Field Trip

Ge151: Spring 2011

Remote Sensing in the Field

A lecture, a lab, and a field trip will be used as an introduction to the use of remote sensing instruments, whether on Earth or Mars.

The Mojave Desert has numerous test sites that were used during the development of various remote sensing instruments, both aircraft prototypes and spacecraft instruments. The choice was dictated partly by the location close to JPL, but mainly by the lack of vegetation, making them ideal sites for geologic investigations. In the field we will use hardcopy images from some of these early investigations, but in the lab you will have an opportunity to see results from new sensors. Development of TM, SRTM, and ASTER (and the corresponding planetary instruments) now provides widely available data covering much of the world and Mars. This part of the course will cover a portion of what is a more extended field trip that was part of Ge 158. The following web site provides information on these sensors and contains image data covering the Mojave and Death Valley:

http://www-radar.jpl.nasa.gov/insar4crust/rsclass/

Lecture: TBD

Lab: TBD

Field: TBD

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Packing List:

tent
sleeping bag
sleeping pad
hiking shoes
water bottle(s)
hat
sun-screen
warm clothes for evening
light clothes for daytime
sunglasses
clip board
your poster/handout from lab

References:

Sharp, R. P. (1976) Road Guide to the Geology of S. Calif.: Kendall-Hunt Publishing. The road guides can be followed during the trip. Note p.72-73.

Arvidson et al (1993) Characterization of lava-flow degradation in the Pisgah and Cima volcanic fields, CA, using Landsat Thematic Mapper and AIRSAR data: Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 105, 175-188.

Lancaster, Nicholas (1993) Kelso Dunes: Nat. Geographic Res. & Exp. 9, 444-459.

Best single book reference on remote sensing:

Pieters, C. M. and Englert, P. A. , 1993, Remote Geochemical Analyses: Elemental and Mineralogical Composition, Cambridge Press.

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