Remote monitoring in region 6.

Date

1973

Authors

Lozano, R.

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Abstract

In EPA's Region VI remote monitoring has been used primarily for surveillance and analysis, and hazardous materials control; geographically it has been limited to coastal zones, off-shore waters, and rivers. No comprehensive monitoring measurement systems have been developed. Remote sensing was used in the fall of 1970 to monitor thermal discharge from a power plant on Trinity Bay (TX). In 1970-71 an oil-drilling platform off the Louisiana coast burned and spilled oil; thermal infrared aerial photographs were taken of the spill. In the fall of 1972, 624,000 gallons of diesel oil were spilled from a San Antonio (TX) power plant, and seeped through the subsurface into the San Antonio River. Although invisible to the unaided eye the oil was successfully photographed using a 35 mm camera equipped with a Wratten 39 UV filter and fake infrared film. Color aerial photography was used for an oil spill in the Atchafalaya River Basin (LA) in July 1973, in an area accessible only by air. Following a flood stage of the Mississippi River, 104 leaks and discharges from waste treatment pits were located and described by means of color and black-and-white aerial photography. Remote monitoring is planned for about 12 of an expected 70 major oil spills in 1974. Remote thermal mapping and multispectral scanner use are projected.

Description

n.p.

Keywords

remote sensing, monitoring, oil spills, aerial photographs, aerial photography, pollutants, hazardous materials, thermal pollution, coastal zone, oil

Citation