Airborne sensor aids superfund site clean-up

17 Jun 2002

Maps produced from an airborne sensor are cutting costs and helping to speed the clean-up of hazardous waste at a Superfund site in Leadville, CO.

Several federal agencies, including the Bureau of Reclamation, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), are using the maps to find sources of acid mine drainage and heavy-metal contamination at the California Gulch Superfund Site. The contamination is the result of more than 130 years of mining activities associated with the Leadville Mining District, according to Felix W. Cook, Sr., director of the Technical Service Center at the Bureau of Reclamation, Denver, CO.

The maps were produced by the USGS using data from NASA's Airborne Visible and Infra-Red Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) which was developed and is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, (JPL). The AVIRIS instrument flies aboard a NASA ER-2 high-altitude research aircraft.

While being carried 12 miles above sea level at a speed of 450 miles per hour, the instrument can take approximately 7,000 measurements per second. Earth scientists use AVIRIS to make measurements related to global climate and environmental change research in ecology, geology, oceanography, snow hydrology and cloud and atmospheric studies.