Use of Historical
Reconnaissance Data in the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network
Program: The Global Fiducial Library.
John Vande Castle,
LTER Network Office, updated March 22, 2003
Background:
An initial presentation was made to LTER
principal investigators at the 1996
LTER Coordinating Committee meeting regarding potential use of classified
data for research purposes. The Committee
agreed to participate in the activity by unanimous vote.
Since current work requires clearances that few LTER scientists posses, John Vande Castle of the LTER Network Office
has worked with the individual sites to coordinate locations for data acquisition
and access to historical reconnaissance data and access to more recently acquired
data for LTER sites.
On
Current and future GFL data of LTER sites:
The LTER Network
Office has worked to coordinate data access to historical reconnaissance data
and access to more recently acquired data for LTER sites. During 2002 and 2003,
Historical GFL Data:
To estimate what
type of reconnaissance data are available for LTER sites, a search of
historical and current Global Fiducial Library data was made. During 2000 and early 2001, the LTER Network
Office worked with members of the individual LTER sites to prepare standardized
GFL site surveys – see: (http://www.lternet.edu/technology/gfl/index.html). Using this information, a review of available
reconnaissance data was made with staff of Earth Satellite Corporation (Earthsat) by
The data are
currently being incorporated into the LTER “Spatial Data Workbench” (see http://www.lternet.edu/technology/sdw)
so these “hyperspatial” datasets can be more easily accessed and compared to
the other remote sensing datasets acquired within the LTER program. A web page has been developed to support the
initial formulation and use of the GFL data within the LTER program (http://www.lternet.edu/technology/). An alternative access is also available for
the “mcm”, “sev” and “vcr” sites by ftp at:
ftp://ftp.lternet.edu/archive/lter. An overview presentation has been developed
which shows specific examples of the GFL data for the Sevilleta LTER site, as
well as earlier data acquired for the McMurdo –
For the Sevilleta LTER site, the data has been reviewed and assessed for general content. The high resolution and historical aspects of the data are important, and plans are being made on how to best extract useful information and compare them to other, more current datasets. Examples, shown below include important views of the region of the Sevilleta LTER site, long before it became an NSF LTER program site. The second image demonstrates changes over time in the general land use and vegetation of just a small plot of land on the Sevilleta LTER site. The third image shows the region surrounding the Sevilleta LTER headquarters. NOTE that these images are SUBSTANTIALY Reduced in resolution from the raw data maintained in the on-line archive.
Full resolution images of an overlap region from 1964, 1971 and 1994. Note the clear definition from vegetation changes once the Sevilleta became established as a wildlife reserved and grazing was reduced inside the Sevilleta. Note the clear fence line boundary in the 1994 image – not present in earlier data.
Full resolution images of an overlap region from 1964, 1971 and 1994. Note the clear definition from vegetation changes once the Sevilleta became established as a wildlife reserve, and grazing was reduced inside the Sevilleta. Note the clear fence line boundary in the 1994 image.
The UNM Sevilleta Field station and USDA Fish and Wildlife headquarters (to the bottom/south). This infrastructure was, of course absent in 1964 and has even changed significantly since 1994 with the addition of a visitor center and other buildings.