, and flood inundation. Multispectral satellite data from various resolution sensors will be utilized to study structural damage and provide change detection post event.
Potential applications of emerging sensors to support wildfire will focus on supporting the partners and requirements identified in the USGS Fire Science Demonstration Project- Grand County Colorado. This investigation will focus on the use of remotely sensed data in the identification of potential hazards, fire fuels, landscape change, and invasive species (Pine Beetle). In addition, Lidar will be investigated as a means to visualize and quantify canopy height and forest structure, and hyperspectral data will be used to study various vegetative and geologic differences at a more specific level.
Hi-Resolution Land Cover & Energy Mapping
Southwest Wyoming provides major energy resources as well as significant blocks of public land, providing a good laboratory for developing new approaches to landscape conservation. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) have proposed the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI), a long-term, science based, collaborative effort to ensure Wyoming's wildlife and their habitats are fully considered and addressed in the face of increasing land use pressures and activities in Wyoming. The WLCI will initially focus on Southwest Wyoming, and will include cooperation and coordination with multiple partners including governmental agencies, industry and the private sector.
In support of this initiative RMGSC will explore the use of all source remotely sensed data for the development of high-resolution land cover and energy infrastructure mapping to support ecosystems mapping and energy infrastructure data validation and integration in the Green River Basin, Wyoming. This will involve research and development of advanced image processing techniques to extract and verify disturbed areas, oil and gas infrastructure, and species level land cover mapping. Data fusion techniques will also be investigated and developed to generate enhanced datasets at multiple resolutions. These enhanced datasets will be used to develop feature extraction and integration processes to support energy infrastructure and ecosystem investigations throughout the basin.
Rapid Exploitation of Multiple Source Remotely Sensed Data
The National Civil Applications Program (NCAP) at the Rocky Mountain Geographic Science Center (RMGSC) serves the Federal civil community by providing modernized acquisition, dissemination, and exploitation of all source information (national assets, commercial, open source, and governmental) to address land and resource management, environment, natural hazards, disasters, and other scientific analysis for policy issues. These activities at the RMGSC focus on enhancing the USGS scientific understanding of remote sensing capabilities and their applications in support of USGS and DOI missions including assistance to civil communities with risk assessments, scientific understanding, and predictive modeling capabilities that are important to natural hazard awareness, mitigation, response, and rehabilitation efforts. And the research and development of various sensor technologies to exploit land remote sensing data for DOI science applications. This technology research focuses on the continuance of building collaborative relationships with USGS partner agencies for research and development of emerging vehicle and sensor technologies.
The RMGSC has continued a long-term study in cooperation with the National Snow and Ice Data Center and USGS Water Resources Discipline in developing uniquely valuable products to characterize sea ice, land and glacial area changes that make use of datasets acquired through the NCAP and USGS inventory and analysis capabilities. RMGSC scientists explore the use of multiple source imagery to address specific needs by analyzing temporal dataset and by rapidly developing prototype products and test methodologies. Potential products include; data to supplement historical climatological records, possibilities for polar bear and Pacific walrus habitat mapping, and high-resolution sea ice cover characterizations for inclusion into refining climate modeling parameters. These products are utilized to support ongoing climate change research related to the short- and long-term impacts to the sea, land and glacial areas worldwide.
Another key activity is monitoring forest health using multiple source remotely sensed data to identify potentially heightened wildfire risk areas. The Mountain Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) induced vegetation mortality experienced within the American West poses ongoing concerns pertaining to forest health, and potentially heightened wildfire risk which can impair human safety and environmental quality. Grand County, Colorado, which has witnessed widespread pine mortality, and contains increasingly populated wildland urban interface areas (WUIs), is just one of the many areas that underscore these issues. The RMGSC is investigating the use of multiple source remotely sensed data (airborne and satellite imagery) for the monitoring of forest health, and the detection of Mountain Pine Beetle infestation and resulting tree mortality within Grand County. Moderate resolution satellite imagery has been used to generate countywide forest mortality products to identify the progression of the beetle. Similarly, satellite and airborne imagery has been employed to delineate a fine-scale geographic inventory and associated vegetation mapping, and facilitate a classification of healthy, diseased, and dead pine within the study area. This fine-scale distinction of pine mortality stage may be important for the purpose of fire fuels/wildfire behavior modeling and may provide a new, early detection tool to facilitate timely forest mapping and response.
The RMGSC also continues its role in support of Natural Hazards response and recovery with the implementation of rapid response with the exploitation of multiple sources of data for use in geospatial data support and situational awareness for risk analysis, disaster monitoring, and scientific investigations. This includes the continued development and hosting of the Rapid Data Delivery System (RDDS) to provide emergency and incident response teams with timely access to geospatial data including a variety of vector layers and a wide range of raster data including orthoimagery, digital raster graphics (USGS topographic maps), digital elevation models, and hill shade topographic products. Raster products are generated and managed with EarthWhereTM spatial content management and provisioning system, that provides users fast access to required formats with options to reproject, mosaic and reformat data based on their specific needs. Based on user requests in 2007, updated 1-meter natural color imagery has been added for data delivery including high risk areas of wildland fire and hurricanes.
Emerging Sensor Technology is a final area of emphasis at the RMGSC. This activity partners the USGS with the civil, intelligence and defense community in support of assessing the utility and new capabilities of national and commercial sensors. The RMGSC was recently named the host location for the new Land Remote Sensing Programs Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Office and will therefore continue to play a key role in the investigation and implementation of Unmanned Aerial Systems and data. RMGSC researchers are also investigating the use of MOTES sensor technology for various scientific research projects.
U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey