Interpreting Aerial Photographs to Identify Natural Hazards

Authored by a world-renowned aerial photography and remote sensing expert, Geographic Aerial Photography: Identifying Earth-Surface Hazards Through Image Interpretation is the most practical and authoritative reference available for any professional or student looking for a reference on how to recognize, analyze, interpret and avoid – or successfully plan for – dangerous contingencies.

Whether they are related to natural terrain, geology, vegetation, hydrology or land use patterns – it’s critical for you to be able to recognize dangerous conditions when and where they exist. Failure to adequately recognize and characterize geomorphic, geologic, and hydrologic dangers on the ground using aerial photography is one of the major factors contributing to due to natural hazards and disasters, damage to architectural structures, and often the subsequent loss of human life as a result. Aerial photographs provide one of the most prevalent, inexpensive and under-utilized tools to those with the knowledge and expertise to interpret them.

• Authored by one of the world’s experts in aerial photography and remote sensing, with more than 35 years of experience in research and instruction
• Features more than 100 color photographs to vividly explore the fundamental principles of aerial photography
• Chapter tables underscore key concepts including channel size and shape characteristics, image scales, reverse fault values, and strike-slip fault systems

Students, scientists, and engineers, real estate executives, developers, construction personnel, land use planners, lawyers, archaeologists, federal, state, and local policy makers and regulators

List of Figures

List of Tables

Part I: Establishing Baselines: Look for the Butterfly

Part I. Establishing Baselines: Look for the Butterfly

Chapter 1. Getting Started

1.1 Interpretation Begins with the Sun

1.2 Film

1.3 Target Interactions

1.4 More About Resolution than You Probably Care to Know

1.5 Seeing the World in 3-D

1.6 Colors and Patterns and Shapes—Oh My

1.7 Reading Aerial Photographs

1.8 Summary

Chapter 2. More About Photographs Than You Ever Cared to Know

2.1 Photographs

2.2 How Big is Big?

2.3 Photographs Versus Maps

2.4 What is Stereoscopic Vision?

2.5 How Many Aerial Photographs Do I Need?

2.6 Choice of Color Vis a Vis Panchromatic

Chapter 3. Textural Information

3.1 Stream Pattern

3.2 Stream Density

3.3 Gully Analysis

References

Chapter 4. Color Information

4.1 Sedimentary Rocks

4.2 Igneous Rocks

4.3 Metamorphic Rocks

4.4 Soils

4.5 Structural Patterns

Part II: Recognizing Hazards on the Ground

Part II. Recognizing Hazards on the Ground

Chapter 5. Dangers from Earthquakes and Faults

5.1 Identification of Faults

5.2 Low Sun-Angle Enhancement of Scarps

5.3 Fault Scarp Enhancement by Stream Erosion

5.4 Dip-Slip Faults

5.5 Identification of Ground Shaking Hazard

5.6 Identification of Landslide Hazard

5.7 Identification of Liquefaction Hazard

5.8 Identification of Tsunami and Seiche Hazard

References

Chapter 6. Dangers from Landslides

6.1 Landslides in Soil

6.2 Landslides in Rock

6.3 Some Final Comments on Landslides

References

Chapter 7. Dangers from Floods

7.1 Stream Flow Data and the Myth of the 100 Year Flood

7.2 Always Give Some Thought to the Possibility of Catastrophic Flood Events

References

Chapter 8. Dangers from Ground Subsidence

8.1 Ground Subsidence Due to Groundwater Withdrawal

8.2 Ground Subsidence Due to Collapsing Soils

8.3 Ground Subsidence Due to “Growth Faults”

Reference

Part III: Spectral Ranges Beyond Visible

Part III. Spectral Ranges Beyond Visible

Chapter 9. The Ultraviolet

Chapter 10. The Near Infrared

Chapter 11. The Thermal Infrared

11.1 Scanners

11.2 Summary

Chapter 12. The Microwave

Chapter 13. Obtaining Aerial Photographs

13.1 US Department of Agriculture

13.2 US Department of Commerce

13.3 National Archives and Record Service

13.4 US Department of the Interior

13.5 Canadian Aerial Photography

13.6 Mexican Aerial Photography

13.7 Foreign Aerial Photography

13.8 Google™ Earth

13.9 Other Sources

Appendix. A Selection of Aerial Photographs for You to Interpret