Estimating dry grass residues using landscape integration analysis

Hart, Quinn J.; Ustin, Susan L.; Duan, Lian; Scheer, George

The acreage of grassland and grassland-savannah is extensive in California, making direct measurement and assessment logistically impossible. Grasslands cover the entire Central Valley up to about 1200 m elevation in the Coast Range and Sierra Nevada Range. Kuchler's map shows 5.35 M ha grassland with an additional 3.87 M ha in Oak savannah. The goal of this study was to examine the use of high spectral resolution sensors to distinguish between dry grass and soil in remotely sensed images. Spectral features that distinguish soils and dry plant material in the shortwave infrared (SWIR) region are thought to be primarily caused by cellulose and lignin, biochemicals which are absent from soils or occur as breakdown products in humid substances that lack the narrow-band features. We have used spectral mixing analysis (SMA) combined with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis to characterize plant communities and dry grass biomass. The GIS was used to overlay elevation maps, and vegetation maps, with the SMA results. The advantage of non-image data is that it provides an independent source of information for the community classification.

Document ID

19950017447

Acquisition Source

Legacy CDMS

Document Type

Conference Paper

Authors

Date Acquired

September 6, 2013

Publication Date

October 25, 1993

Publication Information

Publication: JPL, Summaries of the 4th Annual JPL Airborne Geoscience Workshop. Volume 1: AVIRIS Workshop

Subject Category

Accession Number

95N23867

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Public

Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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