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Remote Sensing in Vegetation ApplicationsAgriculture, Forestry, and Ecology

NASA Online Tutorial - Section 3 (http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Front/tofc.html)

• Recognizing Vegetation• The SPOT Satellite; Kenya & Rift Valley of Africa• South West Kansas, U.S.A. and Morocco• The Vegetation Index: Africa and other Scenes• Forest Applications; Amazon Rain Forests; Deforestation• Ecological Damage: Natural and Manmade: Non-

geological Events• Ecological Damage: Natural Geological Events

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Recognizing Vegetation in RS Imagery

• solar radiation• climate factors• availability of chemical nutrients and

water within the host medium

Interactions with Solar Radiation

• Chlorophyll• Spongy mesophyll• Water content• Leaf maturity• Leaf structure

– Broad/needle leaf• Canopy structure (LAI)• Stress

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CIR

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Soil Background

Phenology

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What are the major advantages and disadvantages of Landsat compared with SPOT?

Which is more important, spatial or spectral resolution?

SPOT TM

AVIRIS

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Ghard plains in western Morocco

March, 1986 May, 1986

Band Ratioing

• Use the same band from different dates• Use different bands from the same date

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Multi-band, multi-date classification

TM

AAHIS Hyperspectral

Vegetation Index

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Change Detection

TM Images of Port Renfro on Vancouver Island in BC

MODIS

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What were the drivers of land cover change?

• Developing of cotton farming owing to abundance of water from damming in southern Turkey

Applications

• Environmental monitoring– Forest fires– Hurricane/tornado/flood damage– Volcano eruption/tectonic movement– Land-use/cover change