USGS TerraWeb: Remote Sensing & Sonoma Bay Wetlands Restoration Study

Use of Remote Sensing to Study and Monitor Wetland Restoration at the
Sonoma Baylands in San Francisco Bay

Under the United States Geological Survey's (USGS) San Francisco Bay Program there have been several studies dealing with changes in and around the bay waters. The studies involved investigating loss, health, and monitoring of wetlands, including studying changes over time at a wetland restoration site that is under way in Northern San Pablo Bay near the mouth of the Petaluma River. Studying and monitoring wetland habitats in the bay area is important because during the past 150 years there has been a loss of 95% of historic fresh and saltwater tidal marshes in the region, leaving only 125 square kilometers of tidal wetlands that are threatened by both human and natural processes (Dingler and others). To help understand some of the processes that can affect wetlands, and help with the scientific understanding of such habitats in general, the USGS is involved in scientific studies of an area in the Bay that was previously diked agricultural and is currently being restored to a wetland. The Sonoma Baylands restoration project in the Bay area includes several federal, state, and local government agencies (Dingler and others).

The project component presented in this web page deals with the investigation of using remotely sensed images, in digital format, to help monitor changes within the restoration site. The parameters that were of interest for monitoring were sedimentation of the restoration site waters and erosion of the small channels connecting the Bay and restoration site. The project included looking at both digital satellite images and digitized aerial photography. However, it became clear early on that due to the size of the features of interest, particularly the small drainage channels, not only was the spatial resolution of the satellite images generally too low (30-meter), but that ground-based digital photographs should also be included. Shown below are examples of the three different types of images used in our investigation and a short discussion on their applicability for monitoring the restoration site.


Digital Satellite Images	Digitized Aerial Photographs	Ground-Based Digital Camera Photographs

Project Team:
Pat S. Chavez, Jr.	Remote Sensing Scientist/ Team Leader
Miguel G. Velasco	Image Processor
Stuart C. Sides	Computer Scientist
Deborah L. Soltesz	Web Page Design

Related Pages

Up to Coastal and Marine Remote Sensing Research and Applications

For more information contact:
Pat S. Chavez, Jr. Email: pchavez@usgs.gov U.S. Geological Survey 2255 N. Gemini Dr. Flagstaff, AZ 86001 Tel: (520) 556-7221 FAX: (520) 556-7169
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Last Modified: Thu Oct 31 15:12:08 MST 2002

Pat S. Chavez, Jr.