Functionality of Hyperspectral Measurements in Vegetation Analysis: Comparison of Remote Sensing to Traditional Methods in the Alaskan Arctic
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Authors
Anderson, Erika M.
Issue Date
2001
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
This paper examines data collection through traditional methods as
compared to remote sensing for the purposes of vegetation analysis in a coastal
wet-sedge ecosystem in Barrow, Alaska. Vegetation mapping of a 100 meter
transect was used to ground-truth the remotely sensed hyperspectral data, with a
high degree of relatedness resulting. Although mosses, lichens, and vascular
plants show significant change in percent cover over the 2001 summer season,
the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), a spectral reflection index
describing pigments, shows the vascular plants to be most highly correlated to
the seasonal progression of the ecosystem. Mosses show high NDVI values and
lichens low NDVI values throughout the season, both with little alteration, while
vascular plants have much larger fluctuations, and correspond to seasonal
ecosystem NDVI. Vascular plants also show the strongest correlation between
NDVI and photosynthesis, whereas mosses and lichens have weaker correlation
and lower rates of photosynthesis. Furthermore, functional type and NDVI
differ with respect to microtopography; higher areas are often drier and covered
with lichens and non-graminoid vascular plants while lower areas are wetter and
dominated by mosses and graminoids, and generally give higher NDVI values.
Therefore, vascular plants, which tend to reside in wetter areas, are more affected
by seasonal warming with respect to percent cover, NDVI, and photosynthesis.
Thus, future remote sensing employing hyperspectral bands should focus on the
role of vascular plants, as they may be the most prominent indicators of
ecosystem change, particularly in the case of global warming.
Description
viii, 75 p.
Citation
Publisher
Kalamazoo College
License
U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written permission of the copyright holder.