Project Summary Sheet

Project: Land Characteristics from Remote Sensing

Web Sites: http://sofia.usgs.gov/

Location (Subregions & Counties): Central Everglades (3), Southwest Coast/Big Cypress (6), Dade, Broward, Monroe

Funding (Source): USGS Geographic Analysis and Monitoring Program

Principal Investigator(s): John W. Jones; 703/648-5543; jwjones@usgs.gov

Project Personnel: Jeane-Claude Thomas; 703/648-6076; jcthomas@usgs.gov; Dan Sechrist 703/648-4808 dsechris@usgs.gov

Supporting Organizations: Everglades National Park

Associated / Linked Projects: -Tides & Inflows in Mangrove Ecotone Model Development -Jentor, Schaffranek, Langevin, Smith; Vegetation Resistance to Flow -Jenter and Schaffranek; -Evapotranspiration-German; -Aquatic Cycling of Mercury in the Everglades-Krabbenhoft; Sofia-Henkel; High Accuracy Elevation Data Collection-Desmond; Human-Induced Land Cover Change, Biophysical Responses, and Implications for Resource Management-Steyaert and Pielke

Overview & Status: To accurately simulate surface hydrology and other surface processes in South Florida, description of vegetation characteristics and their variation through space and time are important in understanding the role vegetation plays in removal of surface water, resistance to surface water flow, and water quality. The objective of this research is to develop and apply innovative remote sensing and geographic information system techniques to map the distribution of vegetation, vegetation characteristics, and related hydrologic variables such as evapotranspiration through space and over time.

Fieldwork for this effort has included the collection of high-resolution reflectance spectra for a great number of vegetation and land surfaces. Also, vegetation biomass and other structural characteristics have been sampled at intensive field study sites. Along with other ground data such as water level, elevation, and land cover type, these data are being used to test the efficacy of data fields and vegetation maps derived from the remotely sensed data.

Data from numerous airborne and satellite imaging systems have been georeferenced and pre-processed to facilitate data fusion and analysis. Databases of different temporal and spatial resolutions (depending on extent) that depict changes in vegetation amount and vigor (through vegetation indexes) have been developed for small areas like the Everglades Nutrient Removal project area and the entire South Florida region. A vegetation map of the Southern Inland Coastal System (SICS) model study area has been developed for the application of spatially distributed fields of vegetation flow resistance. A similar map has been produced for the Tides and Inflows to Mangroves of the Everglardes (TIME) study area. That preliminary map is currently being revised and refined. Data from several different remote-sensing systems and in situ data collections have been fused for the development of other map products to include vegetation density, surface reflectance, and inundated areas, as well as the development of visually enhanced satellite image maps. Several thousand copies have been printed of each of 3 satellite image maps of the region south of Lake Okeechobee. Two of those maps have been distributed electronically through the SOFIA website. The third will be distributed in the third quarter of 2002. Spatial analysis of derived vegetation and topographic variables is underway to address issues of scale important in aggregation for hydrodynamic modeling.

Needs & Products: The project supports the restoration and resource management efforts by providing critical information for field sampling design, hydrologic and ecological model parameterization, and land surface change monitoring. For example, project georeferenced and interpreted imagery is being used in the siting of additional point sampling efforts for meteorological data collection. Project outputs have improved hydrodynamic model results. Water resources and land management decisions will rely heavily on the output of the developed simulation models.

Application to Everglades Restoration: This project develops techniques, data sets, and understanding of Everglades land characteristics that contribute to model development for the forecasting Everglades system behavior as a function of restoration activities. The knowledge and data it generates also help establish the baseline information necessary to assess the impact of restoration activities and monitor their success.