Detecting Landscape Changes in High Latitude Environments Using Landsat Trend Analysis: 1. Visualization
Date
2014
Authors
Fraser, Robert H.
Olthof, Ian
Kokelj, Steven V.
Lantz, Trevor C.
Lacelle, Denis
Brooker, Alexander
Wolfe, Stephen
Schwarz, Steve
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Remote Sensing
Abstract
Satellite remote sensing is a promising technology for monitoring natural and
anthropogenic changes occurring in remote, northern environments. It offers the potential to
scale-up ground-based, local environmental monitoring efforts to document disturbance
types, and characterize their extents and frequencies at regional scales. Here we present a
simple, but effective means of visually assessing landscape disturbances in northern
environments using trend analysis of Landsat satellite image stacks. Linear trends of the
Tasseled Cap brightness, greenness, and wetness indices, when composited into an RGB
image, effectively distinguish diverse landscape changes based on additive color logic.
Using a variety of reference datasets within Northwest Territories, Canada, we show that the trend composites are effective for identifying wildfire regeneration, tundra greening, fluvial
dynamics, thermokarst processes including lake surface area changes and retrogressive thaw
slumps, and the footprint of resource development operations and municipal development.
Interpretation of the trend composites is aided by a color wheel legend and contextual
information related to the size, shape, and location of change features. A companion paper
in this issue (Olthof and Fraser) focuses on quantitative methods for classifying these changes.
Description
Keywords
arctic, change detection, image stacks, disturbance, lakes, slumps, fires, environmental monitoring, cumulative impacts
Citation
Fraser, R. H., Olthof, I., Kokelj, S. V., Lantz, T. C., Lacelle, D., Brooker, A., Wolfe, S., & Schwarz, S. (2014). Detecting Landscape Changes in High Latitude Environments Using Landsat Trend Analysis: 1. Visualization. Remote Sensing, 6(11), 11533-11557. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs61111533.