Title: Evaluation of ERTS-1 data for forest and rangeland surveys
Author: Heller, Robert C., technical coordinator
Date: 1975
Source: Res. Pap. PSW-RP-112. Berkeley, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. 67 p
Station ID: RP-PSW-112
Description: Tests used data gathered by the first Earth Resources Technology Satellite.
Results on sites in Georgia, Colorado, and South Dakota indicated that ERTS
enlargements, preferably color, would be useful to forest managers of large
ownerships for broad area planning. Forest land was distinguished from nonforest land with 90 to 95 percent accuracy, in both photointerpretation and computer-assisted analysis. Further breakdowns of cover types could not be made with acceptable accuracy by either method. Forest disturbances from
natural causes or human activity could be detected with 90 percent accuracy
when ERTS imagery was compared with 6-year-old aerial photos. Stress from
mountain pine beetle could not be detected; ERTS wavebands are too broad
to identify dying foliage.
Keywords: Earth Resources Technology Satellite; multi-spectral
imagery; photointerpretation; remote sensors; forest stress; forest inventory; range inventory; plant communities; land classification; Atlanta, GA (Test Site); Black Hills, SD (Test Site); Manitou, CO (Test Site)
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Citation
Heller, Robert C., technical coordinator 1975. Evaluation of ERTS-1 data for forest and rangeland surveys. Res. Pap. PSW-RP-112. Berkeley, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. 67 p.