LBA-ECO LC-07 Validation Overflight for Amazon Mosaics, Video, 1999

This data set presents georeferenced digital video files from Validation Overflight for Amazon Mosaics (VOAM) aerial video surveys as part of the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in the Amazon. The VOAM flights were carried out in the wet-season (June) 1999 in the Brazilian Amazon to provide ground verification for mapping of wetland cover with the Global Rain Forest Mapping (GRFM) Project JERS-1 (Japanese Earth Remote Sensing Satellite) mosaics of the Amazon basin. Digital camcorder systems were installed in a Bandeirante survey plane operated by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research. The VOAM99 surveys circumscribed the Brazilian Amazon, documenting ground conditions at resolutions on the order of 1-m (wide-angle format) and 10-cm (zoom format) for wetlands, forests, savannas, and human-impacted areas. Other applications of the VOAM videography include acquisition of ground control points for image geolocation, creation of a high-resolution geocoded mosaic of a forest study area, forest biomass estimation, and rapid assessment of fire damage. Geocoded digital videography provides a cost-effective means of compiling a high-resolution validation data set for land cover mapping in remote, cloud-covered regions.