Assessment of acreage and vegetation change in Florida's Big Bend tidal wetlands using satellite imagery
By: Ellen A. Raabe and Richard P. Stumpf
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Abstract
Fluctuations in sea level and impending development on the west coast of Florida have aroused concern for the relatively pristine tidal marshes of the Big Bend. Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images for 1986 and 1995 are processed and evaluated for signs of change. The images cover 250 km of Florida's Big Bend Gulf Coast, encompassing 160,000 acres of tidal marshes. Change is detected using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and land cover classification. The imagery shows negligible net loss or gain in the marsh over the 9-year period. However, regional changes in biomass are apparent and are due to natural disturbances such as low winter temperatures, fire, storm surge, and the conversion of forest to march. Within the marsh, the most prominent changes in NDVI and in land cover result from the recovery of mangroves from freezes, a decline of transitional upland vegetation, and susceptibility of the marsh edge and interior to variations in tidal flooding.
Study Area
| Publication type | Book |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Conference publication |
| Title | Assessment of acreage and vegetation change in Florida's Big Bend tidal wetlands using satellite imagery |
| Year Published | 1997 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Environmental Research Institute of Michigan |
| Publisher location | Ann Arbor, MI |
| Contributing office(s) | St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center |
| Description | 10 p. |
| Larger Work Title | Proceedings of the fourth international conference on remote sensing for marine and coastal environments: technology and applications |
| First page | 84 |
| Last page | 93 |
| Conference Title | Fourth international conference on remote sensing for marine and coastal environments: technology and applications |
| Conference Location | Orlando, FL |
| Conference Date | 1997-03-17T00:00:00 |
| Country | United States |
| State | Florida |
| Other Geospatial | Big Bend |
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