P4.1
Soil Moisture Evaluation of the Long Island Central Pine Barrens Ecosystem
Michael A. Edwards, NOAA, SILVER SPRING, MD; and M. Winslow and D. R. Blake
ABSTRACT: The availability of satellite image archives - especially those on platforms with fine temporal resolution - has facilitated a varied assortment of change detection studies, as it relates to soil moisture assessment and vegetative stress. Based on increasing anthropogenic activities many of our natural resources, but equally the ecosystems that comprise these regions have been seriously affected. Certainly, with increasing anthropogenic activities, tremendous pressure and stress have been placed on the natural resources and ecosystem within the Long Island Central Pine Barrens (LICPB). A series of descriptive analysis which included transformed and simulated data manipulation was conducted in an attempt to understand, but more importantly, to evaluate and show the causality between the soil moisture regime, and the vegetative distribution within the LICPB; with the aid of passive remote sensing sensors, such as the LandSat (ETM+). The results obtained proved useful, but also showed where the changing soil moisture regime within this particular ecosystem affects the land cover, the various aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem, but more so the overall health of the LICPB. Soil moisture calculations were derived from standard volumetric applications, and were further substantiated by a series of indices such as the Moisture Stress Index (MSI),Soil Adjusted Vegetative Index (SAVI), Leaf Area Index (LAI),Global Vegetation Moisture Index (GVMI)and the Wetness Index (WI). Based on obtained volumetric surface soil moisture (θv(0-5cm)) values, significant correlation was noted between the textural classes, terrestrial resources, wetlands, aquatic resources, and varying eco-regions within the LICPB. The root mean square errors (RMSEs) for the measured and simulated surface soil moisture (θv(0-5cm)) values were noted in the range of 0.2 to 0.3. Further analysis showed where the upper soil moisture regime within the LICPB was temporally and spatially diverse, but also depicted marked differences between the various eco-regions within the study area. The data set, coupled with various graphical applications, further indicated a variance in vegetative indices, but more importantly, justified future concerns for the severely stressed ecosystems within the LICPB.
Poster Session 4, Advances in Remote Sensing and Data Assimilation in Hydrology
Thursday, 24 January 2008, 9:45 AM-11:00 AM, Exhibit Hall B
Next paper