ASPRS

PE&RS May 1998

VOLUME 64, NUMBER 5
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND REMOTE SENSING

Peer Reviewed Articles

387 The Assessment of Sediment Transport Rates by Automated Digital Photogrammetry
M. Stojic, J. Chandler, P. Ashmore, and J. Luce

Abstract
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Automated DEM acquisition methods are used to generate dense elevation models of a controlled experimental flume used to simulate sediment transport in a braided stream. A Pentax 645 non-metric camera was used to acquire all imagery, and uncertainties concerning the interior orientation of the camera were overcome using a self-calibrating bundle adjustment. The ERDAS IMAGINE OrthoMAX software package was used to derive all DEMS, and derived elevation models were used in a variety of ways to provide data of geomorphological significance, A study of the quality of derived data suggests that reliable estimates of sediment transport can theoretically be derived from the detection of morphological change alone, but it is very difficult to achieve in practice.

397 Co-Registered Aerial Stereopairs from Low-Flying  Aircraft for the Analysis of Long-Term Tropical Rainforest Canopy Dynamics
Stanley R. Herwitz, Robert E. Slye, and Stephen M. Turton

Abstract
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Ground-based censusing of tagged trees in permanent plots has been the standard research method far monitoring the long-term dynamics of tropical rainforest tree populations. This paper describes a method for quantifying the turnover and crown growth rates of tropical rainforest canopy trees over an 18-year period using a temporal sequence of largescale aerial stereopairs. The stereopairs were co-registered using an array of control points that consisted of surveyed aerial targets and primary branch bifurcation points(BIPs) having the same persistent geometry and spatial coordinates in the crowns of selected canopy trees. Six crown size classes were distinguished, and critical late stages in the life history of mature canopy trees were identified. The smallest crown size classes (<20 and 20 to 40 m²) experienced more than 75 percent of the canopy tree mortality over the 18-year period. Of the canopy trees that survived, the mid-range 60- to 80-m² crown size class was identified as a critical late stage, having both the highest mean crown growth rate (2.42 m²/yr) among those trees that exhibited positive growth as well as the highest proportion of trees (47 percent) experiencing a reduction in crown size. The results demonstrate that high resolution, aerial stereophotography from low-flying aircraft serve as a valuable tool for demographic research in tropical rainforest ecosystems. 

407 Effects of Emergent Grass on Mid-Infrared  Laser Reflectance of Soil
Ram M. Narayanan and Brian D. Guenther

Abstract
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Mid infrared laser reflectances of soils containing specific minerals show diagnostic features in the 9- to 11 -µm wavelength range, and are thus useful for remote sensing of terrestrial lithology. However, the presence of actively growing vegetation can obscure these diagnostic features to such an extent as to make mineral identification virtually impossible. The effects of emergent grass on the mid-infrared laser reflectance of bare soil were studied experimentally. Speckleaveraged reflectance data were collected at various wavelengths, incidence angles, and polarization combinations from a large movable soil container. Initial measurements were made on bare soil under various wetness and surface roughness conditions. Grass was then grown on the soil, and three different grass densities were used in different sub-plots of the container. Reflectance data were gathered from each sub-plot as the grass-blade height increased. Reflectance ratios (indicative of diagnostic features) were plotted as a function of grass-blade height for different grass densities. There appeared a grass-blade height value at which the diagnostic ratios level off to a value of 1.0, thereby masking the underlying soil reflectance features. These results should be useful for identifying optimal conditions under which soil mineralogy can be identified under overlying vegetation using mid-infrared laser spectroscopy. 

415 Towards Development of a Snow Water Equivalence  (SWE) Algorithm Using Microwave Radiometry  Over Snow Covered First-Year Sea Ice
Sheldon D. Drobot and David G. Barber

Abstract
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In this paper we investigate snow geophysical and microwave radiometric sensor characteristics (frequency, incidence, and polarization) as they pertain to the development of a snow water equivalence (SWE) algorithm for first-year sea ice. Physical and electrical snow properties and in situ microwave radiometry (19,37,and 85 GHz; V and H polarization) data were collected during a 36-day period in early 1996 under the Collaborative-Interdisciplinary Cryospheric Experiment (C-ICE).

Density, liquid water content, and salinity varied significantly over the snow volume vertical dimension. Diurnal sampling indicated a difference in liquid water content. Corresponding changes in salinity and density were not detected. Within the framework of this case study, 37-GHz H polarization was the most precise single frequency for SWE estimation. Multiple regression techniques show promise as an effective avenue to pursue the development of SWE algorithms. 

425 Repeat-Pass Dual-Antenna Synthetic Aperture Radar  Interferometric Change-Detection Post-Processing
David A. Yocky and Benjamin F. Johnson

Abstract
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Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) inteferometric change-detection (ICD) maps are highly sensitive to both macro and micro temporal changes in SAR surface reflectivity. This change is detected as decorrelations in the complex cross-correlation between two SAR complex images collected at different times. However, in many instances, numerous detected decorrelations are not due to changes during the elapsed time, but due to other decorrelating effects. Using information from a repeat-pass, dual-antenna interferometric SAR (IFSAR) change pair, we were able to identify over 70 percent of the ICD correlations less than 0.80 as non-temporal changes. or false changes. The remaining temporal changes coincided well with controlled changes made in the scene. Our post-processing results show the IFSAR coherence maps to be the most informative SAR data component for such false temporal change analysis. 

431 The Use of Census Data in Urban Image Classification
Victor Mesev

Abstract
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A supervised classification strategy containing a suite of techniques that allow the linking of urban land cover from remotely sensed data with urban functional characteristics from population census data is outlined and demonstrated. For a stronger link, census tract data are also interpolated into more disaggregated and more precise raster-based surfaces using GIS. Census data in tabular and surface format are then used to modify maximum-likelihood classifications through stratified class a priori probabilities, and in terms of assisting the selection of training samples and contextual post-classification sorting. The strategy is applied to the classification of housing density of four settlements in the United Kingdom. The results show high site-specific accuracy, and improvements in class area estimates.
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