Statewide groundwater‐vulnerability assessment in nebraska using the drastic/GIS model

The paper summarizes a technique for implementing the “DRASTIC” groundwater‐vulnerability model within the context of an automated raster‐based geographic information system. Discussion focuses on a methodological development and a statewide project completed recently in Nebraska. The final products, a comprehensive flow chart illustrating procedures and a map of calculated potential pollution hazard, are presented. The methodology can be executed successfully with minimal training and experience. Areas of Nebraska considered vulnerable to groundwater pollution are identified.     

Noaa's avhrr archive

The Satellite Data Services Division (SDSD) maintains a digital browse file of Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data. The AVHRR instrument is aboard the TIROS‐N series of spacecraft. The instrument has five channels for viewing the earth, two channels are in the visible part of the spectrum and three are in the infrared portion of the spectrum. Selected data from this instrument are converted to digital browse files and loaded on the Image Library and Browse System (1LABS). The ILABS allows SDSD personnel to review data before the digital tapes are sent to satisfy the user's order. It also allows hardcopy images be sent to users. Working in conjunction with the ILABS is the Electronic Catalog System (ECS). The ECS is able to be directly accessed by the user community and it allows the users to find data in their areas of interest. Once the data are found, then that data can be ordered from the SDSD.     

AEROSPACE METHODS AND DATA FOR THE STUDY OF EXOGENIC PROCESSES IN THE MOUNTAIN REGIONS OF THE BAIKAL-AMUR MAINLINE

Basic exogenic dynamic processes are analysed and discussed. Such processes are actively developed and intensively utilized in mountainous regions of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. Investigation of these regions, which call for reliance on aerospace methods is of considerable economic significance. Translated from: Kosmicheskiye Issledovaniya Prirodnykh Kompleksov Sibiri i Dal'nego Vostoka, Novosibirik, 1983, pp. 57-63.     

THERMAL INFRARED IMAGERY OF DESERT LANDSCAPES

The author illustrates the application of thermal infrared machinery to prospecting for mineral deposits in desert areas. The technique is presented with details pertaining to an oil field in Western Kazakhstan and a copper deposit in Southern Kazakhstan. Translated from: Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta, geografiya, 1983, No. 5, pp. 60-64.     

GEOLOGIC INTERPRETATION OF ANTARCTICA'S MOUNTAINOUS REGIONS WITH SPACE IMAGERY

This paper demonstrates how ice-surface relief identified on space imagery can be used in mapping selected elements of the geologic structure of the Antarctic Peninsula. The mapping procedure is based on the fact that all major subglacial relief forms appear, albeit in subdued form, on the surface of slow moving and relatively thin ice sheets. Since subglacial bedrock relief reflects geologic structure, particular surface configurations of ice identified on space imagery can be used as indicators of major structural elements. Examples of the procedure, including imagery of ice relief and corresponding cartographic representations of underlying structure are provided for faults and ring structures. Translated from: Antarktika, AN SSSR Mezhduvedomstvennaya komissiya po izucheniyu Antarktiki, Doklady komissii [USSR Academy of Sciences Joint Commission on Antarctic Research, Commission Report], No. 24. Moscow, 1985, pp. 50-55. An article demonstrating the application of these methods in the compilation of a geologic map for a part of the Antarctic Peninsula will appear in a later issue.     

THE EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY OF AN EMINENT WORLD CARTOGRAPHER

The multifaceted career and contributions of Professor Konstantin A. Salishchev, Chair of the Moscow University Department of Cartography and eminent world cartographer, are celebrated on the occasion of his eightieth birthday. These contributions include but are not restricted to: scholarly and administrative work in upgrading national atlas cartography worldwide, improvement of the quality of maps and cartographic instruction in higher education, publication of numerous excellent cartographic texts, formulation of the concept of the “cartographic method of research,” and promotion of international cooperation among cartographers and geographers through active participation and leadership in numerous world professional organizations. From the Russian original by I. D. Papanin, G. I. Rychagov, and A. F. Treshnikov.     

DEVELOPMENT OF QUANTITATIVE METHODS OF STUDYING THE EARTH FROM SPACE

The paper surveys the development of “space geography”–a field of knowledge applying the methods of remote sensing, the physical sciences, and mathematics in the solution of geographic problems. Early advances featured methodological improvements (use of quantitative methods in image processing), whereas future research must focus upon perfecting our knowledge of: (a) relationships underlying the use of these methods, i.e., between environmental parameters and reflectance values, (b) methods of effectively combining different types of imagery, and image products and field work, in research, and (c) appropriate quantitative indices for feature recognition. Examples of the operationalization of such concerns are demonstrated for land-use and soil mapping projects. Translated from: Izvestiya, AN SSSR, seriya geograficheskaya, 1985, No. 5, pp. 110–116.     

MAPPING ANIMAL HABITATS

The authors propose a series of general methodological guidelines for animal habitat mapping. These include the use of “summary” indicators (of aggregate effects of environmental conditions on animal populations) as indices for mapping, the combination of laboratory and field work at all but the smallest scales of mapping, and explicit recognition (based on extensive studies of ecological characteristics and life cycles of species being mapped) that habitat boundaries in many cases vary dramatically from vegetation and landscape-geological boundaries. Habitat maps of two study areas are compared with vegetation and landscape maps at identical scales to demonstrate these differences. Translated from: Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta, geografiya, 1985, No. 3, pp. 95-101.     

USE OF SPACE PHOTOGRAPHS IN THE MAKING AND REVISION OF SMALL-SCALE MAPS

A brief review paper focuses on Soviet strategies for the use of space imagery, particularly photographic products (1:2,000,000 to 1:4,200,000 scale) from manned spaceflights, in the revision of small-scale general reference maps. Principles for the interpretation and mapping of basic map elements appearing on space photographs are outlined. Space photographs provide for reduction in time spent in map editing and the more correct analysis of the reliability of information and its generalization. A technology of map revision based on the joint use of original photographs and photomaps, with the transfer of revisions from photomaps to map originals, is proposed. Translated from: Geodeziya i kartografiya, 1986, No. 8, pp. 29-33.     

ANALYSIS OF THE CHEMICAL POLLUTION OF BUFFER ZONES BY MODELING AND SUB-SATELLITE EXPERIMENTS

Principles are outlined for the use of sub-satellite soil, air, water, and vegetation samples as an auxiliary source of information in remote sensing studies of vegetation stress caused by air pollution. More specifically, procedures for satellite-synchronous aerial overflights, vegetation transects, water quality measurements, and soil tests are described as a basis for delineating boundaries between areas of vegetation stress and unpolluted areas in an industrialized area in the central Urals. Translated from: Kosmicheskiy monitoring biosfery, Yu. A. Izrael', V. V. Bugrovskiy, and Yu. V. Novikov, eds. Leningrad: Gidrometeoizdat, 1985, pp. 93-99.