The potential of using high resolution spectral data for detecting either geobiological phenomena or features in the urban landscape has grown dramatically in just the last few years.

 

As the availability of multi- and hyperspectral high resolution space imagery grows, the opportunities for developing more sophisticated statistical models capable of discriminating among objects and life-forms on or near the earth's surface improve.

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The WorldView-2 satellite 50cm resolution image of coastal waters illustrates the clarity of output from high resolution satellites. Distinguishing one boat from another, for instance, is straightforward.  Less than a decade ago, with only Landsat's moderate resolution (30m) imagery available, scientists were hard pressed to visually discriminate among objects smaller than 100 ft across. With advancements in satellite optics that same task, as shown, is easily achieved today.  

 

Furthermore, as satellites add spectral sensors - going from 4 or 8 bands to 29, as in the case of the WorldView-3 satellite - huge amounts of important new data are generated and the opportunities for developing statistical models to detect and distinguish among life-forms or objects in an urban landscape correspondingly improve. 

 

Two projects are underway by those working in Senecio's Remote Estimates branch. The first venture seeks a solution to the problem of locating abandoned and long forgotten oil and gas wells. This is especially a problem in oil boom areas of 100 years ago when the locations of the majority of wells were not carefully logged. In the second project, preliminary analysis using Landsat-7 output suggests it may be possible to develop statistical models capable of detecting biological toxins in desert soils. Work on this project will begin with ground-truthing conducted in the Sonoran desert over the next few years with simultaneous statistical modeling completed using Landsat-8 sensor data.