Meet Jose Manuel Lattus, a geologist from Chile. In the latest Soar Cast, he discusses his work in mineral exploration and environmental studies, and explains how he makes a living by creating valuable information products based on different types of satellite imagery, such as Soar’s SkyMap50 satellite imagery.

認識來自智利的地質學家Jose Manuel Lattus。 在最新的 Soar Cast中 ，他討論了他在礦物勘探和環境研究中的工作，并解釋了他如何通過基于不同類型的衛星圖像(例如Soar的 SkyMap50 衛星圖像) 創建有價值的信息產品來 謀生 。

Jose Manuel Lattus is a geologist from Santiago, Chile, who uses remote sensing imagery for the analysis of ore deposits and other landforms, specifically in the science of mining exploration and geomorphology. Jose Lattus has worked on projects in countries such as Argentina, Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkey and developed some of his own remote sensing algorithms for target identification. Some of the images that he has utilized for imagery include Aster, Landsat, Worldview-1, -2 and -3 and SkyMap50 from Soar. In his spare time, he’s also a professor and lecturer at three different universities in Chile. He has been working in remote sensing since 2003.

Jose Manuel Lattus是來自智利圣地亞哥的地質學家，他使用遙感圖像分析礦床和其他地貌，特別是在采礦勘探和地貌學領域。 何塞·拉特斯(Jose Lattus) 曾在阿根廷，俄羅斯，哈薩克斯坦和土耳其等國家/地區從事項目工作 ，并開發了自己的一些用于目標識別的遙感算法。 他用于圖像處理的一些圖像包括Aster，Landsat，Worldview-1，-2和-3和Soar的 SkyMap50。 業余時間，他還是智利三所不同大學的教授和講師。 自2003年以來，他一直從事遙感工作。

Using satellite imagery for mining exploration

使用衛星圖像進行采礦勘探

Lately, Jose Lattus has been working on several projects mainly in mine exploration. Also, he has been involved in using remote sensing imagery for environmental works, specifically in Northern Chile, where remote sensing helps to do nature conservation work in natural parks. However, these remote parts of Chile also generated a large interest for their large reserves of lithium, waiting to be explored by mining companies.

最近，何塞·拉特斯(Jose Lattus)一直在從事幾個項目，主要是在礦山勘探方面。 此外，他還參與了將遙感影像用于環境工程的工作，特別是在智利北部，在那里遙感技術可以幫助進行自然公園的自然保護工作。 但是，智利的這些偏遠地區也因其大量的鋰儲量而引起了極大的興趣，這正等待礦業公司的勘探。

Lattus’ explains how his remote sensing expertise helps focus the efforts of mining companies in the field:

Lattus解釋了他的遙感專業知識如何幫助集中礦業公司在該領域的工作：

Darren Smith: Who are the clients that are supporting the work you do in remote sensing?

達倫·史密斯(Darren Smith) ：誰在支持您在遙感方面所做的工作？

Jose Manuel Lattus: Principally, these are mining companies in metallic and in non-metallic, including gold-copper, silver and lithium.

何塞·曼努埃爾·拉圖斯(Jose Manuel Lattus) ：主要是金屬和非金屬礦業公司，包括金銅，銀和鋰。

Darren Smith: What types of images are you giving these mining companies and what do they with those images?

達倫·史密斯(Darren Smith) ：您給這些采礦公司提供什么類型的圖像，這些圖像對它們有什么作用？

Jose Manuel Lattus: The principle images are Aster images because with the information in the shortwave infrared band we can detect spatial minerals that are used for exploration. Until now, all companies have been exploring new gold and copper deposits and we use these images to help them find new targets to minimize the area that is explored in the field. While I process the images for them, I never go to the field. Many companies who use my work are appreciative of the information the images contain. They often hire me again so I guess I’m successful at what I do.

Jose Manuel Lattus ：主要圖像是Aster圖像，因為利用短波紅外波段中的信息，我們可以檢測用于勘探的空間礦物。 到目前為止，所有公司都在探索新的金和銅礦藏，我們使用這些圖像來幫助他們找到新的目標，以最大程度地減少實地勘探的面積。 當我為它們處理圖像時，我從不去現場。 許多使用我的作品的公司都很欣賞圖片所包含的信息。 他們經常再次雇用我，所以我想我的工作很成功。

Using Satellite imagery for bathymetry

使用衛星圖像進行測深

Lattus explains that remote sensing studies start with Landsat satellite imagery covering very large areas, for example, 200x200 km. Within these large areas, several targets are defined and processed next using satellite imagery with a higher resolution. The Landsat satellite images for example that Lattus uses have a resolution of 30 meters in the visible near-infrared bands, while the Sentinel short-infrared band has a resolution of 20 meters. The SkyMap50 imagery he uses for smaller areas has a resolution of 2 meters in the visible near-infrared.

Lattus解釋說，遙感研究始于Landsat衛星圖像的覆蓋范圍非常大，例如200x200 km。 在這些大區域內，接下來將使用更高分辨率的衛星圖像定義并處理多個目標。 例如，Lattus使用的Landsat衛星圖像在可見近紅外波段的分辨率為30米，而Sentinel短紅外波段的分辨率為20米。 他在較小區域使用的SkyMap50影像在可見的近紅外中分辨率為2米。

The principles of multiple-band satellite images might not always be clear to people from outside the remote sensing community. For example, people are sometimes unaware of the differences between areal imagery captured with a drone or satellite imagery. Lattus explains that while it’s possible to capture high-resolution imagery with a drone and a normal camera, a satellite can capture multispectral imagery that contains information invisible to the human eye but that is very valuable for discovering minerals. In other words, satellites can capture more information than a normal camera.

多波段衛星圖像的原理可能并不總是對遙感界以外的人很清楚。 例如，人們有時不知道用無人機或衛星圖像捕獲的區域圖像之間的差異。 Lattus解釋說，雖然可以使用無人駕駛飛機和普通相機捕獲高分辨率圖像，但衛星可以捕獲多光譜圖像，其中包含人眼看不見的信息，但對于發現礦物非常有價值。 換句話說，與普通攝像機相比，衛星可以捕獲更多信息。

Remote sensing experts such as Lattus then take that information from the multispectral imagery to build algorithms that reveal whether the area of interest contains minerals or some of the other exciting things like bathymetry, where satellite imagery enables to determine the water depth of a lake. One example of this is was a lithium exploration project in Salar de Maricunga using SkyMap50 imagery on lake Santa Rosa.

然后，諸如Lattus之類的遙感專家將從多光譜圖像中獲取該信息，以構建算法來揭示感興趣的區域是否包含礦物質或其他令人興奮的事物，例如測深法，其中衛星圖像可以確定湖泊的水深。 一個例子是在Salar de Maricunga的鋰勘探項目，該項目使用了Santa Rosa湖上的SkyMap50圖像。

Lattus describes the process of capturing and processing the imagery, as well as the purpose to Daren Smith:

Lattus描述了捕獲和處理圖像的過程以及達倫·史密斯的目的：

Lattus: “Chile holds the world’s largest reserves of lithium. For the natural lakes in Salar de Maricunga, we are monitoring the water depth of the lakes, to check if mining companies extract water from the lake for mining processes. Local authorities have to make sure that the equilibrium in the salt flat is correct each year, which is why we have to check the depth of the lake over time. This is done using multiple satellite bands that can capture water depth in a different way. The relative depth of the water can then be calculated by creating an index to extrapolate the different depth values over time.

Lattus ：“智利擁有世界上最大的鋰儲量。 對于Salar de Maricunga的天然湖泊，我們正在監測湖泊的水深，以檢查采礦公司是否從湖泊中抽取水進行開采。 地方當局必須確保每年鹽灘的平衡是正確的，這就是為什么我們必須隨著時間檢查湖泊的深度。 這是通過使用多個可以以不同方式捕獲水深的衛星頻段完成的。 然后可以通過創建一個指數來推斷水的相對深度，以隨時間推算出不同的深度值。

Using Soar’s SkyMap 50 satellite imagery for creating a soil classification map

使用Soar的SkyMap 50衛星圖像創建土壤分類圖

Lattus used Soar’s SkyMap 50 imagery to generate bathymetry, soil humidity and soil classification imagery. SkyMap50 is a 50 cm-resolution image that consists of red, green and blue bands, as well as the near-infrared band. Using remote sensing software, Lattus was able to create a soil classification map by checking the differences between all the available bands for different pixels on the ground. Based on that information, a soil classification map can be created with multiple categories. With this soil classification map, it becomes possible to map the different zones of the salt flat, which is very important for geologists as it tells them which minerals can be found where. “This information is not available by looking at the satellite image, it needs to be processed first” explains Lattus.

Lattus使用Soar的SkyMap 50圖像生成測深圖，土壤濕度和土壤分類圖像。 SkyMap50是一個50厘米分辨率的圖像，由紅色，綠色和藍色波段以及近紅外波段組成。 使用遙感軟件，Lattus能夠通過檢查地面上不同像素的所有可用波段之間的差異來創建土壤分類圖。 根據該信息，可以創建具有多個類別的土壤分類圖。 使用該土壤分類圖，可以繪制鹽灘的不同區域，這對于地質學家來說非常重要，因為它告訴他們可以在哪里找到哪些礦物。 “ 通過查看衛星圖像無法獲得此信息，需要首先對其進行處理 ” Lattus解釋說。

The Soar platform continues to serve the needs drone image hungry consumers who are utilising drone images in news and media, construction, land management, resources, and many other critical industries. If you have a special technology use case challenge, the team at Soar is keen to assist and provide a solution. We monitor our SM feeds closely and are always quick to respond and reach out to our users and clients.

Soar平臺繼續滿足渴望無人機影像的消費者的需求，這些消費者在新聞和媒體，建筑，土地管理，資源以及許多其他關鍵行業中都使用無人機影像。 如果您遇到特殊的技術用例挑戰，Soar的團隊將竭誠為您提供幫助并提供解決方案。 我們密切監視我們的SM提要，并始終Swift做出響應并與我們的用戶和客戶聯系。

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