Remote sensing of sulfur dioxide effects on vegetation. Final report. Volume II: data

Technical Report · Wed Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1981

OSTI ID:6110806

Sapp, C D

Three techniques for detecting and mapping sulfur-dioxide (SO/sub 2/) effects on the foliage of sensitive crops and trees near large, coal-fired power plants were tested and evaluated. These techniques were spectroradiometry, photometric analysis of aerial photographs, and computer classification of airborne multispectral scanner data. Spectroradiometry is a useful, ground-based technique for measuring the changes in reflectance that accompany expsure of sensitive crops to SO/sub 2/. Photometric analysis of aerial color-infrared photographs has some practical advantages for measuring the reflectances of forest species or for synoptic point-sampling of extensive areas; these tasks cannot be done effectively by field crews. The relationships among reflectance, foliar injury, and yield of crops are complex and are affected by many extraneous variables such as canopy density. The SO/sub 2/ effects are easier to detect on winter wheat than on soybeans, but in either case they cannot be consistently detected by airborne remote sensors except under near-ideal conditions when the injury is moderate to severe. Airborne multispectral scanner data covering affected soybean fields were analyzed using three computer-assisted classification procedures: unsupervised, supervised, and pseudosupervised; the last method provided the best results. Landsat imagery was also investigated, but the foliar effects of SO/sub 2/ were too subtle to detect from orbit.

• Research Organization: Tennessee Valley Authority, Chattanooga (USA). Office of Natural Resources
• OSTI ID: 6110806
• Report Number(s): TVA/ONR/ARP-81/6; EPA-600/7-81-114; ON: DE82900581
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AERIAL SURVEYING
AIR POLLUTION
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CEREALS
CHALCOGENIDES
COAL
DATA
DATA ANALYSIS
DATA COMPILATION
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
ENERGY SOURCES
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
EQUIPMENT
FOLIAR UPTAKE
FOOD
FOSSIL FUELS
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
FUELS
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
GRAMINEAE
GRAPHS
GRASS
INFORMATION
INFRARED RADIATION
INFRARED SURVEYS
INFRARED THERMOGRAPHY
INJURIES
LANDSAT SATELLITES
LEAVES
MAPPING
MAPS
MATERIALS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MEASURING METHODS
MONITORING
MULTI-CHANNEL ANALYZERS
MULTISPECTRAL PHOTOGRAPHY
MULTISPECTRAL SCANNERS
NUMERICAL DATA
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PATTERN RECOGNITION
PHOTOGRAPHY
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PLANTS
POLLUTION
POWER PLANTS
PULSE ANALYZERS
RADIATIONS
REMOTE SENSING
SATELLITES
SOYBEANS
SPECIFICATIONS
SPECTRAL REFLECTANCE
SPECTROPHOTOMETRY
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR DIOXIDE
SULFUR OXIDES
SURVEYS
TABLES
TENNESSEE VALLEY REGION
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
THERMOGRAPHY
UPTAKE
VEGETABLES
VISIBLE RADIATION
WHEAT
YIELDS