characteristics of ice in the Great Lakes in cooperation with the Corps of 

 Engineers and NOAA. 



NOAA has conducted tide and tidal current surveys using remote sensors 

 from NOAA and NASA aircraft, and has also investigated coastal-boundary 

 mapping and wetlands identification and mapping by means of infrared 

 and visual photography. 



Many of the cooperative regional coastal zone investigations will be aug- 

 mented with the launching of the Earth Resources Technology Satellite 

 (ERTS-A) in June 1972. The ERTS-A will carry a three-color television 

 camera system and a four-band multispectral-scanning spectrophotometer. 

 Data from these sensors will be analyzed to determine their utility in coastal 

 zone investigations as well as in open-ocean color and sea-state investigations. 



In addition to the unmanned ERTS mission, NASA is planning a manned 

 earth-orbiting mission, Skylah, during 1973. Skylah will carry an Earth Re- 

 sources Experiment Package (EREP) consisting of a four-color camera sys- 

 tem, a 14-channel multispectral scanner covering the visible and the thermal 

 infrared bands of the spectrum, an active microwave system for sea-state 

 measurements, and a passive microwave system for ocean-temperature 

 measurements. 



The Earth Resources Survey (ERS) program of NASA currently transfers 

 funds to NOAA and Navy to develop and utilize techniques for remote sen- 

 sor data from aircraft and existing satellites. Sea-state information is being 

 derived from the analysis of sun glint in time-lapse photography from the 

 Applications Technology Satellite (ATS) spacecraft in synchronous orbit 

 about the earth. In the Improved Tiros Operational Satellite (ITOS) space- 

 craft, use is being made of infrared sensor data to produce maps of the 

 horizontal sea-surface temperature gradients for studies of current dynamics 

 and the movement of water masses. Infrared imagery is being used to map 

 the physical condition of ice in the polar regions. The data-handling and 

 interpretation techniques developed by NOAA will be applied to the re- 

 mote sensor data to be provided by ERTS-A and Skylab. NOAA will operate 

 an ERS Data Center to service the needs of the oceanographic community 

 for ERTS-A and Skylah data. Many Federal agencies will participate 

 in the evaluation and application of these data to their marine programs. 

 In 1972, the NASA-supported effort will be concentrated in NOAA, with 

 Navy transferring responsibility for its Spacecraft Oceanography Project 

 (SPOC) to the National Environmental Satellite Service of NOAA. 



Automated processing and enhancement of multispectral scanner data 

 and multiband photographic imagery were used to locate ocean-color fronts, 

 upwellings, water masses, and biological pigments for fisheries applications. 

 In another fisheries-related development, low-light-level television-image- 

 intensification techniques for locating luminescent organisms agitated by fish 

 schools were demonstrated. 



In addition to the application of remote-sensing techniques from space to 

 observations of oceanic environmental conditions, investigations are being 

 conducted on the application of space technology and related precision- 

 satellite-ranging techniques to the extension of geodetic control points to the 

 floor of the open ocean and to the direct determination of mean sea-level 

 and the departures of the ocean-surface geometry from mean sea-level- 



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