Disturbed soil characterization workshop: post-meeting summary

Disturbance of ground surfaces can arise from a variety of processes, both manmade and natural. Burying landmines, vehicle movement, and walking are representative examples of processes that disturb ground surfaces. The nature of the specific disturbance process can lead to the observables that can aid the detection and identification of that process. While much research has been conducted in this area, fundamental questions related to the remote detection and characterization of disturbed soil surfaces remain unanswered. Under the sponsorship of the Army Research Office (ARO), the Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC), Georgia Tech hosted a workshop to address Remote Sensing Methods for Disturbed Soil Characterization. The workshop was held January 15-17, 2008 in Atlanta. The primary objective of this workshop was to take a new look at the disturbed soil problem in general as well as its relation to buried explosive detection and other manmade disturbances. In particular, the participants sought to outline the basic science and technology questions that need to be addressed across the full spectrum of military applications to fully exploit this phenomenon. This presentation will outline the approach taken during the workshop and provide a summary of the conclusions.