Comparison of satellite imagery and infrared aerial photography as vegetation mapping methods in an Arctic study area; Jameson Land, East Greenland
The two methods suited for mapping the vegetation of remote inaccessible terrain were compared in terms of their ability to reproduce and distinguish predefined vegetation classes, the appropriateness of their different spatial resolutions to the same end, and their cost-effectiveness. The study was...
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Norwegian Polar Institute
1994
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ftjpolarres:oai:journals.openacademia.net:article/1973 2023-05-15T14:24:55+02:00 Comparison of satellite imagery and infrared aerial photography as vegetation mapping methods in an Arctic study area; Jameson Land, East Greenland Mosbech, Anders Hansen, Birger U. 1994-01-06 application/pdf https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/1973 https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v13i1.6688 eng eng Norwegian Polar Institute https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/1973/5222 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/1973 doi:10.3402/polar.v13i1.6688 Copyright (c) 2018 Polar Research Polar Research; Vol. 13 No. 1 (1994): Special issue: Proceedings of the Second Circumpolar Symposium on Remote Sensing of Arctic Environments; 139-152 1751-8369 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 1994 ftjpolarres https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v13i1.6688 2021-11-11T19:11:42Z The two methods suited for mapping the vegetation of remote inaccessible terrain were compared in terms of their ability to reproduce and distinguish predefined vegetation classes, the appropriateness of their different spatial resolutions to the same end, and their cost-effectiveness. The study was carried out in Jameson Land, East Greenland (70° 30?N to 72°N). The vegetation had previously been classified and mapped by the use of false colour infrared aerial photos in the period 1982–86. The resultant vegetation maps had been drawn on aerial photo overlays at a scale of 1:25, 000. SPOT data from 8 September 1986 and Landsat TM data from 10 August 1987 were used. A supervised classification of the combined satellite data was made using a maximum likelihood algorithm. A vegetation map was produced which accurately plotted 9 of the dominant vegetation classes and 4 non-vegetation classes. The two mapping methods were then compared. The satellite-based method was found to be inadequate for the mapping of vegetation classes which occur in very small vegetation patches. The photo-based mapping had better potential to map these vegetation classes because aerial photos have a higher spatial resolution than the satellite data. Small patches of herb slopes were selectively pinpointed in the photo-based mapping process. As the dominant vegetation types were, however, plotted in less detail, the photo-based mapping generally produced larger vegetation units with a more homogeneous and less complex texture than the satellite-based method. Of the two methods, the satellite-based method was by far the more cost-effective. Satellite data were less expensive to obtain and process than aerial photos and time-consuming interpretation was eliminated. Both methods require detailed ground-truthing, but the satellite-based method requires less so due to the objective classification procedure. Overall, the satellite-based method seems advantageous for vegetation mapping in large remote areas. However, the satellite data still lacks the resolution to map all the important cover classes of the fine-scaled arctic tundra vegetation mosaic. Therefore purpose-specific adaptation of cover classes and manual augmentation may be necessary. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic East Greenland Greenland Polar Research Tundra Polar Research (E-Journal) Arctic Greenland Jameson Land ENVELOPE(-23.500,-23.500,71.167,71.167) Polar Research 13 1 139 152 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Polar Research (E-Journal) |
op_collection_id |
ftjpolarres |
language |
English |
description |
The two methods suited for mapping the vegetation of remote inaccessible terrain were compared in terms of their ability to reproduce and distinguish predefined vegetation classes, the appropriateness of their different spatial resolutions to the same end, and their cost-effectiveness. The study was carried out in Jameson Land, East Greenland (70° 30?N to 72°N). The vegetation had previously been classified and mapped by the use of false colour infrared aerial photos in the period 1982–86. The resultant vegetation maps had been drawn on aerial photo overlays at a scale of 1:25, 000. SPOT data from 8 September 1986 and Landsat TM data from 10 August 1987 were used. A supervised classification of the combined satellite data was made using a maximum likelihood algorithm. A vegetation map was produced which accurately plotted 9 of the dominant vegetation classes and 4 non-vegetation classes. The two mapping methods were then compared. The satellite-based method was found to be inadequate for the mapping of vegetation classes which occur in very small vegetation patches. The photo-based mapping had better potential to map these vegetation classes because aerial photos have a higher spatial resolution than the satellite data. Small patches of herb slopes were selectively pinpointed in the photo-based mapping process. As the dominant vegetation types were, however, plotted in less detail, the photo-based mapping generally produced larger vegetation units with a more homogeneous and less complex texture than the satellite-based method. Of the two methods, the satellite-based method was by far the more cost-effective. Satellite data were less expensive to obtain and process than aerial photos and time-consuming interpretation was eliminated. Both methods require detailed ground-truthing, but the satellite-based method requires less so due to the objective classification procedure. Overall, the satellite-based method seems advantageous for vegetation mapping in large remote areas. However, the satellite data still lacks the resolution to map all the important cover classes of the fine-scaled arctic tundra vegetation mosaic. Therefore purpose-specific adaptation of cover classes and manual augmentation may be necessary. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mosbech, Anders Hansen, Birger U. |
spellingShingle |
Mosbech, Anders Hansen, Birger U. Comparison of satellite imagery and infrared aerial photography as vegetation mapping methods in an Arctic study area; Jameson Land, East Greenland |
author_facet |
Mosbech, Anders Hansen, Birger U. |
author_sort |
Mosbech, Anders |
title |
Comparison of satellite imagery and infrared aerial photography as vegetation mapping methods in an Arctic study area; Jameson Land, East Greenland |
title_short |
Comparison of satellite imagery and infrared aerial photography as vegetation mapping methods in an Arctic study area; Jameson Land, East Greenland |
title_full |
Comparison of satellite imagery and infrared aerial photography as vegetation mapping methods in an Arctic study area; Jameson Land, East Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Comparison of satellite imagery and infrared aerial photography as vegetation mapping methods in an Arctic study area; Jameson Land, East Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Comparison of satellite imagery and infrared aerial photography as vegetation mapping methods in an Arctic study area; Jameson Land, East Greenland |
title_sort |
comparison of satellite imagery and infrared aerial photography as vegetation mapping methods in an arctic study area; jameson land, east greenland |
publisher |
Norwegian Polar Institute |
publishDate |
1994 |
url |
https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/1973 https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v13i1.6688 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-23.500,-23.500,71.167,71.167) |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland Jameson Land |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland Jameson Land |
genre |
Arctic Arctic East Greenland Greenland Polar Research Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic East Greenland Greenland Polar Research Tundra |
op_source |
Polar Research; Vol. 13 No. 1 (1994): Special issue: Proceedings of the Second Circumpolar Symposium on Remote Sensing of Arctic Environments; 139-152 1751-8369 |
op_relation |
https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/1973/5222 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/1973 doi:10.3402/polar.v13i1.6688 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2018 Polar Research |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v13i1.6688 |
container_title |
Polar Research |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
139 |
op_container_end_page |
152 |
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1766297370009534464 |