Standing Water Detection:

Unattended swimming pools and other standing water can be a haven for breeding mosquitoes and a significant public health problem.  Quickly and accurately detecting standing water significantly reduces the ability of mosquitoes to breed.  Blue Earth Imaging provides imaging and mapping products that go beyond traditional color imagery to detect standing water. 

Green Pools:

Un-treated swimming pools can be very active breeding grounds for mosquito larvae.  Pools can go untreated due to owner neglect, or can be a result of foreclosure.  Versus other sources of standing water, swimming pools can be particularly problematic because of the depth of water and the extended time it would take to naturally evaporate. 

Infrared Light and Standing Water:

In the photo above, it is relatively easy to spot the bright green pool, however not all green pools are quite so distinctive. 

	In this example, the house on the left has a green area in the backyard that could be a swimming pool, but it could also be a lawn.  The middle house also has an area out back that does not appear to be a swimming pool, but also doesn't really look like the other lawns in the area.  The house on the right does appear to have a swimming pool in the back yard.
	When the same image is viewed in infrared, vegetation turns a very bright color of red.  This allows areas of vegetation to be easily discriminated from non-vegetation.  In this image, the areas behind the houses in the middle and on the left are obviously not vegetation.
	By knowing the spectral properties (how different colors of light are reflected) of water, it becomes possible to generate a filter for water.  This image has been automatically adjusted so water is bright and non-water is dimmed.  This not only allows the original color of the water to show through, but it allows very large ares to be examined very quickly and does not require expertise in interpreting color Infrared photography.

Large Area Identification:

Highlighting standing water in the way allows large areas to be examined very quickly with a high degree of accuracy. 

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Spectral Response:

The following chart shows the relative response of different colors of light with respect to vegetation and different colors of water.  If vegetation, and different colors of water were examined in red light only, it would be very difficult to make any distinctions.  As blue and green light is added, it becomes possible to distinguish between blue and green water, but not necessarily green vegetation and green water.  When Near Infrared is added, vegetation, green water and blue water all have unique spectral reflectance. 

Thermal Infrared Imagery:

In the photo below, the warmest areas are the heated swimming pools.  The next warmest areas are the water features.  The coolest areas are grassy areas and areas that have been in shade during the day.		Thermal Infrared imagery is able to detect temperature differences due to water, even in shaded areas and through light foliage.