Remote sensing in a water-resources study of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho

Technical Report · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1973

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7146693· OSTI ID:7146693

Cox, E R

This report describes the usefulness of remote-sensing data in a water-resources study of Yellowstone National Park by delineating warm and cool ground-water areas. Remote-sensing data from aircraft missions in August 1966, September 1967, August 1969, and May 1970 were compared with reconnaissance, ground-temperature surveys, and test-hole data. Thermal-water discharge areas can be determined from infrared imagery and photography from the aircraft missions. Contrasts on infrared imagery caused by differences in vegetative cover, particularly between forested and nonforested areas, often mask the effects of ground-water temperature differences. The imagery, however, shows relatively warm and cool land surface in some areas. Color and color infrared photographs have been useful in reconnaissance. Aerial photographs and field studies of snowpack conditions indicated the usefulness of aerial photography taken during spring snowmelt to determine relatively cool and warm land-surface areas. A snowline in Nez Perce Creek Valley corresponds to a boundary between cool and warm ground water that was determined from augered test holes and ground-temperature surveys. Remnants of the snowpack correlate well with cool areas interpreted from infrared imagery. Relatively cool areas are easier to determine from photographs of snowpack than they are from infrared imagery. Thermal-contour maps could be made from a series of aerial photographs or repetitive data from a satellite taken during the melting of the snowpack.

• Research Organization: Geological Survey, Reston, Va. (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7146693
• Report Number(s): USGS-OFR-73-52
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
150201* -- Geology & Hydrology of Geothermal Systems-- USA-- (-1989)
AERIAL MONITORING
AIRCRAFT
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
GROUND WATER
Geothermal Legacy
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INFRARED SURVEYS
MONITORING
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHOTOGRAPHY
PUBLIC LANDS
REMOTE SENSING
SNOW
THERMAL WATERS
WATER
WATER RESOURCES
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK