Remote sensing of forest conditions in northeastern Kansas--Research methods and limitations

Authors

James S. Aber, Hengchun Ye, Jaap Jan Zeeberg, and Kham N. Nang, Earth Science Department, Emporia State University, Emporia, KS 66801.
M. Duane Nellis, Office of the Dean, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506.

Abstract

The state of Kansas recently received a NASA EPSCoR grant, which includes a project to model rural resource systems (http://spot.geog.ksu.edu/~epscor/). The overall methology is based on remotely sensed datasets in combination with climatic data and landscape characteristics such as topography, drainage, and soils. Spring, summer, and autumn imagery from selected years will be the basis for analyzing rural resources with a special emphasis on identifying vegetation changes related to climatic events. Within this project, our role focuses on forest cover in the glaciated region of northeastern Kansas. Remnants of hardwood forest are preserved particularly along bluffs of the Missouri River valley. Our assumption is that interannual changes in forest conditions are primarily reflections of climatic conditions.

Landsat TM data will provide the necessary spatial and spectral resolution to examine relatively small forest parcels and to derive vegetation indices based on visible and infrared reflectivity of active leaves. Detailed studies will be conducted on forest at Ft. Leavenworth. Ground-based observations and aerial photos will provide information on forest composition and structure. Tree-ring samples will be collected as records of forest growth. Many ground-based observations are available that provide good spatial coverage for climatic variables. Selected weather stations are St. Joseph and Kansas City in Missouri, and Atchison and Leavenworth in Kansas. The principal limitation is lack of cloud-free Landsat imagery for spring and early summer in many years--the wet season. Thus, we have shifted our focus to three-season imagery for some years (1988 and 1994) and summer-only imagery in other years (1987 and 1990) for interannual comparisons of forest conditions.

Abstract for oral presentation at Kansas Academy of Science, annual meeting, 1997.

Return to NASA EPSCoR at Emporia State University.
Posted on 2 June 1998.