Date of Award

4-2003

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Geography

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

The Landsat Thematic Mapper Satellite system has provided a unique platform for the study of natural and man-made features since 1972. This suite of sensors has become an important tool in assessing vegetation type and health over large areas of the earth. This paper reviews the Landsat Thematic Mapper’s ability to categorize wetlands using an unsupervised classification scheme. A preliminary exploration of an unsupervised classification of wetlands using soil engineering characteristics from the Natural Resource Conservation Service’s soil survey as a pseudo bandwidth is described. The result of this project suggests that when compared to the National Wetlands Inventory, a enhancement of the delineation by soil characteristics is a measurable improvement. It is argued that soil characteristics, if added as a pseudo bandwidth, are appropriate in the classification of wetlands.

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