Site Characterization and Debris Measurement in the Joint Munitions Dust Test Series at Fort Polk, Louisiana

摘要

A serious obstacle to the performance of electro-optical systems on the battlefield is the suspension of dust and other fine particulates in the air that interfere with optical propagation. Much of that material originates from the soil and vegetation cover of the terrain. This report presents the results of terrain characterization measurements made at Fort Polk, La., in April 1980, in support of a joint battlefield environment test series conducted by the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station and the U.S. Army Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory. Measurements of soil properties and explosion debris are presented and discussed. A portion of the tests included the use of specially selected and prepared soil beds as sources of dust. Properties of those soils and some test results are also presented. These results are intended for application to the development of an improved obscurant source model for battlefield environment modeling. (Author)