— 661 —
The main pattern of oblique "upglacier" crevasses has been separated in photo 8
by way of elimination of the other direction, as can be seen from the spectrum
of fig. 7b. It now appears that to the right of the snow patch and apart from the
eliminated vertical crevasses, a system of crevasses also occurs running from
top right to the lower left. This very localized feature is associated with the rock
step, the existence of which is thus more clearly brought to light.
On photo 9 the dominant, oblique, crevasse direction has been eliminated as well
as possible. This could not be effected completely with the filters at hand and
some oblique crevasses remain vaguely visible in the image. Nevertheless it is
obvious that the influence of the left-right stress, as visualized by the vertical
crevasses, reaches much further to the right than would be expected from the
non-filtered crevasse pattern of photo 6. Particularly in the central part of photo
9 numerous vertical crevasse elements can be seen. The dominance of the oblique
crevasses in the non-filtered image is apparently such that the less prominant
vertical pattern is largely suppressed. The Fourier spectrum corresponding to
photo 9 is given in photo 7c.
It will be evident that the filtered images obtained with this technique can be
analyzed in turn using density slicing techniques, etc. A more simple approach
to quantification has also been attempted by the author in this case. Both the
number of fractures per cm-image and the total length of fractures per sqcm.-
image have been determined for the entire width of the image and are presented
graphically in fig. 2. The snow covered zone was left out of consideration for
obvious reasons. It is obvious from the graph that the oblique fractures are
strongly dominant except in the extreme left whereas vertical crevasses are ab
sent in the right but gain rapidly in importance towards the left.
CONCLUSIONS
1. Image analysis techniques are equally important for the study of terrain as
image recording techniques. Particularly interesting is the quantitative infor
mation that can be obtained and statistically evaluated.
2. Quantitative relief analysis is particularly valuable since it is directly linked
with terrain form. Stereoscopic study of aerial photographs, stereo-SLAR, and
topographic profiling with orthophotography (dropped lines), radar and laser
altimeters, etc. merit full attention in the study of the terrain.
3. Quantitative density analysis is generally less reliable since the measurements
are related to cover type (vegetation, crops, etc.) and thus are only indirectly
linked to terr a in form. Also, in most cases it is not possible to use the image