Extracting Information for Land Management
Abstract
Geophysics has long been used by the military, mineral and petroleum explorers to map changes in physical properties beneath the surface of the earth. Geophysics is unlike most other earth-mapping technologies (e.g. satellite remote sensing) in that it predominantly measures properties of subsurface materials and thus cannot be easily ground truthed. Also, the data is not easily translated into information and thence knowledge of sub-surface processes. In isolation, a single geophysical data set is not very useful in land management. It is necessary to extract and interpret information from the data in the context of the land management problem being addressed. To achieve a realistic goal this process must be driven by the user rather than the data provider.
For example, a navy team using magnetics to locate a submarine asks a very different question of the data than a mineral explorer or land manager. However, in all applications the interpreter will want to assimilate other data into his interpretation. In the case of locating submarines, the operator should first look out the window to check whether the anomalous response is due to a surface ship, and then assuming the aircraft is over water, assess whether the anomaly is due to a wreck, noise or a real target.