Dynamics of Playa lakes in the Texas High Plains

Three small playa lake basins on the Texas High Plains were originally selected as ERTS-1 test sites to attempt correlation of ERTS-1 imagery with the water balance ecosystem and geology/morphology of the lake basins. The 5-mile long large Double Lakes playa complex was also instrumented as an alternate test site. Analysis of bands 6 and 7 of ERTS-1 MSS imagery shows that lake basins as small as 200 m in diameter (+ or - 10 acres) can be reliably classified as being wet or dry, thus supplying the methodology for a rapid, periodic census of surface water. A cost/benefit analysis reveals that the use of MSS imagery for such a census results in a 66 to 200-fold cost reduction when compared to the costs of using other conventional methods.