# Presentation: 785247

## THE BIG PICTURE

**Mapping and monitoring the surface of Earth is critical to our wise use and protection of it.**
- remote sensing can help
- can cover large areas
- revisit often
- we must have ground reference data to verify what we see from satellites and create land cover maps
- How good are the maps we make from satellite imagery?
- accuracy assessment!

## WHY INVESTIGATE LAND COVER?

**It effects **
- what animals live in a certain place
- weather
- soil properties
- water chemistry
- flow of energy, water and chemicals
**Can indicate climate**
**Create and validate land cover maps**

## WHY INVESTIGATE LAND COVER?

**Maps are used to monitor**
- endangered plants, animals and habitats
- economic development
- land use
- fire fuel management
- cropland management
- wetland loss
- effects of environmental change in ecosystems
- other changes in land cover over time

## WHY INVESTIGATE LAND COVER?

**Biometry data:**
- assist monitoring the amount of nutrients, water and gases in vegetation
- understand Earth Systems
- nutrient cycles
- energy cycle
- hydrological cycle

## WHY INVESTIGATE LAND COVER?

**No other group in the world is collecting a uniform data set such as this. Therefore, GLOBE schools are providing unique, valuable information that will help scientists to better understand Earth.**

## REMOTE SENSING

**Definition: learning something about an object without making direct contact**
**Digital images**
- pixel size: **spatial resolution**
**size of the smallest object or area that can be distinguished from its surroundings**
**spectral resolution**: wavelengths
**LandSat 7: **30m x 30m blue, green, red, near infrared (IR) and two mid-IR, 60m x 60m thermal IR, 15m x 15m panchromatic

## REMOTE SENSING

**Watch GLOBE **
**Remote Sensing Video**
** ****now!**
**Follow up with Remote Sensing Presentation**

## MUC SYSTEM

_**M**_**odified **_**U**_**NESCO **_**C**_**lassification System**
- UNESCO: _U_nited _N_ations _E_ducational, _S_cientific and _C_ultural _O_rganization
- classify land cover worldwide
- 10 Level 1 classes: 8 natural and 2 developed
- Four levels in hierarchy
- over 160 total classes
**Classification systems**
- labels and definitions/rules
- hierarchical
- totally exhaustive
- mutually exclusive

## MUC SYSTEM

**Labels and definitions/rules**
- labels: names given to groups
- rules: specific instructions for assigning an item to a group
**Hierarchical**
- “layered” with each layer being more specific than the previous one
**Totally exhaustive**
- one class for every item
**Mutually exclusive**
- any item fits into one and only one class

## MUC SYSTEM

## MUC SYSTEM

## MUC SYSTEM

## MUC SYSTEM

- In order to simplify the** MUC System Table **and** MUC Glossary of Terms **or the** MUC Field Guide **for students, some teachers have modified them by eliminating some of the highly unlikely choices, i.e. glaciers and salt water in a land-locked desert community, xeromorphic (extremely dry) forests in a very humid environment, etc.

## MUC SYSTEM PRACTICE

**About 80% of the site is**
**covered by graminoid**
**(grass) and forb**
**(broad-leaved)**
**vegetation about 1**
**meter tall. It is 75%**
**graminoid and 25%**
**forb mix. Broadleaved**
**deciduous trees cover**
**about 15-20% of the**
**site.**

- 4213

## MUC SYSTEM PRACTICE

**You calculate a canopy**
**cover of 70% and note**
**that the crowns of trees**
**are not touching each**
**other.  The site is 80%**
**deciduous.  There are **
**not many climbers or**
**epiphytes in this area**
**and there are **
**evergreens. There is a **
**winter frost in the**
**unfavorable season.**
**The evergreen trees have**
**needle leaves.**

- 1222

## MUC SYSTEM PRACTICE

**You live in a lowland**
**temperate region. Your**
**land cover site is mostly **
**trees with the crowns **
**touching each other, **
**but about 20% of the **
**ground area has houses **
**on it. After measuring, **
**the canopy is 60% **
**hemisclerophyllous  **
**evergreen and 40% **
**deciduous mix.**

- 0161

## MUC SYSTEM PRACTICE

**After you perform your **
**canopy and ground cover**
**measurements, you **
**calculate that the canopy **
**cover is 20% and composed **
**of a single species of pine **
**tree (needle-leaved). Your **
**ground cover is 90%  **
**herbaceous vegetation. It **
**is composed of 85% **
**graminoid and 15% forb. **
**Most of the graminoid **
**vegetation is over 3 meters **
**tall.**

- 4110

## MEASUREMENT LOGISTICS

**Collect sample sites within the 15km x 15km Study Site**
**Biometry measurements to support MUC choices**
**Create land cover map of 15 km x 15km  Study Site**
**Assess accuracy of map, refine map**
**Compare change over time between two images, several years apart**

## WHEN TO MEASURE?

**Sample Sites and Biometry**
- if once, during the peak of the growing season
- if you will visit a site repeatedly
- once every year at the same time of year
- twice a year or more, once during the peak of the growing season and once during minimum growth (winter)
- depending on your research
**Mapping protocols **
- any time of year

- or

## LAND COVER FLOW CHART

**LAND COVER FLOW CHART**

## LAND COVER FLOW CHART