Archaeological Application of Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar Technology in Southern Mexico and Central America

机载合成孔径雷达技术在墨西哥南部和中美洲的考古应用

• 批准号: 0406472
• 负责人: Robert Sharer
• 金额: $ 7.44万
• 依托单位: University of Pennsylvania
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-02-01 至 2007-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0406472&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Archaeological; Application; Airborne; Synthetic; Aperture

With the support of the National Science Foundation, a multi-national, multi-institutional team of archaeologists will work with NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab to deploy the Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AIRSAR) system in southern Mesoamerica and Central America in the spring of 2004. The focal areas of AIRSAR survey will include: northwest Yucatan (Mexico); the Usumacinta River region (Mexico and Guatemala), the Pasion River region (Guatemala), the central and northern Peten (Guatemala); the Central Atlantic Slope of Costa Rica; and the Diquis Region/General Valley (Costa Rica), with connecting transects to include portions of Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador. This research has the following objectives: (1) To test and refine the effectiveness of the AIRSAR in archaeological applications in tropical and subtropical regions; (2) To expand our understanding of the occupation history in various regions of southern Mesoamerica and Central America through the combination of AIRSAR maps and archaeological ground survey. AIRSAR is arguably the most sophisticated and versatile airborne radar platform in the world, with capacities to characterize environments and to detect human alterations to environments that are only now being fully developed. AIRSAR is a unique system that provides multi-band, multi-polar and multi-frequency data of broad areas with resolutions significantly higher than those of publicly available satellite and shuttle images. In addition, the long wavelength, low frequency radar signals of AIRSAR penetrate through forest canopy, which presents an unprecedented potential for archaeological applications in the tropical environment. Simply put, AIRSAR can acquire data that can be provided by no other instrument or research methodology. Our present understanding of Precolumbian socioeconomic and political organization in southern Mexico and Central America is based on evidence from a very limited sample of archaeological features across an enormous cultural landscape. Dense forest coverage in many regions has limited the application of previous remote sensing technologies and ground survey. The AIRSAR mission presents a unique and promising opportunity to penetrate the forest canopy and detect an array of critical archaeological and associated ecological features. If the system functions as anticipated, results could be breakthrough discoveries of new sites, and offer new or revised images of archaeological features including settlement size and density, agricultural systems, systems of causeways, trade networks, and fortifications. Thus, ground checked data derived from AIRSAR would make a significant contribution to our understandings of Precolumbian societies in Mexico and Central America. Furthermore, the successful application of AIRSAR has implications far beyond archaeology. Diverse ecosystems of southern Mesoamerica and Central America, including rainforests, cloud forests, wetlands, and coastal floodplains, are being destroyed at an alarming rate, because of agriculture, logging, and development, as well as anthropogenic climate change. Their loss implies significant effects on local weather patterns, freshwater supplies, habitats for numerous species, and global climate. The ability to link data pertaining to the modern and ancient landscapes through data from AIRSAR offers a long-term perspective on anthropogenic environmental change in these vulnerable ecosystems.

在国家科学基金会的支持下，一个多国、多机构的考古学家小组将与美国航天局喷气推进实验室合作，于2004年春季在中美洲南部和中美洲部署机载合成孔径雷达系统。AIRSAR调查的重点区域将包括：尤卡坦西北部（墨西哥）;乌苏马辛塔河区域（墨西哥和危地马拉）、帕西翁河区域（危地马拉）、佩滕中部和北方（危地马拉）;哥斯达黎加的大西洋中部斜坡;以及迪埃托地区/将军谷（哥斯达黎加），连接断面包括尼加拉瓜、洪都拉斯和萨尔瓦多的部分地区。本研究有以下目的：（1）测试和改进AIRSAR在热带和亚热带地区考古应用中的有效性;（2）通过AIRSAR地图和考古地面调查相结合，扩大我们对中美洲南部和中美洲各地区占领历史的了解。AIRSAR可以说是世界上最先进和多功能的机载雷达平台，具有描述环境特征和检测人类对环境的改变的能力，这些能力现在才得到充分发展。AIRSAR是一个独特的系统，提供广泛地区的多波段、多极和多频率数据，其分辨率大大高于公开提供的卫星和航天飞机图像。此外，AIRSAR的长波长、低频雷达信号穿透森林树冠，这为热带环境中的考古应用提供了前所未有的潜力。简而言之，AIRSAR可以获得其他仪器或研究方法无法提供的数据。我们目前对墨西哥南部和中美洲的前哥伦比亚社会经济和政治组织的理解是基于一个巨大的文化景观中非常有限的考古特征样本的证据。许多地区的森林覆盖率很高，限制了以往遥感技术和地面调查的应用。AIRSAR的使命提供了一个独特和有希望的机会，穿透森林树冠层，探测一系列重要的考古和相关的生态特征。如果该系统按预期发挥作用，结果可能是新遗址的突破性发现，并提供新的或修订的考古特征图像，包括定居点规模和密度，农业系统，堤道系统，贸易网络和防御工事。因此，来自AIRSAR的地面检查数据将为我们了解墨西哥和中美洲的前哥伦比亚社会做出重大贡献。此外，AIRSAR的成功应用所产生的影响远远超出了考古学。由于农业、伐木和开发以及人为气候变化，中美洲南部和中美洲的各种生态系统，包括雨林、云雾林、湿地和沿海洪泛平原，正在以惊人的速度遭到破坏。它们的消失意味着对当地天气模式、淡水供应、许多物种的栖息地和全球气候的重大影响。通过AIRSAR的数据将现代和古代景观相关数据联系起来的能力，为这些脆弱生态系统中的人为环境变化提供了一个长期视角。