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Title: Radar Monitoring of Wetland Hydrology: Dynamic information for the Assessment of Ecosystem Services

Author
item Lang, Megan
item McCarty, Gregory
item Sadeghi, Ali
item Hively, Wells - Dean
item ECKLES, DIANE - USDA NRCS

Submitted to: International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/6/2008
Publication Date: 12/22/2008
Citation: Lang, M.W., McCarty, G.W., Sadeghi, A.M., Hively, W.D., Eckles, D.S. 2008. Radar monitoring of wetland hydrology: Dynamic information for the assessment of ecosystem services. In: Proceedings of the International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, July 7-11, 2009, Boston, Massachusetts. p. I261-I264.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data can improve the ability to map forested wetlands via the monitoring of forested wetland hydrology, but further research is necessary to fully quantify the benefits and limitations of this approach [1], especially at the watershed scale. Research has been conducted which supports the use of C-band SAR to map and monitor Mid-Atlantic forested wetlands [1], [2]. A forested wetland time series demonstrating characteristic variations in hydrology throughout the leaf-off season (2005-2006) has been developed for the Tuckahoe Watershed, Maryland to better represent the dynamic nature of this ecosystem. Forested wetland maps were compared with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Wetlands Inventory (NWI), the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO), and in situ data. The radar derived forested wetland maps and the NWI wetland maps showed a high level of agreement (88%). The radar derived forested wetland maps and SSURGO demonstrated a lower level of agreement (54%), primarily due to a greater estimate of hydric soils by SSURGO than forested wetlands by the radar derived maps. Wetland hydrology maps created during for the winter, early spring, and late spring showed a natural progression of increasing levels of flooding and soil moisture with the winter map having the least (11%) and the early spring map (15%) having the greatest amount of areas with wetland hydrology.