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The World’s Guide to Commercial Remote Sensing
Fall 2004 Vol. 19 No. 4
Gaza
Strip
images
of
destruction
Hydroelectric
Re-licensing
Commercial Air
Transportation
Gains Critical
New Service
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Civil Crisis
Information for
Humanitarian
Relief
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contents vol.19 no.4
fall 2004
departments
4
Cover Image
Merrill Pass in Alaska
6 MarketScan
Industry Info
8
31
Policy Watch
Fresh Water: Political and Social Tensions
Events Calendar
12
26
16
features
12
Enhancing Commercial
Air Transportation
International Air Transport Association
offers invaluable service
16
21
26
Verifying Destruction in the
Gaza Strip
Imagery provides objective view
Civil Crisis Information
Providing emergency mapping and
disaster monitoring for humanitarian relief
Hydroelectric Re-licensing
PG&E’s use of imagery
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cover image
Merrill Pass, Alaska
THE WORLD’S GUIDE TO COMMERCI A L REMOTE SENSING
Fall 2004 / Vol. 19 / No. 4
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This pass was named for Russ Merrill, who in 1927 was the first pilot
to cross the Alaska Range and fly over the remote Kuskokwim River. It is considered
by many to be one of the most dangerous passes in the Alaska Range due to marginal
weather and a multitude of box canyons surrounding it. Pilots must maintain a minimum
altitude of 4,500 feet through the Pass, and in the past have had to rely on clear
conditions for marginal safety.
Accurate flight simulation training modules using satellite imagery and DEMs are being
developed to mitigate these risks.
The image is a 1-meter color IKONOS image, collected March 6, 2002.
CORRECTION
The editors apologize for an error in the Summer issue of Imaging Notes, within the feature
story, “Renewable Energy.” Figure 3 is labeled as reflected solar energy. It actually shows
strength and direction of sea-surface winds, and it was derived from the SeaWinds radar
scatterometry instrument on the QuickSCAT satellite from NASA.
Imaging Notes (ISSN 0896-7091)
Copy right © 2004
by Space Imaging LLC
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are not used in this publication, they are
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market scan
Companies and Contracts
MWH Soft, Inc. Signs
New Customers
MWH Soft, Inc., a global provider
of water resources applications
software (Broomfield, Colo.), has
recently signed several contracts,
including the City of Dallas Water
Utilities, Orlando Utilities Commission
(Florida’s second-largest
municipal utility), Massachusetts
Water Resources Authority,
Anchorage Water and Wastewater
Utility (the State of Alaska’s largest
water and wastewater utility),
and Mohawk Valley Water Authority
in the central New York state area.
In addition, the top-ranked
Civil Engineering Department
at Colorado State University
(Fort-Collins, Colo.) is training its
undergraduate students in advanced
hydraulic infrastructure
modeling with MWH Soft H2ONET
software, the industry’s leading
CAD-based water distribution
systems analysis and management
package.
www.mwhsoft.com
Industry Info
Peace Parks Foundation of South Africa
Acknowledged, Provides Inspiration
The Peace Parks Foundation of
South Africa has won the ESRI Presidential
Award. The Presidential Award is
presented as a special recognition by
ESRI President Jack Dangermond to an
organization that is a model for others
to follow in implementing GIS successfully,
while making a positive impact on
the environment and society.
The organization was selected
for its leadership in establishing
peace parks, which are trans-frontier
conservation areas (TFCAs), large
tracts of land that cross international
boundaries, the purpose of which is
Space Imaging Sells Federal Civil/Commercial
Solutions Business Unit
Geo360 Corporation (Denver, Colo.) has
agreed to purchase Space Imaging’s Federal
Civil/Commercial Solutions business unit.
The group provides mapping and GIS services
to federal, state and local government
customers.
Space Imaging will focus on its core business
of selling commercial satellite imagery to
all markets, providing geospatial solutions to
defense and intelligence agencies, and in addition
will continue to serve the international
markets through its Regional Affiliate and
International Alliance programs. The company
will be increasing the scope and diversity of
its defense offerings that include mapping
production, R&D and system engineering
services.
Space Imaging’s Federal Civil/Commercial
Solutions line of business was created with
the March 2000 acquisition of Pacific Meridian
Resources. During the last two years
this line of business has exceeded revenue
projections with an annual growth rate of
20 percent while tripling its profitability.
Geo360 is well poised to continue this aggressive
growth.
www.spaceimaging.com
to employ conservation as a land use
option to benefit local people.
Peace Parks Foundation CEO Willem
van Riet said, “GIS has helped fulfill
the vision of peace parks because
of its ability to . . . provide a common
language through geography.”
Professor van Riet has been involved
with GIS since the early 1970s
and used the technology to introduce
the idea of peace parks to South African
President Nelson Mandela, who
founded the Peace Parks Foundation
in 1997 with Dr. Anton Rupert and
Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands.
www.esri.com
Applications
Hurricane Imagery Compelling
This image of Hurricane Frances
was collected by OrbImage’s OrbView-2
“SeaWiFS” satellite on Thursday, Sept. 2
at approximately 1 p.m. EST, when it was
a category 4 storm. The image shows
Frances heading west-northwest over
the Bahamas.
Vexcel Ground Station Systems Assist in
Hurricane Early Warning
Vexcel (Boulder, Colo.) remote sensing
systems at the Center for Southeastern
Tropical Advanced Remote
Sensing (CSTARS) captured and processed
MODIS satellite images of Hurricane
Frances as it moved in a westnorthwest
path through the Bahamas
and towards the Florida coastline. The
images provided early information about
the hurricane’s cloud and convection
patterns as well as the size of the eye,
allowing agencies such as the National
Hurricane Center (NHC) and the National
Weather Service (NWS) to monitor its
size and shape in near real-time.
Using satellite imagery, researchers
have discovered that the size of a storm
is not as important as the shape; the
greater the degree of spiraling in a hurricane,
the more mature and intense it is.
CSTARS advanced imaging techniques
assist regional engagement support for
emergency planning and natural disaster
response and relief. The facility’s ground
system was designed by Vexcel for
autonomous operation with little manual
intervention, high reliability and minimal
downtime.
In addition to MODIS, the Vexcel
system at CSTARS supports low-Earth
orbiting satellites that include RADARSAT,
SPOT, TERRA/AQUA, ERS-2 and Envisat,
enabling the center to provide critical
data for environmental monitoring of
the Southeastern U.S., northern South
America, Central America, the Gulf of
Mexico, and the Caribbean Basin.
www.vexcel.com
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COURTESY OF ORBIMAGE
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Hurricane Frances (OrbImage)
Detail of Merrill Pass in Alaska (IKONOS)
Alaska Aviation Safety Project Improves
Navigation of Key Mountain Passes
The Alaska Department of Military and
Veterans Affairs (ADMVA) will work with
IKONOS imagery for the new Alaska Aviation
Safety Project (AASP). The ADMVA has contracted
with E-Terra (Anchorage, Alaska)
to use $1.6 million of IKONOS imagery in
developing accurate flight simulation
training modules of 12 mountain passes
for the AASP. Under a Federal Grant administered
by NASA, the project’s purpose is
to provide the general aviation community
an enhanced air navigation safety tool
depicting these Alaska mountain passes
in 3-D rendering. The project plan included
acquisition of two types of digital imagery
data sets to aid in the research and development
of an aviation safety and training
product for use by the Rescue Coordination
Center rescue aircraft. The Medallion
Foundation, a non-profit aviation safety
organization that provides management
resources, training and support to the
commercial and private Alaskan aviation
community, will also utilize the E-Terra
training modules.
Alaska is one of the world’s most heavily
aviation-dependent regions, with approximately
600 public airports and more
than 3,000 airstrips. Although Alaska has
approximately 10 percent of the nation’s
air carriers or commercial operators, it
generates 35 percent of the nation’s air
carrier and commercial operator accidents.
A disproportionate number of these
accidents occur when pilots fly these 12
mountain passes, most of which connect
Anchorage with the Alaskan interior.
Several types of three-dimensional
visualizations were created, from animations
with two and three-dimensional
viewing capabilities to full free-flight
simulations and cockpit control. These
visualizations involved fly-through views
of Lake Clark Pass and Merrill Pass. All
of the three-dimensional visualizations
were created by overlaying two types
of remote sensing data: IKONOS satellite
imagery draped over digital elevation
models from IfSAR (Interferometric Synthetic
Aperture Radar) aircraft-mounted
sensors collected by Intermap.
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policy watch
Fresh water
The stuff of life
and the focus of
future political
and social tensions
Water — essential to life and to
national economies; clean, fresh water is
becoming increasingly difficult to obtain,
especially in arid and semi-arid climates. In
the near future, ensuring adequate supplies
of fresh water to support all the competitive
water needs is likely to be one of the most
crucial and contentious issues facing global
society. Governments will face tensions
in the future that are now very evident in
southeastern Australia, where they appear
in microcosm in the disputes among the
states of the Murray-Darling River Basin.
The crucial need to secure fresh
water sufficient to the needs of southeastern
Australia is what prompted the
Australian hosts of this year’s International
Space University’s Summer Session
Program (ISU’s SSP) in Adelaide to
request a study of what space systems
can bring to the management of this
enormous river system. The study, one of
three team projects, illustrated how satellite
remote sensing can contribute to
the resolution of thorny political issues.
Stretching from north of Sydney westward
across southeast Australia to the
mouth of the Murray River near Adelaide,
the Murray and Darling Rivers drain most
of southeastern Australia. This river basin
area makes up 40 percent of Australia’s
agricultural production, and grazing income
sustains some 30 percent of its population,
including four of its five largest cities:
Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne, and Sydney.
Sydney, Australia (IKONOS)
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policy watch
Originally settled by different groups of
Aboriginal Peoples from South Asia some
50,000 years ago, Australia was explored
and settled by Northern Europeans
beginning in the 17th century. These new
arrivals conquered the native groups and
appropriated the best of their traditional
lands, while generally ignoring the lessons
that thousands of years of settlement had
taught Aboriginal communities about land
and water stewardship.
Among the many new technologies
and societal constructs that these settlers
brought with them were European
notions of water management to the
ecologically different Murray-Darling
Basin. In an effort to spur economic
development and support agriculture,
manufacturing, and tourism, successive
federal and state governments
built dams and weirs along the rivers,
streams, and tributaries of the basin in
an attempt to control the river.
Unfortunately, these methods are often
unsustainable in the Australian environment.
In the process of building agriculture
and other water-intensive industries, such
efforts have led to increased soil salinity,
loss of wild habitat, and decreased biodiversity.
They have also made the basin
more vulnerable to climatic changes and
increased anxiety over assuring sufficient
fresh water supplies to serve the nation’s
major urban centers.
This July and August, 37 SSP program
participants took part in STREAM (Space
Technologies for the Research of Effective
Water Management), a detailed study of
fresh water supply and demand in the
region. They especially examined the contributions
that space technologies could
make to the assessment and management
of fresh water sources and distribution.
Residents of the Murray-Darling Basin
face problems of securing adequate water
to support their growing needs, and an
uncertain future climate.
Although the project focused primarily
on the Murray-Darling Basin, the lessons
drawn from this case study can be extrapolated
to nearly every other area in the
world where the supply and management of
fresh water is at issue.
Centered in Strasbourg, France, ISU
holds a professional, graduate-level
international educational program each
year for professionals and students
wishing to expand their knowledge of
the world’s space efforts. This year, 114
participants from 27 countries met in Adelaide
for nine weeks to take part in an
intensive, interdisciplinary, intercultural
program of space studies. About onethird
of that program is devoted each
year to two or three team projects.
Space-based remote sensing clearly
provides certain advantages for monitoring
Earth’s environmental systems over
time. The synoptic view, repeatability and
consistency of view, and digital format
make space systems especially constructive.
Thanks to private sector as well as
government investment, the world now has
sufficient operational satellites of different
spatial and spectral resolutions to monitor
the entire basin at different scales in order
to examine vegetation health, water quality,
and water distribution. A vibrant valueadded
industry has emerged that can turn
these data into useful information.
In time, the research community will
develop sensors to monitor rainfall, soil
moisture, and soil salinity, which are all
crucial information needs for long term
water management. However, to be used
for operational purposes in support of
crucial environmental needs, successful
sensors need to be incorporated into
operational satellite systems. Increasingly,
as the water shortages in the Murray-Darling
Basin illustrate, large regional
environments will have to be managed.
Remotely-sensed data from satellites
provide one of the means for doing so.
Developing additional operational sensors
for environmental management will
require governments to admit that investments
in operational satellites for public
needs is part of their responsibility. The
SSP04 participants hope that their study
will help convince policymakers that investments
in satellite-derived information
will provide enormous long-term benefits.
Yet potential users of the information
that satellite systems provide generally
do not care about the systems from which
the information comes, as long as it is
reliable and capable of fulfilling their information
needs. The issue becomes how to
convince them to invest greater resources
in the use of data from space systems.
Not only did the ISU report highlight
the strong importance of satellite remote
sensing in monitoring, assessing, and
managing fresh water resources, it also
underlined the enormous contributions
that a dedicated set of professionals can
bring to a complex subject in a short time.
The study highlighted the need for
the Australian government at both the
federal and state levels to establish
clear, integrated policies for the acquisition
and distribution of satellite data in
the development and delivery of water
resources information. Australia did not
reach its present difficult stage overnight.
It will take considerable foresight
and close attention to the basin’s information
needs to make progress on this
difficult, contentious problem.
Unfortunately, the water problems
experienced in the Murray-Darling Basin
have become all too familiar to many other
parts of the world. The study’s results are
applicable to numerous regions where
burgeoning populations and industrial
development strain water resources — for
example, the Middle East, the Southwest
United States, and parts of Africa.
As policymakers at all levels grow
more comfortable with the use of
information gathered by remote sensing
satellites, they will increasingly be used
to adjudicate environmental disputes
such as access to clean water, clean air,
and other life-sustaining components of
daily life. The task before satellite data
and information providers is to make this
information more accessible and available
to a broader range of the population
— to all equities within society.
RAY A. WILLIAMSON is research professor
of space policy and international affairs
in the Space Policy Institute of The George
Washington University, Washington, D.C.
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IATA
offers
new
critical
service
DEJAN DAMJANOV IC
Domain Manager
Air & Marine
Transportation
Space Imaging
Thornton, Colo.
www.spaceimaging.com
Figure 1. Example of
an IKONOS image of a
commercial airport
— Brussels
Figure 2. Example
of Airport Mapping
Database (AMDB) of
Brussels, derived from
the image in Figure 1
Figure 3. Example of a
3D visualization of the
island of Madeira off
the coast of Portugal,
a challenging destination
to fly into for
commercial airlines
due to the significant
terrain
The commercial airlines of the world
increasingly have been required to perform a daunting
task — reduce the costs of airline service by whatever
means possible, yet increase the number of destinations
that they can service, in order to grow their revenue
streams and operate as fiscally viable companies. As the
first-world countries and their air services become saturated,
the sole remaining opportunities for growth exist
in servicing the second and third-world countries that
lack extensive air transportation networks.
As the number of destinations increases, so does
the need for training all pilots to fly to more destinations,
which then places upward pressure on training
costs. However, the challenges of the post-9/11 world
have forced the world’s airlines to be very aggressive
about cost containment or cost cutting. This dual
problem is driven in part by the ups and downs of
international fuel prices and by wide fluctuations in
demand for commercial air travel due to events such
as 9/11 and the SARS epidemic in China.
Remote sensing has the capabilities to address
many of the challenges described above by taking
advantage of the unique abilities of high-resolution
satellites. The challenges involved in moving to new
routes in second and third-world countries are not
dissimilar to those that occur in the military when
mission planning to new destinations is done for humanitarian
or military missions. This planning typically
involves the use of satellite information to plan
better the routes to those destinations. Stereo photogrammetry
from in-track stereo imagery is used
to collect 3-D models of the departure and arrival
routes in and out of the new destinations.
The second step that occurs in the military is the
use of mission rehearsal to train pilots actually to fly
in and out of those new destinations. This may be
done on complete full-motion flight simulators, on
desktop procedures trainers, or on laptops or workstations
with a monitor and joystick. Again, highresolution
imagery can be used to build complete
visual simulation databases in order to train pilots
in what is known as “photo-real” visual databases
— where the view in the simulator is exactly the same
as the view out the window in the real aircraft.
Constructing moving map display systems is the
third step, so that, when the pilots fly to and from the
airports, they can use precise vector or raster moving
map display systems to monitor their progress and can
plan for alternate routes in case of adverse weather or
maintenance challenges. These moving map systems are
also derived from high-resolution satellite imagery, superimposed
onto the GPS position of the aircraft in the
air or on the ground.
While all of the above is fine for military air forces
with large discretionary budgets, this procedure has not
been feasible for the world’s commercial airlines, due to
the cost of satellite imagery required for each destination
— it is not uncommon for an airline to serve upwards
of 50-100 individual destinations. A better model
had to be found.
Enter the International Air Transport Association
(IATA). IATA represents some 95 percent of the
world’s commercial airlines. At the end of the Second
World War, the creators of the United Nations formed
an organization known as the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO), to regulate commercial
air transportation worldwide. ICAO’s mandate was to
help all the UN countries to open the airspace of countries
wanting to travel in the new world finally free of
the shackles of World War II. ICAO was headquartered
in Montreal, Canada, and provided the necessary
regulatory framework for all national Civil Aviation
Administrations (ICAO), to control commercial air
transportation. Examples of such national organizations
are the FAA in the U.S., NavCanada in Canada,
and Airservices Australia in Australia.
In order for the commercial airlines to have an
appropriate voice in the conduct of that air transportation,
IATA was created in 1945 with 57 members
from 31 founding nations. Today, IATA has 270
members from 140 countries around the world. Its
primary activities are to promote inter-airline cooperation
on routes and to provide common best practices
for airlines and commercial airports to ensure
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safe and efficient operations. IATA also published a
significant amount of tabular data on obstacles in the
vicinity of airports, but without any independent satellite
imagery to validate those obstacle locations.
In early 2002, IATA recognized that its member
airlines could also benefit from the use of remote
sensing to expand route structures, to find more economical
route structures, and to enhance the quality
and fidelity of flight training by the use of high-resolution
satellite imagery. Mutual colleagues at IATA
and Space Imaging brainstormed the notion of a
partnership to introduce remote sensing to benefit all
member airlines. For a satellite company individually
to market remote-sensing products and services to
270 airlines would not be cost-effective. However, if
the customer point of contact were a single organization
such as IATA, then the cost of providing those
remote-sensing products would be feasible.
Thus in July of 2004, a partnership agreement was
signed that would enable Space Imaging and IATA to
produce a new line of remote-sensing-derived products
to solve many of the problems described above. These
new products, marketed and sold under the IATA brand
name, will increase air transport safety and efficiency
for the world’s airlines and airports. Space Imaging will
manufacture the products by utilizing the company’s
multi-source satellite imagery, imagery-derived products,
IATA’s proprietary geospatial information and
other public domain sources.
The agreement allows for four categories of products
to be sold under the IATA brand:
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
a. Satellite imagery of airports that includes visual
representations of ground obstacles (see Figure 1).
b. Aeronautical terrain and obstacle databases,
manufactured from IATA’s obstacle information and
terrain data derived from stereo imagery.
c. Airport Mapping Databases (AMDB) that conform to
the aviation industry’s international standard (DO-
272/ED-99)(see Figure 2).
d. Aviation visual simulation databases for desktop flight
training devices (FTD) and full-motion simulators.
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High-resolution satellite imagery and its derived products
would assist in these efforts in the following ways.
Mission Planning: Planning for New Routes
One of the most significant possible new markets for
IATA to pursue is the provision of additional imagery,
vector maps and operational information for all of the
new remote airfields being used as alternates by airlines
flying Extended Twin-engine Operations over water
(ETOPS), or by airlines flying conventional three-engine
and four-engine aircraft over the North Pole area.
Russia, China and other countries are now opening
their airspace in order to collect more over-flight charges,
but the level of data available for flight operations
is still less than optimal. The use of the new product
line at those remote alternate airfields will greatly enhance
the level of information available to existing Polar
Routes, and new Polar Routes still being developed.
In-track Stereo IKONOS is used to develop 3-D maps
of the airports and to extract digital elevation models
(DEMs) for the surrounding areas of the airfields. The
3-D maps can be used to calculate the optimum climb
and descent profiles in and out of those airfields.
Figure 4
Figure 5
Mission Rehearsal: Training for New Routes
Once new route information has been developed, the
same imagery can be put into flight simulators to train
the pilots in actually flying to and from those destinations.
Figure 3 shows what such a 3-D visualization would
look like — truly photo-real!
Mission Execution: Flying the New Routes
Six current trends in global air transportation are:
a. Migration to GPS navigation, away from groundbased
navigation aids.
b. Required Navigation Performance (RNP) Flight
Operations.
c. Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) Flight
Operations.
d. Increased data-linked air traffic control instead of
voice air traffic control.
e. Runway incursion prevention technologies.
f. More rigorous computation of Engine-Out Procedures.
All of these will demand significant redesign of existing
NAVAID-based terminal procedures and company
routings, as well as major urban area terminal redesigns
to accommodate local changes and noise abatement requirements
(especially in European Community countries).
Most countries of the world will be looking at better
data to accomplish this, and so will many of IATA’s
members who fly into those countries.
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Information within the realm of global Civil
Aviation Authorities in second and third-world
countries at present is described as “best available”
due to lack of funding. At present there is not
enough quality information concerning operational
content relating to airports and their surroundings.
Operators and service providers are using
whatever they can find, information which may be
completely out-of-date or unapproved by the necessary
authorities. If performance, obstacle, or flight
path data are non-existent in relation to needed
analysis, operators are forced to develop their own
contingency data in order to provide safe obstacle
clearance during engine-out, missed approach or
engine failure during a missed landing.
Any discussion of new sources of geospatial information
for aviation must include a complete life-cycle
to monitor changes at all affected airports. Space
Imaging has developed some powerful proprietary
tools that allow them to re-acquire new imagery, reextract
new vectors, and compare those to the old
vectors previously constructed in earlier versions of a
particular airport. This will provide a complete sub-
Figure 4. Advances
scription-type arrangement, to ensure that changes
on automatic runway
acquired over time would be passed from Space Imaging
to IATA, and then by IATA to their members creation
markings vector
via their existing communication channels.
Figure 5. Newest work
As shown in Figures 3, 4, and 5, the types of airport
on automatic closed
change that would be acquired automatically could include
runway and taxiway closures and obstructions, annotation
runway detection and
changes in runway threshold and taxiway segments, as
well as ramp and apron changes.
Benefits for airport authorities include those
within planning for changes to their facilities, emergency
procedures and noise abatement; within operations,
such as tracking of ground vehicles with
airport moving maps systems; and within training,
such as for new procedures with simulators.
In the years to come, the commercial airlines of
the world will have a reliable source of remote sensing
information for all of their advanced mapping needs.
As they move the frontiers of new destinations farther
and farther out, high-resolution satellite imagery,
airport mapping databases, and terrain and obstacle
information will be available to enhance the safety of
operations to those new MM locations. Imaging notes Ad 2/19/04 10:42 AM Page
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FRED ABRAHAMS
Consultant
MARC GARL ASCO
Sr. Military
Analyst
DARRY L LI
Finberg Fellow
MATTHEW MCKINZIE
Consultant
Human Rights Watch
New York, N.Y.
www.hrw.org
Satellite imagery is being
used by Human Rights Watch to provide verification
of the physical condition of sensitive geographic areas
within the Gaza Strip.
Since the beginning of the Intifada in September of
2000, Human Rights Watch estimates that the Israel Defense
Force (IDF) has destroyed more than 2,400 houses
in the Gaza Strip. About two-thirds of the destroyed
structures were located in and near the Rafah refugee
camp at the southern end of the Gaza Strip along the border
with Egypt.
Imaging satellites are ideal tools for observing and
recording this destruction, as they document, map and
provide quantitative data on the actual physical condition
of the area. Human Rights Watch obtained eight satellite
photographs from the IKONOS satellite of the southern
Gaza Strip spanning the time period of April 21, 2000
through May 29, 2004. These remotely-sensed data supplemented
field research and interviews conducted by a
Human Rights Watch team in Gaza during July of 2004
as described in a forthcoming report (www.hrw.org).
Rafah lies at the center of the 12.5 kilometer-long
border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. It is a dusty
city and refugee camp of sprawling concrete homes —
one of the poorest and worst-affected areas in the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict. The 1979 Camp David Peace
Treaty bisected the town between Egyptian Sinai and
the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip, with the result that
houses, fields and orchards, at that time, lay very near
the border. This was still largely the case in April of
2000, as can be seen in the satellite photograph displayed
in Figure 1 – upper.
This border area with Egypt is known to the Israelis
as the “Philadelphia Corridor” after the IDF designation
for the patrol road visible in Figure 1. In 2000 the
Philadelphia Corridor was approximately 20 to 40 meters
wide, and included a three-meter high concrete wall
topped with barbed wire. By May 2, 2003, the corridor
was 80 to 90 meters in width (Figure 1 – lower).
Imagery provides objective view
16 F A L L 2 0 0 4 w w w . i m a g i n g n o t e s . c o m

International border
Figure 1
Rafah Block O
Cement wall
April 21, 2000 (Space Imaging)
May 2, 2003 (Space Imaging Eurasia)
Rafah Block O
Metal wall
International border
w w w . i m a g i n g n o t e s . c o m
F A L L 2 0 0 4
17

Beginning in late 2002, after destroying hundreds
of homes along the border, the IDF built an eight-meter
high metal barrier in front of a long section of the border
with Egypt to facilitate the movement of Israeli troops
without exposure to hostile fire. This metal wall also
extends two meters under ground. The satellite photographs
of Figure 1 show Rafah’s “Block O,” one of the
most damaged areas of the camp.
The satellite imagery obtained by Human Rights
Watch of the destruction of Palestinian homes and agriculture
displays a clear pattern: the creation of a substantial
buffer zone by the Israelis between the border with
Egypt and Rafah. Between 10 and 20 percent of the refugee
camp has been destroyed in the creation of this zone.
Figure 2
The main stated reason for the destruction of homes
in Rafah has been described by the Israeli military as
operations to find and destroy tunnels between Rafah
and Egypt. Tunnels are both a longstanding acknowledged
fact in Rafah and a phenomenon immersed in
rumor. In the 1980s Palestinian smugglers began to
dig tunnels in the soft sand to facilitate the transfer of
goods, mostly cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs. The tunnels
were an economic venture at the time, and their
value increased as Israel tightened its controls around
the Gaza Strip. As resistance to the occupation increased,
the tunnels were used for arms and ammunition.
Today, the tunnels are operated by a small group
of smugglers who plan, dig and maintain the passages,
transporting goods for whoever pays.
While in Gaza, Human Rights Watch compiled
case studies on Israeli tunnel interdiction. Residents
of Rafah protested the excessive and indiscriminate
nature of the Israeli military’s destruction, but many
also had contempt for the profiteers who dig tunnels
in their neighborhoods, thereby providing the IDF
with a pretext to demolish homes.
OPERATION RAINBOW
On May 12, 2004, an IDF armored personnel carrier
heavily laden with explosives was destroyed in the
Rafah buffer zone near Block O, apparently by a rocket-propelled
grenade. The powerful explosion killed
five soldiers and showered the area with fragments. The
military wing of Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
Israeli tanks, Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozers
and helicopters moved against Rafah’s Block O on the
evening of May 12, firing shells and missiles as residents
fled. At the end of the operation on May 15, 88 houses
in Block O and the neighboring “Qishta” area had been
destroyed. On May 17, the IDF launched “Operation
Rainbow,” the first division-level offensive in the Gaza
Strip during the Intifada.
Operation Rainbow primarily targeted two areas:
Tel al-Sultan, on the northwest outskirts of Rafah;
and the Brazil and Salam neighborhoods, in eastern
Rafah, closer to the border (see Figure 2). The IDF did
not enter the densely populated center of Rafah. Tel
al-Sultan is a newer neighborhood several kilometers
northwest of Rafah’s center. Israeli forces seized control
of Tel al-Sultan on May 18 and imposed a 24-
hour curfew. D9 bulldozers extensively tore up roads
in Tel al-Sultan, causing severe damage to sewage and
water networks. On May 19, a group of several hundred
Palestinians marched towards Tel al-Sultan from
the center of Rafah, demonstrating against the incursion
there. Israeli tanks and helicopters opened fire on
the crowd, killing nine people, including five people
aged 18 or younger.
Israeli troops pulled back from Tel al-Sultan on
May 21. Over the next few days, the most extensive
property destruction was at two large agricultural
areas full of greenhouses, both more than one kilometer
from the border and not near any settlements.
’Ala al-Din Faiz Buraika watched the destruction
from his home adjacent to the western-most agricultural
area when it began on May 20. “No one could get out
or in, tanks were surrounding the area,” he told Human
Rights Watch. “They surrounded Tel al-Sultan and cut
it from the town. They used bulldozers and tanks, with
Apaches [helicopters] protecting them from above. They
spent three days destroying the greenhouses, which grew
onions, melons and flowers.” Human Rights Watch inspected
both agricultural areas in Tel al-Sultan. Both
were devoid of any greenhouses; only ruptured earth
littered with metal and glass remains. Figure 3 contrasts
before and after satellite images of the agricultural area
west of Tel al-Sultan, illustrating this damage.
The IDF accelerated Operation Rainbow by launching
an offensive deep into the Brazil and Salam areas of
Rafah, also for the first time in the Intifada. Two patterns
18 F A L L 2 0 0 4 w w w . i m a g i n g n o t e s . c o m

Greenhouses
Figure 3
Dec. 16, 2003 (Space Imaging Middle East)
May 29, 2004 (Space Imaging Eurasia)
w w w . i m a g i n g n o t e s . c o m
F A L L 2 0 0 4
19

Figure 4
Rafah Zoo
Metal wall
Brazil Quarter
Brazil Quarter
International border
Dec. 16, 2003 (Space Imaging Middle East)
May 29, 2004 (Space Imaging Eurasia)
of house demolition are evident in Brazil from the satellite
imagery. In the interior of the camp, the IDF bulldozed
paths through blocks of one-story houses. Closer to the
border, destruction seems to have been more indiscriminate,
leveling wider swathes of housing. Figure 4 contrasts
a before and after image of the Brazil quarter. The Rafah
Zoo marked the deepest point of penetration into Rafah,
where Israeli forces set up a perimeter to isolate Brazil.
The demolition continued throughout much of May 20
and resumed periodically until the redeployment of the
IDF out of Rafah Brazil on May 24. According to United
Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the IDF
demolished 154 houses in Brazil and Salam.
PATTERNS IN THE RUBBLE
Satellite imagery of the southern Gaza strip during
the Intifada provides a quantitative assessment of damage
over time to building structures and to agriculture.
This data was used in conjunction with field research by
Human Rights Watch to better understand the cumulative
impact of IDF operations in Rafah and neighboring
areas and to document the damage that occurred over
several days in May, 2004. In contrast to the house demolitions
since 2000 that have gradually expanded the
Rafah buffer zone, Operation Rainbow involved widespread
destruction deep inside Rafah, far from the border.
In both patterns of damage to Rafah, satellite imagery
has provided a uniquely objective and comprehensive
window into the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
A full report is scheduled to be released this fall
by the Human Rights Watch.
20 F A L L 2 0 0 4 w w w . i m a g i n g n o t e s . c o m

satellite-based
civil crisis
information
DR. STEFAN VOIGT
Team lead for
Natural Hazards
and Crisis Information,
DLR
TORSTEN RIEDLINGER
Scientific Staff
DLR
DR. HARALD MEHL
Unithead for
Environment and
Geoinformation,
DLR
figure 9
w w w . i m a g i n g n o t e s . c o m
Providing
civil crisis
information,
emergency
mapping
and disaster
monitoring
for humanitarian
relief
Due to the increasing occurrence of natural
disasters, humanitarian emergency situations and civil
endangerment, there is a rising need for near-real-time
information. The experiences of the past few years also
show the demand for timely, extensive and wide-area
earth observation data for various crisis situations.
The German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) as
part of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has been
active in the field of crisis analysis for several years and
has recently set up the Center for Satellite Based Crisis
Information (ZKI). It serves as interface and front-end
for the comprehensive satellite data acquisition, processing
and analysis capacities available within DFD and
ZKI, Center for
Satellite Based
Crisis Information,
an initiative of the
German Remote
Sensing Data
Center (DFD), Oberpfaffenhofen
near
Munich German
Aerospace Center
(DLR), Köln
www.dlr.de
www.zki.caf.dlr.de
www.disasters
charter.org
F A L L 2 0 0 4
21

figure 1 figure 2
Figure 1. Forest fires
in the Algarve Region
of central Portugal,
Aug. 17, 2003
Figure 2. Collected
on July 28, 2004, this
image shows burned
areas in Monchique,
southern Portugal
other DLR institutions in order to serve the operational
civil protection and humanitarian relief communities.
Besides response and assessment activities, ZKI focuses
on geoinformation about medium term rehabilitation,
reconstruction and prevention activities.
DFD operates in national, European and international
contexts, closely networking with public authorities
(civil protection and civil security) and non-governmental
organizations (NGO’s such as humanitarian relief
organizations and the United Nations), as well as satellite
operators and space agencies. DLR through DFD
supports and participates in the International Charter
on Space and Major Disasters, which is a major cooperative
activity in the context of natural and man-made
disasters providing complimentary satellite imagery for
civil protection worldwide. In case of a natural disaster
in Germany, and also where required globally, DFD coordinates
the acquisition and analysis of satellite imagery
as project manager in the scope of the International
Charter on Space and Major Disasters.
As the promotion of the application of spacebased
information within the international relief
community is a long-term effort, DFD has formulated
long-term goals for ZKI as follows:
a. Bundling existing technical and scientific resources
and capacities at DLR to increase their effectiveness
and coordination for crisis management
b. Developing and establishing methods to generate
specific information products and services in the
range of disaster management, humanitarian relief
and civil security
c. Developing and establishing a distributed European
network for civil satellite-based crisis information
d. Enhancing relevant information technology and
infrastructure
In order to meet these goals DFD makes use of the
full fleet of scientific and commercial satellites available
partially through its own receiving stations. These
include optical satellites like Spot, IRS, Landsat, IKO-
NOS, and QuickBird, and radar satellite imagery like
ENVISAT, ERS and RADARSAT. A very efficient and
successful cooperation has been established between
DFD and European Space Imaging to provide extremely
fast acquisition and analysis of IKONOS imagery over
Europe and worldwide. The IKONOS system is unique
in that it allows regional operations centers around the
world to locally task the satellite and directly download
the information. This makes the system highly efficient
for near real-time crisis and disaster relief purposes.
In various crisis situations and emergencies, DFD
and these partners provide image maps with pinpoint
accuracy to disaster relief organizations. Examples
include maps made during last winter’s flooding in
southern France; after earthquakes in Iran in December
2003 and in North Morocco last February;
and during forest fires in Portugal in the summers of
2003 and 2004.
22 F A L L 2 0 0 4 w w w . i m a g i n g n o t e s . c o m

FOREST FIRE DAMAGE ASSESS-
MENT IN PINHEIRO GRANDE, CEN-
w w w . i m a g i n g n o t e s . c o m
figure 3 figure 4
The
experiences
of the past
few years
also show
the demand
for recent,
extensive
and widearea
earth
observation
data for
various
crisis
situations.
TRAL PORTUGAL
At the beginning of August 2003,
the Portuguese Servicio Nacional
de Bombeiros e Protecçào Civil
requested activation of the International
Charter on Space and
Major Disasters. The Center for
Satellite Based Crisis Information
of DFD took over the project
management for this call from
Portugal at the request of ESA
and coordinated data distribution
and analysis. During the 18 days
of charter activation, 52 image
products were delivered through
DFD to the fire control forces. In
cooperation with European Space
Imaging, DFD conducted a fastmapping
activity to assess the extent
and damage of forest fires in
the Algarve Region. See Figure 1.
The satellite images were used
for different purposes during the
fire fighting and recovery phase.
While the high resolution satellite
images helped to assess the damage
and the mapping of burnt areas in
different provinces and communities,
daily medium resolution thermal
NOAA/AVHRR images helped
to redirect fire fighting efforts to the
places where they were needed most
urgently. DFD acquired and processed
those images daily during
early morning hours and provided
the results to the Portugese agency
only a few hours after acquisition.
This allowed the fire fighting teams
to make their decision on where to
concentrate the fire fighting efforts
based on timely and up to date information.
FOREST FIRE DAMAGE
ASSESSMENT IN MONCHIQUE,
SOUTHERN PORTUGAL
Again in July 2004, forest fires in
Spain and Portugal were recorded
and analyzed at DFD, which produced
a detailed satellite map of
the affected area in the Monchique
region. In addition, MODIS imagery
was analyzed to obtain an overview
of the current distribution of
fires across the entire Iberian Peninsula.
The maps show orchards,
forests and agricultural-use areas.
The local road and path network,
as well as settlements and houses
are clearly visible. Burned areas
Figure 3. Explosion
in southern Ukraine
destroyed arms dump,
shown here on May 8,
2004. Fires were still
burning at the time of
acquisition
Figure 4. The explosion
site detail taken
by IKONOS, 46 hours
after the disaster,
May 8, 2004
F A L L 2 0 0 4
23

figure 5 figure 6
Figure 5. The Rhone
river flood in southern
France
Figure 6. Bangladesh
map in the Dhaka
region were used for
the management of
drinking water after
flooding
can be distinguished in the satellite image. See Figure
2. Using geometrically high-resolution images, the demarcation
of the fire front can be identified in detail.
On this account, these datasets can be used for the
localization of damaged infrastructure.
EXPLOSION DISASTER NEAR
NOVOBOGDANOVKA, UKRAINE
On May 6, 2004, a military arms dump southeast
of the village of Novobogdanovka in southern
Ukraine exploded. According to press statements,
10,000 people in the surrounding villages had to be
evacuated and a major highway and railway line connecting
the cities of Melitopol and Zaporizhya had
to be blocked. The satellite image in Figure 3 shows
that the arms dump was completely destroyed. Large
amounts of debris were hurled hundreds of meters
and even kilometers into the neighboring villages
and agricultural land. The satellite imagery shows
that some fires were still burning in the explosion
area during the time of acquisition. The second map
in Figure 4 shows the explosion site in detail, approximately
46 hours after the onset of the disaster.
RHONE RIVER FLOOD,
SOUTHERN FRANCE
The French Civil Protection authorities called the
International Charter on Space and Major Disasters
in December 2003 for the severe flooding situation
on the Rhone river. Various flood analysis products
were generated in the Charter context, and DFD supported
the relief activities by generating a high-resolution
flood map for the northern parts of Arles on
Dec. 6. See Figure 5. This activity showed how bundling
existing technical and scientific resources and
capacities helps to increase effectiveness and coordination
in crisis management.
BANGL ADESH FLOOD, BASE MAPPING
OF DHAKA REGION
At the emergency request of the Technische Hilfswerk
(THW, The German Disaster Relief Organization)
DFD compiled IKONOS satellite imagery from Space
Imaging’s extensive archive to create an image base
map of the area around the capital Dhaka. The maps
were used for planning purposes during a joint humanitarian
assessment campaign in August 2004 by
THW and the United Nations Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) with a focus
on drinking water management and supply after heavy
flooding damage during July 2004. See Figure 6.
ELBE RIVER FLOODING, GERMANY
Figure 7 shows an Envisat radar image of the Elbe
Valley in Sachsen, Germany was taken on August
19, 2002. It depicts the flooded areas at that time
in black or blue. The flooded areas are particularly
large around the city of Riesa.
24 F A L L 2 0 0 4 w w w . i m a g i n g n o t e s . c o m

figure 7
figure 8
This image demonstrates the increased capabilities
of the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR)
onboard the Envisat spacecraft as compared with the
SAR sensors on the earlier ERS generation of satellites.
Envisat’s ASAR instrument is the first permanent
space-borne radar to incorporate dual-polarization capabilities
— the instrument can transmit and receive
signals in either horizontal or vertical polarization.
This Alternating Polarization (AP) mode can improve
the capability of a SAR instrument to classify different
types of terrain. Because the reflective properties of a
surface are dependent on the polarization of the incoming
radar signal, the use of more than one type of polarization
provides valuable extra information.
A sequence of seven MODIS images were used for
analyzing and mapping of the dynamics of the Elbe
flooding event from July 28 to Aug. 22, 2002. See
Figure 8. It allowed analysts to better understand the
spatial and temporal behavior of the flood. Due to
the fact that MODIS imagery can be processed and
acquired in-house at DFD, these images often serve
as reference for further planning and optimization of
high resolution satellite data acquisitions.
w w w . i m a g i n g n o t e s . c o m
EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE IN IRAN AND MOROCCO
Supporting the international relief activities undertaken
by various humanitarian organizations in the area
around the city of Bam, Iran, in December 2003 and in
the area of Al Hoceima, Morocco, in February 2004,
DFD generated damage assessment maps from satellite
imagery and provided them to the international relief
community. See Figure 9 (page 21).
The maps were very helpful for the relief teams as
they provided a first overview of the affected areas. Mapping
of damages in earthquake areas can be very difficult
if houses are partially damaged or the affected houses
are spread out over large rural areas. In many cases international
rescue teams start out from their home bases
without any topographic or road map of the affected areas.
Even archived imagery often helps to provide a planning
and decision base. If satellite maps can be provided
to in-field coordination teams they can be of great help
for avoiding duplication and misunderstanding. Areas
already searched can be clearly marked on the maps,
thus saving precious time.
The formation of the International Charter on Space
and Major Disasters is an important example of space
agencies and participating nations working together for
the greater good. Satellite imagery has proven to be extremely
beneficial for regions affected by disaster and
suffering from crisis in many cases, especially whenever
it was possible to provide up-to-date and high quality
information to decision makers and relief workers in a
timely manner.
Figure 7. Envisat
image of Elbe Valley,
Germany flooding on
Aug. 19, 2002. Spatial
resolution = 25 m;
Incidence angle =
around 23 degrees;
(IS2) Red channel =
HH polarization;
Green channel =
HV polarization;
Blue channel =
difference between HH
and HV polarization.
Figure 8. MODIS images
were used in
sequence for analyzing
and mapping of the
dynamics of the Elbe
flood. Left: August 16,
2002; right: August
20, 2002
Figure 9. Map of
earthquake in Morocco,
February 2004. See
page 21.
F A L L 2 0 0 4 25

Remote
sensing for
hydroelectric
re-licensing
PG&E’S USE OF IMAGERY
DONALD G. PRICE
Senior Scientist
Technical & Ecological
Services Department
Pacific Gas and
Electric Company
San Ramon,
California
www.pge.com
Figure 2
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E),
a California Public Utility, operates extensive hydroelectric
facilities on the Pit River of northern California,
controlling a network of dams, tunnels, powerhouses
and electrical transmission lines.
The Pit 3, 4, 5 Hydroelectric Project is a 325-megawatt
hydroelectric facility located on the Pit River, in
Shasta County, California (Figure 1). The project occupies
746 acres of lands of the United States administered
by the Forest Supervisors of the Shasta-Trinity and Lassen
National Forests. The Pit 3, 4, 5 Project consists
of three hydraulically connected developments, with a
total of four dams, four reservoirs, three powerhouses,
associated tunnels, surge chambers, and penstocks.
The project has a combined average annual generation
of 1,913.7 gigawatt-hours. The Pit 3, 4, 5 Project is
operated by PG&E under Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC) License No. 233.
The Pit River is a noted trout-fishing stream and is
home to diverse communities of wildlife and vegetation.
In 2002 a remote sensing program was conducted as
26 F A L L 2 0 0 4 w w w . i m a g i n g n o t e s . c o m

w w w . i m a g i n g n o t e s . c o m
Figure 1
one element of a major study of the potential effects of
future hydroelectric power operations on the river ecosystem.
This project and other studies were conducted
as part of the FERC re-licensing process for the Pit 3,
4, 5 Project. Hydro re-licensing is a federally mandated
process typically conducted once every 30 to 50 years
for hydroelectric projects.
The process of hydroelectric generation impounds
water behind dams and diverts it through tunnels and
canals to lower-elevation power stations (Figure 2). Water
that would normally flow down the natural river
channel may be reduced compared to pre-project conditions.
This loss of flow in the natural river channel
is mitigated by releasing very precise water flows from
each of the dams situated along the river (Figure 3).
These flow releases are referred to as “instream flows”
and their magnitude and timing are major issues.
A controlled flow study was conducted in the spring
and summer of 2002 to evaluate the effects of various
potential mitigation flow releases on aquatic resources,
including assessments of fish habitat, fish strand-
Figure 1. Location
of the Pit 3, 4 and 5
hydroelectric project.
Figure 2. The Pit 3
dam is only one of four
dams located within
the project area (photo
by author).
F A L L 2 0 0 4 27

Figure 3. Instream
flows are augmented
by precise water
releases from project
dams like this 1,200
cfs test release from
the Pit 3 dam (photo by
author).
Figure 4. Three-meter
resolution image
mosaic of RGB bands
produced by the HyMap
hyperspectral flight
over the entire 37 km
length of the project
area (image by HyVista
Corporation).
Figure 5. Ground truth
involved above-water
and underwater evaluations
with portable
spectrometers and
ground control point
locations (photo by
author).
Figure 6. Aquatic and
terrestrial habitats
were classified and
mapped to determine
baseline conditions
and to estimate the
effects of altered flow
releases (image by
Itres Inc.).
ing, amphibian habitat, mollusk habitat, filamentous
algae movement, and sediment transport. Recreation
concerns were also assessed with whitewater boating
and fishability evaluations. Due to the diverse range
of environmental studies requiring overhead imagery,
several remote sensing methods were chosen to examine
the full 37 km project length of the river encompassing
all three power stations located within the Pit
3, Pit 4 and Pit 5 reaches.
In 2002 several remote sensing datasets were collected,
including satellite panchromatic, terrestrial lidar,
bathymetric lidar, airborne hyperspectral (Figure
4), and seven acquisitions of high-resolution color airborne
stereophotography. A ground truth dataset was
collected to support each acquisition of remotely sensed
data (Figure 5). All data were tied to the same horizontal
and vertical datum for precise co-location between datasets
in all three dimensions. The remote sensing datasets
enabled mapping and modeling of the river and river
basin morphology, classification of vegetation, and
detection of several water quality parameters. Aquatic
and terrestrial habitats were classified and mapped to
determine baseline conditions and to estimate the effects
of altered flow releases (Figure 6). These data were
integrated into two-dimensional instream flow models
of the river system, which simulate the spatial impact of
different flow release rates and relate them to changes
in aquatic habitat.
The results of these models are helping a collaborative
team consisting of PG&E, public interest groups,
and several regulatory agencies to determine specific
mitigation flow release rates that approach an optimal
compromise between habitat health and cost-effective
power generation.
Figure 3
Figure 4
REMOTE SENSING DATASETS COLLECTED IN 2002,
FOLLOWED BY MAP PRODUCT:
Terrestrial Lidar , ± 15 cm vertical, 3-meter posting
a. Bare earth DEM
b. Canopy DEM
c. Test measurements of water surface elevations
Figure 5
Figure 6
Color Stereophotography, 10 cm resolution, 1:7200 scale
a. Precise river boundary vectors from stereo analysis
b. Base map for traditional ground surveys
Satellite Panchromatic Imagery
a. Watershed overview and terrain assessment
b. Planning for sampling locations and access
28 F A L L 2 0 0 4 w w w . i m a g i n g n o t e s . c o m

Hyperspectral Imagery, 1.5-meter and 3.0-meter,
126 spectral bands, 450 nm (nanometer) to 2480 nm
a. Water quality maps (chlorophyll content,
total suspended solids)
b. Exposed and submerged substrate classification
c. River depth
d. Riparian vegetation classifications
Bathymetric Lidar, 4-meter posting
a. River bathymetry
b. Water surface elevation
Ground Surveys
a. GPS and total station positions
b. Spectral measurements
c. Water quality samples
d. Depth measurements
e. Site descriptions
The lidar data were used to create a digital elevation
model of the river canyon at a 3-meter spatial resolution.
The lidar dataset contains classified returns
of the bare earth, the vegetation canopy, the water and
infrastructure. In addition, a successful test was conducted
in the use of terrestrial lidar to map river water
surface elevations (Figure 9).
Bathymetric lidar was used on an experimental basis
to assess performance in a narrow, boulder-strewn
river canyon. Not all of the project area was mapped,
but the valid returns agree with the elevation measurements
from traditional lidar and ground surveys.
Hyperspectral imagery was used to map riparian
vegetation, river depth and benthic substrate type
(Figure 10). Spectral analyses and numeric models
estimated the spatial concentrations of chlorophyll,
total suspended solids and colored dissolved organic
material in the Pit River.
List of Project Participants:
Technical & Ecological Services Department (TES)
of Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E,
San Francisco, Calif.)
CSIRO Land and Water (Sydney, Australia)
DigitalGlobe Inc. (Longmont, Colo.)
EarthData International Inc. (Washington, D.C.)
HJW GeoSpatial Inc. (Oakland, Calif.)
HyVista Corporation (Sydney, Australia)
ITRES Limited (Calgary, Canada)
Joint Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of
Expertise (USACE JALBTCX, Mobile, Ala.)
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
(LLNL, Livermore, Calif.)
University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) Earth and
Marine Sciences Department (Santa Cruz, Calif.)
Remote sensing techniques
are perceived as costly due to the
high cost of aircraft, scanners,
and data analysis, but actually
compare favorably to more
conventional techniques which
are typically labor intensive.
MAP PRODUCTS
Satellite Panchromatic Imagery was collected in
the initial planning stages of the study to provide
an overview of the river basin (Figure 7). QuickBird
panchromatic imagery was used to identify specific
stream segments that would overlap project facilities
and to select ground control points for subsequent
airborne activities.
High Resolution (10 cm) Color Stereophotography
was collected seven times, once each at test flow releases
from 150 cfs (cubic feet per second), 250 cfs,
400 cfs, 600 cfs, 800 cfs, 1200 cfs and 1800 cfs (Figure
8). The precise river boundaries at each river flow rate
were digitized in stereo analysis to create 3-D river
boundary vectors accurate to the centimeter level. The
stereophotography was also used as a basemap for a
vegetation survey on the ground.
w w w . i m a g i n g n o t e s . c o m
Ground data collection to support this project
included GPS and total station surveys, underwater
and above-water spectral measurements, water depth
measurements and water quality samples.
The application of remote sensing techniques for
the environmental evaluation of hydroelectric projects
is still developing. The value derived by using remote
sensing will vary depending on the specific area
of interest. Certainly, where access is difficult or impossible,
the value of using remote sensing becomes
extremely high. Aerial photography has been used
for many decades for remote area mapping and remains
an important remote sensing tool. New tools,
such as high-resolution satellite imagery, airborne
hyperspectral imagery, and lidar for topographic and
benthic mapping are now available and enable many
new ecosystem assessment approaches.
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29

Figure 7. High
resolution (0.6 meter)
panchromatic imagery
was used for initial
study planning, for terrain
assessment, and
for locating key project
features such as the Pit
4 powerhouse shown
here (satellite image by
DigitalGlobe Inc.).
Figure 8. High resolution
(10 cm) color
stereophotography
was used for aquatic
habitat mapping and
for a variety of ground
truth applications (air
photo by HJW Inc.).
Remote sensing techniques are perceived as costly
due to the high cost of aircraft, scanners, and data
analysis, but actually compare favorably to more conventional
techniques, which are typically labor intensive.
As remote sensing techniques improve, with better
spatial and wavelength resolution, expensive on-theground
fieldwork requirements will be reduced. Ultimately,
however, it will be the unique point of view provided
by remote sensing that will be the most valuable.
Remote sensing not only allows a broad overview of
landscapes of interest, it can also provide comprehensive
analysis of critical areas that might be missed by
conventional approaches.
It will be the
unique point of view
provided by remote
sensing that will be the
most valuable.
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9. Realistic 3-D
views of the project
area provide environmental
scientists with
a unique perspective
of aquatic habitats.
Lidar topographic
maps were fused with
vectors derived from
hyperspectral data
and high resolution
aerial photos (image
by Itres Inc.).
Figure 10. Hyperspectral
imagery was
classified into vectors
that describe riparian
vegetation, river depth,
and benthic substrate
types (image by Itres
Inc.).
Geospatial analyses of the variety of image data
can produce a wealth of detailed specialized maps.
Various layers can be superimposed and overlaid to
show the distribution of plant species, the extent of
aquatic habitats, and the juxtaposition of energy infrastructure
in a compelling format.
Regulatory agencies, non-governmental organizations,
and the general public have all responded
favorably to the remote sensing products developed
by this study, which has enhanced the environmental
planning and decision making processes.
LEGAL NOTICE
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) makes no warranty
or representation, expressed or implied, with respect to the
accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of the information
contained in this document, or that the use of any information,
apparatus, method, or process disclosed in this document
may not infringe upon privately owned rights. Nor does PG&E
assume any liability with respect to use of, or damages resulting
from the use of, any information, apparatus, method, or
process disclosed in this document.
Figure 9
Figure 10
30 F A L L 2 0 0 4 w w w . i m a g i n g n o t e s . c o m

events calendar
october 2004
6 - 8
GIS in the Rockies
Denver, Colo.
www.gisintherockies.org/index.htm
12 - 14
GEOINT 2004 Symposium
New Orleans, La.
www.usgif.org/symposium/
index.html
18 - 22
RADAR 2004
Toulouse, France
www.radar2004.org/
november
7 - 10
URISA 42nd Annual Conference
Reno, Nev.
www.urisa.org/annual.htm
december
6 - 9
I/ITSEC Conference
Orlando, Fla.
www.iitsec.org/confinfo.cfm
Vancouver
february 2005
1-3
ESRI Federal User Group
Washington D.C.
www.esri.com
13-16
GeoTec Event
Vancouver, B.C., Canada
www.geoplace.com
15-18
URISA 9th Annual Integrating GIS and
CAMA Conference
Savannah, Ga.
www.urisa.org/cama
22-23
AFCEA Homeland Security Conference
Washington D.C.
www.afcea.org
march
6-9
GITA’s Annual Conference 28
Denver, Colo.
www.gita.org/events/annual/28
7-11
ASPRS 2005 Annual Conference
Baltimore, Md.
www.asprs.org/baltimore2005
Washington D.C.
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