Imaging land/water demarcation lines for coastal mapping

The objective of this research has been to improve upon the imaging methods currently used by the Photogrammetry Branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for locating coastal boundaries. In keeping with this objective, a near-infrared radiometer/exposure meter has been developed and constructed. This device gives f -number and shutter speed values for a given scene radiance in the near-infrared region, and the aerial camera may then be set at these values for proper exposure. As an addendum to the research, a simple image processing technique, color ratioing, has been applied to demarcation photography with extremely promising results. Using an array processor, false-color infrared images may be processed and analyzed so that water and non-water representations are dramatically different, and easily distinguishable