REMOTE SENSING STREAMS
Paul Cuplin
Fisheries Biologist
Bureau of Land Management
Denver Service Center, Denver, Colorado
Abstract.--To accelerate stream inventory and documentation
of existing stream habitat conditions, stream remote sensing
techniques were tested. Two aerial platforms were success-
fully used for continuous aerial stream photography. Color
infrared and Ektachrome X film when properly exposed produce
very good water penetration in clear streams. Stream habitat
conditions such as stream shade, upper stream bank condition,
stream bank stability, stream channel stability and percent
stream bottom silt can be interpreted from large scale color
infrared photography.
Introduction
Stream inventories must often be completed in a short period of time
with a limited staff. To accelerate stream inventory and improve
baseline resource data remote sensing techniques are needed. The
present aerial photography available in field offices is not large
enough scale to allow for interpretation of stream habitat conditions.
Large scale photography with water penetration capability is needed
for stream habitat evaluation.
Two aircraft platforms were tested for remote sensing streams. An
aircraft door camera mount and an aircraft floor camera mount.
Kodak color infrared and Kodak Ektachrome X film were tested to deter-
mine applicability for stream inventory.
A Nikon 35mm motor drive camera with 50mm lens was used in all tests.
The 35mm format required enlargement with a Vantage II microfilm
reader for interpretation of stream conditions.
Stream habitat inventory was accomplished by first ground truthing the
stream for stream shade, upper stream bank condition, stream bank
stability, stream channel stability and percent stream bottom silt.
Linear distance between prominent land marks was measured to establish
photographic scale.
Methods
A Nikon F2 35mm motor drive camera with 50mm lens with Wratten 12
filter and Kodak Ektachrome color infrared film was used to photograph
portions of Colorado River on October 20, 1975 and Red and Rio Grande