Preliminary analysis of infrared imagery, Pahute Mesa area, Nevada Test Site, NASA site 52

Infrared images from two aircraft missions, flown by HRB-Singer Inc., August 10, 1966, and by NASA, Mission 30, September 3, 1966, have been analyzed. The HRB-Singer Inc., data, obtained in the 3-5 micrometer wavelength band between 10:32 and 11:53 p.m. (MST) in Spite of smoke in the atmosphere, revealed a fault that had not been mapped in the field and that was not visible on vertical black and white aerial photography.

Twenty-four days later under clear weather conditions, the NASA aircraft obtained infrared imagery in the 8-14 micrometer band on a night overflight of the same area, but the fault mentioned above is not readily identified.

Nighttime infrared observations assist stratigraphic and structural studies. Rhyolitic lava flows and welded tuff layers, having relatively high thermal inertia, are well outlined as bright (warm) areas on both sets of the nighttime imagery.