Citation:

SLONECKER, E. REMOTE SENSING OF FUGITIVE ARSENIC. Presented at USGS Land Remote Sensing Open House, Reston, VA, April 10 - 11, 2007.

Impact/Purpose:

The objectives of this task are to:

Assess new remote sensing technology for applicability to landscape characterization; Integrate multiple sensor systems data for improved landscape characterization;

Coordinate future technological needs with other agencies' sensor development programs;

Apply existing remote sensing systems to varied landscape characterization needs; and

Conduct remote sensing applications research for habitat suitability, water resources, and terrestrial condition indicators.

Description:

The intentional or accidental release of hazardous substances into the environment is an

inevitable consequence of anthropogenic activity. Industrial, commercial, mining, military and

even domestic activities can result in the release of substances into the air, land and water that

are harmful to environmental quality and human health. The discovery, detection and

remediation of many hazardous waste problems consists of a variety of monitoring and analysis

strategies that are time-consuming and expensive, such as laboratory chemical analysis. One of

the technologies that has an established and growing potential to provide a non-contact and costeffective

alternative to traditional sampling methods is remote sensing.

A special class of hazardous waste problems are those that are related to current or

former military activity. These include not only active military facilities but also at

properties that were formerly owned by, leased to or otherwise utilized by the U. S. and under

the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Defense. Such properties are known as Formerly Used

Defense Sites (FUDS). One of the costliest and most politically charged cleanup of a FUDS is

currently taking place in northwest Washington D.C. at the American University and the

surrounding neighborhood, known as Spring Valley.

The Spring Valley cleanup involves the detection and removal of inorganic arsenic and

three different remote sensing technologies were evaluated in support of the remediation of

fugitive arsenic and other hazardous waste-related risks to human and ecological health. The first

involved the analysis of information derived from historical aerial photography. The second used

laboratory reflectance spectroscopy to evaluate arsenic uptake in Pteris ferns and the third

utilized hyperspectral imagery to map fugitive arsenic distribution through the analysis of

vegetation stress. The information provided by these various remote sensing technologies

represents a non-contact and potentially important alternative to the information needs of the

hazardous waste remediation process, and is an important area for future environmental research.

Record Details: