Remote Sensing of Environment Volume 85, Issue 4, 15 June 2003, Pages 441–452 Mapping land cover change in a reindeer herding area of the Russian Arctic using Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery and indigenous knowledge
Much of Russia north of the treeline is grazed by reindeer, and this grazing has materially altered the vegetation cover in many places. Monitoring vegetation change in these remote but ecologically sensitive regions is an important task for which satellite remote sensing is well suited. Further dif...
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ftunivgreenwich:oai:gala.gre.ac.uk:4403 2023-05-15T14:27:29+02:00 Remote Sensing of Environment Volume 85, Issue 4, 15 June 2003, Pages 441–452 Mapping land cover change in a reindeer herding area of the Russian Arctic using Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery and indigenous knowledge Rees, W.G. Williams, M. Vitebsky, P. 2003-04 http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/4403/ https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-4257(03)00037-3 unknown Elsevier Inc. Rees, W.G., Williams, M. orcid:0000-0003-1919-4389 and Vitebsky, P. (2003) Remote Sensing of Environment Volume 85, Issue 4, 15 June 2003, Pages 441–452 Mapping land cover change in a reindeer herding area of the Russian Arctic using Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery and indigenous knowledge. Remote Sensing of Environment, 85 (4). pp. 441-452. ISSN 0034-4257 (doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-4257(03)00037-3 <https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-4257(03)00037-3>) GE Environmental Sciences S Agriculture (General) Article PeerReviewed 2003 ftunivgreenwich https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-4257(03)00037-3 2023-03-26T20:22:39Z Much of Russia north of the treeline is grazed by reindeer, and this grazing has materially altered the vegetation cover in many places. Monitoring vegetation change in these remote but ecologically sensitive regions is an important task for which satellite remote sensing is well suited. Further difficulties are imposed by the highly dynamic nature of arctic phenology, and by the difficulty of obtaining accurate official data on land cover in arctic Russia even where such data exist. We have approached the problem in a novel fashion by combining a conventional multispectral analysis of satellite imagery with data on current and historical land use gathered by the techniques of social anthropology, using a study site in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (NAO). A Landsat-7 ETM+ image from the year 2000 was used to generate a current land cover classification. A Landsat-5 TM image was used to generate a land-cover classification for 1988, taking due account of phenological differences and between the two dates. A cautious comparison of these two classifications, again taking account of possible effects of phenological differences, shows that much of the study area has already undergone a notable transformation to grass-dominated tundra, almost certainly as a result of heavy grazing by reindeer. The grazing pattern is quite heterogeneous, and may have reached unsustainable levels in some areas. Finally, we suggest that this situation is unlikely to be unique to our study area and may well be widespread throughout the Eurasian tundra zone, particularly in the west. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic nenets Nenets Autonomous Okrug Tundra University of Greenwich: Greenwich Academic Literature Archive Arctic Remote Sensing of Environment 85 4 441 452 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Greenwich: Greenwich Academic Literature Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivgreenwich |
language |
unknown |
topic |
GE Environmental Sciences S Agriculture (General) |
spellingShingle |
GE Environmental Sciences S Agriculture (General) Rees, W.G. Williams, M. Vitebsky, P. Remote Sensing of Environment Volume 85, Issue 4, 15 June 2003, Pages 441–452 Mapping land cover change in a reindeer herding area of the Russian Arctic using Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery and indigenous knowledge |
topic_facet |
GE Environmental Sciences S Agriculture (General) |
description |
Much of Russia north of the treeline is grazed by reindeer, and this grazing has materially altered the vegetation cover in many places. Monitoring vegetation change in these remote but ecologically sensitive regions is an important task for which satellite remote sensing is well suited. Further difficulties are imposed by the highly dynamic nature of arctic phenology, and by the difficulty of obtaining accurate official data on land cover in arctic Russia even where such data exist. We have approached the problem in a novel fashion by combining a conventional multispectral analysis of satellite imagery with data on current and historical land use gathered by the techniques of social anthropology, using a study site in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (NAO). A Landsat-7 ETM+ image from the year 2000 was used to generate a current land cover classification. A Landsat-5 TM image was used to generate a land-cover classification for 1988, taking due account of phenological differences and between the two dates. A cautious comparison of these two classifications, again taking account of possible effects of phenological differences, shows that much of the study area has already undergone a notable transformation to grass-dominated tundra, almost certainly as a result of heavy grazing by reindeer. The grazing pattern is quite heterogeneous, and may have reached unsustainable levels in some areas. Finally, we suggest that this situation is unlikely to be unique to our study area and may well be widespread throughout the Eurasian tundra zone, particularly in the west. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rees, W.G. Williams, M. Vitebsky, P. |
author_facet |
Rees, W.G. Williams, M. Vitebsky, P. |
author_sort |
Rees, W.G. |
title |
Remote Sensing of Environment Volume 85, Issue 4, 15 June 2003, Pages 441–452 Mapping land cover change in a reindeer herding area of the Russian Arctic using Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery and indigenous knowledge |
title_short |
Remote Sensing of Environment Volume 85, Issue 4, 15 June 2003, Pages 441–452 Mapping land cover change in a reindeer herding area of the Russian Arctic using Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery and indigenous knowledge |
title_full |
Remote Sensing of Environment Volume 85, Issue 4, 15 June 2003, Pages 441–452 Mapping land cover change in a reindeer herding area of the Russian Arctic using Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery and indigenous knowledge |
title_fullStr |
Remote Sensing of Environment Volume 85, Issue 4, 15 June 2003, Pages 441–452 Mapping land cover change in a reindeer herding area of the Russian Arctic using Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery and indigenous knowledge |
title_full_unstemmed |
Remote Sensing of Environment Volume 85, Issue 4, 15 June 2003, Pages 441–452 Mapping land cover change in a reindeer herding area of the Russian Arctic using Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery and indigenous knowledge |
title_sort |
remote sensing of environment volume 85, issue 4, 15 june 2003, pages 441–452 mapping land cover change in a reindeer herding area of the russian arctic using landsat tm and etm+ imagery and indigenous knowledge |
publisher |
Elsevier Inc. |
publishDate |
2003 |
url |
http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/4403/ https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-4257(03)00037-3 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Arctic nenets Nenets Autonomous Okrug Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic nenets Nenets Autonomous Okrug Tundra |
op_relation |
Rees, W.G., Williams, M. orcid:0000-0003-1919-4389 and Vitebsky, P. (2003) Remote Sensing of Environment Volume 85, Issue 4, 15 June 2003, Pages 441–452 Mapping land cover change in a reindeer herding area of the Russian Arctic using Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery and indigenous knowledge. Remote Sensing of Environment, 85 (4). pp. 441-452. ISSN 0034-4257 (doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-4257(03)00037-3 <https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-4257(03)00037-3>) |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-4257(03)00037-3 |
container_title |
Remote Sensing of Environment |
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85 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
441 |
op_container_end_page |
452 |
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