Airborne space-time EO/IR imaging for measuring riverine/estuarine/coastal currents

Abstract

An airborne technique has been developed and evaluated to retrieve the surface currents from a sequence of EO or IR images collected at the forward speed of the aircraft, thus supporting rapid collection on extended reaches. In this paper, we describe the data collection and processing methodology, and give examples of signatures of physical processes, both hydrodynamic and imaging, most often found in the imagery. Finally, we summarize the results of an extensive campaign of measurements over a number of waterways in the U.S.