Military Geosciences in the Twenty-First Century
Military geosciences are concerned with using the broad scope of the earth sciences for military purposes. These purposes range from direct support for military operations to a broad spectrum of non-combat military activities and military land management applications. Historically, the focus has been on geology and geography, but other earth science disciplines such as geophysics, remote sensing, and geocomputation have become increasingly important as a consequence of technological progress made during the final decades of the twentieth century. The eighteen chapters in this volume address the critical aspects of the role of geosciences in military undertakings by focusing on historical perspectives, geoscience for military operations, and military environmental stewardship.
Remote sensing for soil map unit boundary detection
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Published:January 01, 2014
Abstract
Creating accurate soil maps at large scales using traditional methods is a timeconsuming and expensive process. However, remote-sensing techniques can provide spatially and spectrally contiguous data in a timely manner. For this study, 20 root zone soil moisture maps derived from Landsat images during the growing season were used for the detection of soil boundaries. A split moving-window analysis along two demonstration transects in, respectively, a semi-arid desert and riparian area located in the Middle Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico showed that remotely sensed root zone soil moisture can reveal subsurface trends that can be used to identify soil boundaries that do not have a strong surface expression. Overall, the use of multiple remotely sensed root zone soil moisture and Landsat images for soil boundary delineation shows great promise of becoming a valuable tool in the field of digital soil mapping.
- accuracy
- algorithms
- cartography
- classification
- detection
- digital cartography
- digital data
- geographic information systems
- geophysical surveys
- imagery
- information systems
- Landsat
- maps
- moisture
- New Mexico
- remote sensing
- Rio Grande Valley
- riparian environment
- semi-arid environment
- Socorro County New Mexico
- soils
- soils maps
- spatial data
- surveys
- temperature
- terrestrial environment
- United States
- central New Mexico
- Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge
- Hilton Ranch