HR: 1330h
AN: C12A-0871    [PDF]
TI: Field Spectrometry, Sub-Pixel Resolution of Satellite Imagery, and Archeological Potential of the Cryosphere
AU: * Clarke, B
EM: brian.clarke@colorado.edu
AF: Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0250 United States
AF: Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0450 United States
AU: Painter, T H
EM: tpainter@nsidc.org
AF: National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0449 United States
AU: Manley, W F
EM: William.Manley@colorado.edu
AF: Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0450 United States
AU: Dixon, E J
EM: jdixon@Colorado.edu
AF: Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0450 United States
AB: During the 2003 summer field season, a preliminary investigation was conducted with remote sensing to evaluate and determine the archeological potential of glaciers and permanent snowfields in the Wrangell Mountains, southeastern Alaska. In recent years, archeologists have realized that the cryosphere is far from barren of human contact. Rather the cryosphere provides the ideal means to preserve organic cultural material trapped within ice and snow. This preservation gives a unique glimpse of artifacts such as projectile points, wooden shafts, sinew lashing, and other materials that would have otherwise degraded hundreds or thousands of years ago. Through the use of remote sensing, we aim to narrow the enormous search area down to the most probable locations. From observations made at current sites, it is known that archeological artifacts are usually accompanied by windblown plant detritus, accumulated mammal feces, fur, and amorphous organic material melting out of the ice. We measured with a field spectrometer the hyperspectral reflectance of organic material found in situ on the ice in the vicinity of artifacts. Measurements were also made for surrounding land cover classes. By integrating the spectra with Landsat imagery we are able to create custom spectral libraries and an accurate supervised land cover classification. Since the organic material at many sites is not extensive enough to fill an entire pixel, we use sub-pixel resolution techniques to separate organic debris, inorganic debris, snow and ice. The resulting fractional amount of organic material in each pixel, and its spatial relationships with surrounding land cover features, enable an improved quantified model of archeological site potential for snow and ice.
DE: 1640 Remote sensing
DE: 1824 Geomorphology (1625)
DE: 1827 Glaciology (1863)
DE: 1863 Snow and ice (1827)
DE: 1894 Instruments and techniques
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting