Open AccessRemote Sensing of Vegetation Recovery in Grasslands after the 1988 Yellowstone Fires in Yellowstone National Park
Author(s) -
Evelyn H. Merrill,
Cathy J. Wilson,
R. W. Marrs
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
annual report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2693-2407
pISSN - 2693-2385
DOI - 10.13001/uwnpsrc.1990.2921
Subject(s) - rangeland , biomass (ecology) , remote sensing , vegetation (pathology) , environmental science , national park , ecosystem , scale (ratio) , satellite , satellite imagery , ecology , geography , physical geography , agroforestry , cartography , biology , engineering , medicine , pathology , aerospace engineering
Traditional methods for measurement of vegetative biomass can be time-consuming and laborÂintensive, especially across large areas. Yet such estimates are necessary to investigate the effects of large scale disturbances on ecosystem components and processes. One alternative to traditional methods for monitoring rangeland vegetation is to use satellite imagery. Because foliage of plants differentially absorbs and reflects energy within the electromagnetic spectrum, remote sensing of spectral data can be used to quantify the amount of green vegetative biomass present in an area (Tucker and Sellers 1986).