PRELIMINARY NOTES ON THERMAL MAPPING AND 

 MULTISPECTRAL SENSING IN OCEANOGRAPHY 



Resource survey missions for the purpose of exploring the value 

 and utility of multispectral data are conducted at Bendix in a company air- 

 craft which is a Beech D18. This aircraft is instrumented with an infrared 

 scanner, and a 9-channel UV, visible, and near infrared multispectral 

 scanner. The supporting equipment includes a 70-mm aerial survey type 

 sequencing camera. The video from the infrared single channel thermal 

 mapper and from the 9-channel multispectral scanner are recorded on 

 wide-band FM tape. After the mission this tape is returned to the laboratory 

 for detailed studies of the multispectral data which includes conversion to a 

 digital format and statistical studies using a large computer such as the 

 IBM 360. Imagery can be produced from the multispectral data using the 

 film recorder in the laboratory directly from the tape recorded video. The 

 data produced by a multispectral line scanner is particularly well adapted 

 for studies of image enhancement and target classification because linear 

 combinations of the electronic video can be formed using analog circuitry. 

 The result of such linear combination can be fed directly to the film re- 

 corder for the production of enhanced imagery. The particular formula 

 used in forming any given linear combination is determined from a statistical 

 study of the digital samples of the multispectral data. 



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