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.

认识来自智利的地质学家Jose Manuel Lattus。 在最新的 Soar Cast中 ，他讨论了他在矿物勘探和环境研究中的工作，并解释了他如何通过基于不同类型的卫星图像(例如Soar的 SkyMap50 卫星图像) 创建有价值的信息产品来 谋生 。

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是来自智利圣地亚哥的地质学家，他使用遥感图像分析矿床和其他地貌，特别是在采矿勘探和地貌学领域。 何塞·拉特斯(Jose Lattus) 曾在阿根廷，俄罗斯，哈萨克斯坦和土耳其等国家/地区从事项目工作 ，并开发了自己的一些用于目标识别的遥感算法。 他用于图像处理的一些图像包括Aster，Landsat，Worldview-1，-2和-3和Soar的 SkyMap50。 业余时间，他还是智利三所不同大学的教授和讲师。 自2003年以来，他一直从事遥感工作。

Using satellite imagery for mining exploration

使用卫星图像进行采矿勘探

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)一直在从事几个项目，主要是在矿山勘探方面。 此外，他还参与了将遥感影像用于环境工程的工作，特别是在智利北部，在那里遥感技术可以帮助进行自然公园的自然保护工作。 但是，智利的这些偏远地区也因其大量的锂储量而引起了极大的兴趣，这正等待矿业公司的勘探。

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

Lattus解释了他的遥感专业知识如何帮助集中矿业公司在该领域的工作：

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

达伦·史密斯(Darren Smith) ：谁在支持您在遥感方面所做的工作？

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

何塞·曼努埃尔·拉图斯(Jose Manuel Lattus) ：主要是金属和非金属矿业公司，包括金铜，银和锂。

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

达伦·史密斯(Darren Smith) ：您给这些采矿公司提供什么类型的图像，这些图像对它们有什么作用？

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 ：主要图像是Aster图像，因为利用短波红外波段中的信息，我们可以检测用于勘探的空间矿物。 到目前为止，所有公司都在探索新的金和铜矿藏，我们使用这些图像来帮助他们找到新的目标，以最大程度地减少实地勘探的面积。 当我为它们处理图像时，我从不去现场。 许多使用我的作品的公司都很欣赏图片所包含的信息。 他们经常再次雇用我，所以我想我的工作很成功。

Using Satellite imagery for bathymetry

使用卫星图像进行测深

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解释说，遥感研究始于Landsat卫星图像的覆盖范围非常大，例如200x200 km。 在这些大区域内，接下来将使用更高分辨率的卫星图像定义并处理多个目标。 例如，Lattus使用的Landsat卫星图像在可见近红外波段的分辨率为30米，而Sentinel短红外波段的分辨率为20米。 他在较小区域使用的SkyMap50影像在可见的近红外中分辨率为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.

多波段卫星图像的原理可能并不总是对遥感界以外的人很清楚。 例如，人们有时不知道用无人机或卫星图像捕获的区域图像之间的差异。 Lattus解释说，虽然可以使用无人驾驶飞机和普通相机捕获高分辨率图像，但卫星可以捕获多光谱图像，其中包含人眼看不见的信息，但对于发现矿物非常有价值。 换句话说，与普通摄像机相比，卫星可以捕获更多信息。

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，诸如Lattus之类的遥感专家将从多光谱图像中获取该信息，以构建算法来揭示感兴趣的区域是否包含矿物质或其他令人兴奋的事物，例如测深法，其中卫星图像可以确定湖泊的水深。 一个例子是在Salar de Maricunga的锂勘探项目，该项目使用了Santa Rosa湖上的SkyMap50图像。

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

Lattus描述了捕获和处理图像的过程以及达伦·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 ：“智利拥有世界上最大的锂储量。 对于Salar de Maricunga的天然湖泊，我们正在监测湖泊的水深，以检查采矿公司是否从湖泊中抽取水进行开采。 地方当局必须确保每年盐滩的平衡是正确的，这就是为什么我们必须随着时间检查湖泊的深度。 这是通过使用多个可以以不同方式捕获水深的卫星频段完成的。 然后可以通过创建一个指数来推断水的相对深度，以随时间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卫星图像创建土壤分类图

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图像生成测深图，土壤湿度和土壤分类图像。 SkyMap50是一个50厘米分辨率的图像，由红色，绿色和蓝色波段以及近红外波段组成。 使用遥感软件，Lattus能够通过检查地面上不同像素的所有可用波段之间的差异来创建土壤分类图。 根据该信息，可以创建具有多个类别的土壤分类图。 使用该土壤分类图，可以绘制盐滩的不同区域，这对于地质学家来说非常重要，因为它告诉他们可以在哪里找到哪些矿物。 “ 通过查看卫星图像无法获得此信息，需要首先对其进行处理 ” Lattus解释说。

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平台继续满足渴望无人机影像的消费者的需求，这些消费者在新闻和媒体，建筑，土地管理，资源以及许多其他关键行业中都使用无人机影像。 如果您遇到特殊的技术用例挑战，Soar的团队将竭诚为您提供帮助并提供解决方案。 我们密切监视我们的SM提要，并始终Swift做出响应并与我们的用户和客户联系。

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