ABSTRACT
The price of commodities goes up and down, as anyone in the oil and mining industries can attest. Yet water is one commodity that is in increasing demand just about everywhere. Whereas a company drilling an oil well may be able to use brackish or saline water to mix their drilling mud, fresh potable water is most desirable and not always available. Remote sensing can help locate sources of water, and in some cases one may be able to infer whether it is fresh or brackish. It may also be important to monitor surface water for changes in salinity, temperature, or turbidity, both onshore and offshore. Likewise, flood control can be assisted by monitoring snowpack and the extent of flooding over time. Both floods and normal runoff can cause erosion, as can wave action along coastlines. The progress of erosion, which can cost millions of dollars in property damage annually, can be observed using remote sensor systems. Whereas most geothermal resources in North America have been identified, many small thermal springs may not have been catalogued, and in other parts of the world economic thermal resources may never have been mapped. Thermal imagery provides a unique opportunity to map geothermal systems.
