Abstract
Wetland managers, citizens and government leaders are observing rapid changes in coastal wetlands and associated habitats around the Great Lakes Basin due to human activity and climate variability. SAR and optical satellite sensors offer cost effective management tools that can be used to monitor wetlands over time, covering large areas like the Great Lakes and providing information to those making management and policy decisions. In this paper we describe ongoing efforts to monitor dynamic changes in wetland vegetation, surface water extent, and water level change. Included are assessments of simulated Radarsat Constellation Mission data to determine feasibility of continued monitoring into the future. Results show that integration of data from multiple sensors is most effective for monitoring coastal wetlands in the Great Lakes region. While products developed using methods described in this article provide valuable management tools, more effort is needed to reach the goal of establishing a dynamic, near-real-time, remote sensing-based monitoring program for the basin.
Highlights
The Great Lakes Basin is the largest surface freshwater reserve on Earth, containing about 90 percent of North America’s and 20 percent of the Earth’s surface fresh water
While the comparison showed very little change between most land normalized digital surface models (nDSM) from SharedGeo (B), wetland classification from MTRI overlaid stereo-derived topographic position index (TPI) (C), and the resulting land cover classification including emergent, scrub/shrub, and forested wetlands (D). vegetation doubled in area from 4.5 cover classes, we found that the extent of the aquatic land cover classification including emergent, scrub/shrub, and forested wetlands (D)
It seems that change in incidence angles and resolution did not affect coherence in Cattail or Cattail/Phragmites dominated marsh, the small size of wetlands in the Bay of Quinte may not be accurately represented by coarse resolution
Summary
The Great Lakes Basin is the largest surface freshwater reserve on Earth, containing about 90 percent of North America’s and 20 percent of the Earth’s surface fresh water. As the nexus between land and the lakes, the coastal wetlands of the region are relatively small, comprising less than 1% of the area of the basin They have a small spatial extent, their size is disproportionate to the significant role they play in the overall health of the Great Lakes system. Located between the United States of America and Canada, these wetlands provide significant services to both countries including water filtration, protection against erosion, and a variety of ecosystem services [1]. They provide habitat and breeding grounds for myriad of birds, mammals, herptiles, and invertebrates [2].
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