Developments in Remote Sensing: Poster Session Overview

M. Lee Allison, Frederick B. Henderson, III, Douglas C. Peters

Remote sensing, the science of evaluating the earth and its systems from a distance, continues to become more exact in its methods and more widely used and accepted as a tool for geological investigations. Nonetheless, methods of processing and analyzing remotely sensed data remain a mystery to many potential users. Case histories explaining the use of remote sensing as a stand-alone tool or integral part of original exploration for petroleum and minerals have not been overly abundant.

To help rectify these inadequacies, the Energy Minerals Division and the Astrogeology Committee of AAPG are cosponsoring a remote sensing poster session, which will follow the general EMD session. The emphases in the posters in this session will be (1) to explain how to evaluate and process various types of remotely sensed data and to extract geologically useful information, (2) to present examples of practical use of remotely sensed data to improve or augment exploration programs, and (3) to provide general insight into the dos and don'ts of remote sensing analysis as they are currently understood.

Remotely sensed data, when appropriately applied and integrated into geological modeling, mapping, and exploration programs, can result in savings of time and money by the overview of an area of interest these data provide. Indeed, remotely sensed data can provide information on an area (e.g., mineralogical differences and bulk properties of surficial materials) that cannot be obtained otherwise without extensive field sampling and subsequent laboratory analysis.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91022©1989 AAPG Annual Convention, April 23-26, 1989, San Antonio, Texas.