Color-infrared composite of Landsat data for the Sarcobatus Flat area of the Death Valley regional flow system, Nevada and California, 1989

The data set was created to determine phreatophyte boundaries used in the
report, "Ground-water discharge determined from estimates of
evapotranspiration, Death Valley regional flow system, Nevada and California".

The raster-based, color-infrared composite was derived from Landsat Thematic
Mapper imagery data acquired during June 1989 for the Sarcobatus Flat area of
the Death Valley regional flow system. The image is a single-channel,
parallelepiped classification that when displayed using a 256-color color table
shows a simulation of a color-infrared composite. The data set was used in
determining phreatophyte boundaries for a ground-water evapotranspiration
study.

The raster-based, color-infrared composite (CIR) was derived from Landsat
Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery data acquired during June 1989 for the Death
Valley regional flow system, Nevada and California.

The image is a single-channel, parallelepiped classification that when
displayed using a 256-color color table shows a simulation of a color-infrared
composite (Beverley and Penton, 1989). TM channels 2, 3, and 4 are used in the
classification process. The wavelengths of these channels correspond to those
used for a CIR composite. The data range of each channel is divided into eight
divisions. The 512 possible combinations are then reduced to 256. A color table
of red, green, and blue values is created for display of the image. Sixteen
possible color values exist for each color. These values are scaled between 0
and 255. The image is reduced from more than 16 million colors to 256 colors.

Reviews

The CIR image for 1989 was checked for consistency and accuracy during the data
processing. Two external reviews were done. The reviewers were asked to check
metadata and other documentation files for completeness and accuracy. Reviewers
also were asked to check the topological consistency, tolerances, projections,
and geographic extent.

The Landsat Entity-identification number is LT5040034008917210.