Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION
Volume 14, Issue 1, Pages 94-102Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.jag.2011.08.010
Keywords
Ecohydrology; Image fusion; Inter-patches; Modified intensity-hue-saturation transform; Patches; Australia
Categories
Funding
- National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality through the Central West Catchment Management Authority
- Mexican Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT)
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The amount and distribution of vegetation and ground cover are important factors that influence resource transfer (e.g. runoff, sediment) in patterned semi-arid landscapes. Identifying and describing these features in detail is an essential part of measuring and understanding ecohydrological processes at hillslope scales that can then be applied at broader scales. The aim of this study was to develop a comprehensive methodology to map ground cover using high resolution Quickbird imagery in woody and non-woody (pasture) vegetation. The specific goals were to: (1) investigate the use of several techniques of image fusion, namely principal components analysis (PCA), Brovey transform, modified intensity-hue-saturation (MIHS) and wavelet transform to increase the spatial detail of multispectral Quickbird data: (2) evaluate the performance of the red and near-infra-red bands (NIR), the difference vegetation index (DVI), and the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) in estimating ground cover, and (3) map and assess spatial and temporal changes in ground cover at hillslope scale using the most appropriate method or combination of methods. Estimates of ground cover from the imagery were compared with a subset of observed ground cover estimates to determine map accuracy. The MIHS algorithm produced images that best preserved spectral and spatial integrity, while the red band fused with the panchromatic band produced the most accurate ground cover maps. The patch size of the ground cover beneath canopies was similar to canopy size, and percent ground cover (mainly litter) increased with canopy size. Ground cover was mapped with relative accuracies of 84% in the woody vegetation and 86% in the pasture. From 2008 to 2009, ground cover increased from 55% to 65% in the woody vegetation and from 40% to 45% in the pasture. These ground cover maps can be used to explore the spatial ecohydrological interactions between areas of different ground cover at hillslope scale with application to management at broader scales. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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