A drainage system analysis evaluation of, and comparison between, Landsat-3 RBV, Landsat-5 TM and SPOT PA imageries covering the Central Macedonia district, Greece

Abstract

Abstract Landsat-3 RBV, Landsat-5 TM imageries and SPOT PA stereopair diapositives were visually interpreted for the purpose of finding the accuracy of certain morphometric variables of three drainage basin sample areas in Central Macedonia, North Greece, drawn separately from each of the above three types of satellite imageries and comparisons were made between the efficiency of drainage systems drawn from each of the above imageries and the drainage systems extracted from the available topographic maps of 1:50000 scale. The main findings were the following: (1) SPOT PA stereopair diapositives of 1:200000 scale can be used to map drainage systems to an order of magnitude slightly more than TM imagery of 1:125000 scale, but significantly more than RBV imagery of 1:125000 scale. This slight superiority of SPOT imagery over TM imagery implies that the greater spectral range of TM, compared with the shorter range of SPOT imageries, vastly outweighs the advantage of SPOT'S superior resolution, but not the sup...