Aerial Photos of the 1940s

The images are available as .jpeg and as georeferenced .tiff files. With the exception of three images, all images are subset to 7500 pixels square. Individual photos can be selected from the 1940 flight lines image at http://sofia.usgs.gov/exchange/aerial-photos/40s_flight.html The numbering scheme for the aerial photos is an identification number consisting of the flight number followed by the photo or frame number.

A foundation for Everglades research must include a clear understanding of the pre-drainage south Florida landscape. Knowledge of the spatial organization and structure of pre-drainage landscape communities such as mangrove forests, marshes, sloughs, wet prairies. And pinelands, is essential to provide potential endpoints, restoration goals and performance measures to gauge restoration success. Information contained in historical aerial photographs of the Everglades can aid in this endeavor. The earliest known aerial photographs are from the mid-to-late 1920s and resulted in the production of what are called T-sheets (Topographic sheets) for the coasts and shorelines of far south Florida. The position of the boundary between differing vegetation communities (the ecotone) can be accurately measured. If followed through time, changes in the position of these ecotones could potentially be used to judge effects of drainage on the Everglades ecosystem and to monitor restoration success. The Florida Integrated Science Center (FISC), a center of the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Biological Resources Discipline (BRD), in collaboration with the Eastern Region Geography (ERG) of the Geography Discipline has created digital files of existing 1940 (1:40,000-scale) Black and White aerial photography for the South Florida region. These digital files are available through the SOFIA web site at http://sofia.usgs.gov/exchange/aerial-photos/index.html