Vegetation Map for SICS Study Area

A vegetation-classification scheme has been developed specifically to serve as the basis for quantifying hydrologic processes in the SICS model. Vegetation classes need to be defined in order to evaluate frictional-resistance, wind-stress, and evapotranspiration effects within the SICS model domain. Twenty land-cover classes, derived from 1997 Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery, were subsequently combined into seven vegetation classes and one water class using field information on vegetative composition and structure as well as extensive ground-truth observations in order to develop the vegetative map. The seven vegetation classes are: sawgrass, sawgrass/bunchgrass, sawgrass/rush, rush/other, evergreen, mangrove/Buttonwood, and mangrove/water. These vegetation classes are currently serving as the basis for quantifying hydrologic processes within the SICS model; however, they are being further analyzed and refined, as needed, using more recent Landsat imagery and ground-truth data. Other remote sensing data and image analysis techniques are also under investigation to further delineate vegetation characteristics for improving hydrologic process correlation.

These correlation analyses are contributing to the ongoing extension of the SICS model to a model domain fully encompassing Tides and Inflows in the Mangroves of the Everglades (TIME). The classification techniques and approach used to develop this vegetation map are described in the paper, "Classification of Vegetation for Surface-Water Flow Models in Taylor Slough, Everglades National Park", by Carter, et. al. (above).  Below are copies of the vegetation map (.tfw and .tif) and an exported ARC/INFO grid. They contain 30 meter cells in the UTM, Zone 17 map projection in the NAD83 datum. For more information on this map, please visit the TIME website at time.er.usgs.gov.

• Exported ARC/INFO grid
• Georeferenced .tfw file
• Georeferenced TIFF image
• View the metadata record for this map

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