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Corona

On February 22, 1995 President Clinton signed an executive order calling for the declassification and public release of the imagery acquired by Corona, the first generation of U.S. reconnaissance satellites. The Corona missions, operated at the height of the Cold War, collected over 860,000 images covering an area of the Earth's surface of approximately 10 mi. by 120 mi.

Two stereo pairs covering the Heraklean Peninsula have been acquired, one from the KH-4B mission of September 1968 and one from the KH-5 mission of October 1970. The high spatial resolution (up to 6ft. on the KH-4B missions) of the Corona photographs is ideal for the detection of the archaeological features of interest to our study. These data have been digitized and geo-referenced and are being used to map the ancient plot division lines of the chora, which are clearly visible in this September 1998 scene.




    

The relatively early date of the Corona data is useful for mapping the extent of changes in land use and land cover. Preliminary comparisons of the 1968 Corona scene (right) and the IRS panchromatic image from 1997 (left) show the dramatic extent of the modern urban encroachment on the archaeological remains.

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Last Modified: Wed Apr 14, 1999
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