SHIP DETECTION FROM LANDSAT IMAGERY

Recent inspection of Landsat CCT printouts revealed that the detection of ships is possible. Experience has shown that MSS band 7, because of low radiance values from water and the resultant high S/N ratio, is the best MSS band for a "quick look" inspection of CCT printouts for possible ships. Following verification of the target on CCT printouts of other MMS bands the ship's size, orientation, state of motion, and direction of movement can be determined from the total number of pixels occupied by the target for each MSS band, the orientation of these pixels, and the target's maximum and total pixel radiance values. This paper presents the procedures used for detecting ships, and discusses the problems and limitations of the overall technique as related to ship parameters, sea state and turbidity, pixel overlap, relative geometric fidelity between pixels, and solar elevation angle. /Author/