HR: 1340h
AN: H23E-1170    [Abstracts]
TI: An Assessment Of Meso-Scale Hydraulic And Vegetation Characteristics Of The Middle Rio Grande River Using High Resolution Multispectral Airborne Imagery
AU: * Akasheh, O Z
EM: osama@cc.usu.edu
AF: Utah State University, Biological and Irrigation Engineering Dept. Old Main Hill, Logan, Ut 84322-4105 United States
AU: Neale, C M
EM: cneale@cc.usu.edu
AF: Utah State University, Biological and Irrigation Engineering Dept. Old Main Hill, Logan, Ut 84322-4105 United States
AB: Middle Rio Grande River (MRGR) is the main source of fresh water for the population of New Mexico as well as for irrigated agriculture. Extensive water diversion over the last few decades has affected the composition of the native Riparian vegetation such as Cottonwood population and enhanced the spread of introduced species harmful to the river system like Tamarisk and Russian Olives. High resolution airborne remote sensing is a powerful technique for riparian vegetation mapping and monitoring. Airborne multispectral digital images were acquired over the riparian corridor of the MRGR, New Mexico in June 1999 and July 2001, using the Utah State University (USU) airborne digital imaging system. The imagery were corrected for vignetting effects, geometric lens distortions, rectified to a map base, mosaicked, verified in the field, classified and checked for accuracy. Areas of the vegetation classes and in-stream features were extracted and presented per reach of the river. In this paper a relationship was developed between the total surface water area mapped and both the river water flow rate and water table readings. The consequence of this relationship on riparian vegetation distribution along the river was studied and graphically demonstrated. Strong relationship was found between the total surface water area and water flow rate. In addition the reduction in surface water area resulted in reduction of native trees downstream.
DE: 1818 Evapotranspiration
DE: 1851 Plant ecology
DE: 1860 Runoff and streamflow
DE: 1640 Remote sensing
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting