DETECTING WASTE TIRE PILES USING HIGH-RESOLUTION SATELLITE IMAGERY AND AN IMAGE PROCESSING MODEL IN TWO REGIONS OF CALIFORNIA

Student interns in the human capital development program DEVELOP at NASA Ames Research Center worked with the California Integrated Waste Management Board’s (CIWMB) Special Waste Division to create a proof-ofconcept project investigating the use of high-resolution satellite imagery for locating and mapping waste tire disposal sites in the Sonoma and San Bernardino Counties of California. Previous methods for locating waste tire disposal sites in California included contracting with the California Highway Patrol to fly over suspected sites and take photographs, which were georeferenced with a GPS in post processing. The outputs generated from the model described in this paper reduce time and capital necessary to manage illegal waste tire disposal sites, which pose fire and disease vector risks if left unmanaged. The model and accompanying manual visual interpretation techniques identified all waste tire sites undisclosed to the team for testing purposes, and identified waste tire sites not previously known to CIWMB.