This paper presents a new drought assessment method by spatially and temporally integrating temperQ2 ature vegetation dryness index (TVDI) with regional water stress index (RWSI) based on a synergistic approach. With the aid of LANDSAT TM/ETM data, we were able to retrieve the land-use and land-cover (LULC), vegetation indices (VIs), and land surface temperature (LST), leading to the derivation...

MODIS enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and land surface temperature (LST) are key indicators for monitoring vegetation cover changes in broad ecosystems. However, there has been little evaluation of these indices for detecting changes in a range of land covers in tropical regions. In this study, we investigated the characteristics and seasonal responses of LST and EVI for four different land cov...

Although geographic object based image analysis (GEOBIA) has been successfully applied to derive local maps (1-10s km) from very high spatial resolution (VHR) image data (pixels < 1.0 x 1.0 m), its potential for automatically mapping large areas remains unknown. The aim of this study was to create and apply a GEOBIA method to automatically map land cover classes in subsets with different enviro...

This research examines the relationship between surface kinetic temperature (SKT), land cover, and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for a small city in the Midwestern United States. Color aerial photography was examined to create high resolution maps of land cover for 377 random quadrats. Average NDVI for each quadrat was determined from hyperspectral aerial imagery, whereas th...

Vegetation plays a key role in reducing ambient temperature, moisture and pollutant capture, energy use and subsequent ground level ozone reduction. In recent years vegetation mapping has become increasingly important, especially with advancements in environmental economic valuation. The spatial information from the remote sensing satellites enables researchers to quantify and qualify the amoun...

The factors that influence tephra layer taphonomy are poorly understood, but vegetation cover is likely to play a role in the preservation of terrestrial tephra deposits. The impact of vegetation on tephra layer preservation is important because: 1) the morphology of tephra layers could record key characteristics of past land surfaces and 2) vegetation-driven variability in tephra thickness cou...

The degradation rate of Mediterranean steppes, especially in North Africa is 1% per year, and this considered a high  rate of degradation. This study conducted in 2014 in the south slope of the Al-Jabal Al-Akhdar, northeast Libya to quantify the vegetation recovery rate and assess selected Vegetation Indices (VIs) for mapping rangelands degradation status using remote sensing technology. Throug...

This study analyzed more than 50 years of land cover and land use changes in the 260 km 2 Koga catchment in North Western Ethiopia. The data used includes 1:50,000 scale aerial photographs, Landsat MSS, TM and ETM images, and ASTER images together with ground truth data collected through field surveys and community elders’ interviews. Aerial photographs have high spatial resolution but provide ...

The paper presents results of a comparative study of the vegetation-caused elevation bias of the space shuttle topographic mission data product, both Cand X-band (SRTM.C/X). The SRTM.C/X bands data were compared against a high-resolution digital terrain model. Pixel-based differences in SRTM.X minus SRTM.C were correlated with land cover (‘agriculture’, ‘house’, ‘tree’, ‘water’). Findings of th...