Remote sensing of sulfur dioxide effects on vegetation. Final report. Volume I: summary

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

OSTI ID:6116871

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 analysis of airborne multispectral scanner data. Spectroradiometry is a useful, ground-based technique for measuring the changes in reflectance that accompany exposure 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 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: 6116871
• Report Number(s): TVA/ONR/ARP-81/5; EPA-660/7-81-113; ON: DE82900580
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500200 -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
560303* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology-- Plants-- (-1987)
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AERIAL SURVEYING
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
CEREALS
CHALCOGENIDES
CROPS
DATA
DATA ANALYSIS
DATA COMPILATION
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
EQUIPMENT
FOOD
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
GRAMINEAE
GRASS
INFORMATION
INFRARED THERMOGRAPHY
INJURIES
LANDSAT SATELLITES
LEAVES
MAPPING
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MEASURING METHODS
MULTI-CHANNEL ANALYZERS
MULTISPECTRAL SCANNERS
NUMERICAL DATA
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PLANTS
POWER PLANTS
PULSE ANALYZERS
REMOTE SENSING
SATELLITES
SOYBEANS
SPECTRAL REFLECTANCE
SPECTROPHOTOMETRY
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR DIOXIDE
SULFUR OXIDES
TENNESSEE VALLEY REGION
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
THERMOGRAPHY
TREES
VEGETABLES
WHEAT