FOR AGRICULTURE AND RANGE

NOAA AVHRR DATA HAS PROVIDED USEFUL QUALITATIVE INFORMATION IN AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY APPLICATIONS. QUANTITATIVE APPLICATIONS OF AVHRR ARE HOWEVER IN THEIR INFANCY. STUDIES BY EARTHSAT PERSONNEL HAVE SHOWN THAT FOR ONE YEAR IN ONE LOCATION CORN YIELD CAN BE QUANTITATIVELY RELATED TO AVHRR VEGETATION INDEX COUNT VALUES. THE PROPOSED STUDIES WILL EXAMINE FURTHER QUANTITATIVE APPLICATIONS OF AVHRR TO AGRICULTURE AND RANGE CONDITION AND WILL EXPLORE THE USE OF THE "COLOR-SPACE", I.E. INTENSITY, HUE AND SATURATION PROCESSING TECHNIQUES TO PROVIDE IMPROVED MEANS TO SEGREGATEFOREST AREAS FROM CROP AREAS AND TO THEREBY IMPROVE QUANTITATIVE APPLICATIONS OF AVHRR. IT IS EXPECTED THAT SUCCESSFUL DEMONSTRATION OF THE QUANTITATIVE USE OF AVHRR DATA WILL MARKEDLY INCREASE USE OF THE DATA BY COMMERCIAL FIRMS AND GOVERNMENT USERS. INVESTMENTS IN CROP ASSESSMENT DATA BY AGRICULTURAL FIRMS IN THE UNITED STATES EXCEED SEVERAL MILLIONS OF DOLLARS; A SUCCESSFUL DEMONSTRATION THATAVHRR COULD ASSIST IN INCREASING COMMERCIAL USES OF AVHRR BYORGANIZATIONS LIKE CROPCAST, ADSERV, CARGILL, ETC. THE POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATION AS DESCRIBED BY THE AWARDEE: THE SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THE PROPOSED WORK WILLGENERATE GREAT COMMERCIAL INTEREST AMONG THOSE GROUPS WHO ARE CONCERNED ABOUT GLOBAL CROP PRODUCTION. CURRENTLY SUCH FIRMS IN THE UNITED STATES AND OVERSEAS SPEND WELL OVER$2,000,000 PER YEAR ON WEATHER DATA ALONE, MUCH OF WHICH IS USED TO DIAGNOSE CROP CONDITION. ADDITIONALLY, LARGE COMPANIES COLLECTIVELY SPEND MANY MORE MILLIONS ON GROUND SURVEY IN THE UNITED STATES AND OVERSEAS. BASED ON MARKET RESEARCH BY EARTHSAT CROPCAST OVER SEVERAL YEARS, IT IS EX- PECTED THAT MANY SUCH COMPANIES WOULD BUY AVHRR OR WOULD BUYSERVICES FROM FIRMS LIKE CROPCAST TO GAIN THE AVHRR INFOR- MATION. MORE AND MORE COMPANIES ARE SHOWING INTEREST IN REMOTE SENSING AS A WAY TO GATHER AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION INTELLIGENCE. THE USDA COULD BENFIT FROM THE PROPOSED WORK THROUGH THE FAS FOREIGN CROP ASSESSMENT. THE SUCCESSFUL WORK COULD POTENTIALLY HAVE DIRECT APPLICATION. OTHER EXAMPLES OF GOVERNMENT INTEREST ARE AID FOR DISASTER WARNING, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE FOR MIGRATORY BIRD FLYWAY FORE CASTS, ETC.