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Characterization and Monitoring of Tundra-Taiga Transition Zone with Multi-sensor Satellite Data

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Eurasian Arctic Land Cover and Land Use in a Changing Climate

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Abstract

Monitoring the dynamics of the circumpolar boreal forest (taiga) and Arctic tundra boundary is important for understanding the causes and consequences of changes observed in these areas. Because of the inaccessibility and large extent of this zone, remote sensing data can play an important role for the purposes. In this study, climate-related changes that occurred in the Ary-Mas larch forests (the world’s northernmost forest range) in the last three decades of the twentieth century were analyzed. An analysis of Landsat images in 1973 and 2000 has provided evidence for an increase in the closeness of larch forest canopy by 65% and the expansion of larch to the tundra for 3–10 m per year and to areas relatively poorly protected from wind due to topographic features (elevation, azimuth, and slope). It was found that a tundra-taiga transitional area can be characterized using multi-spectral Landsat ETM+ summer images, multi-angle MISR red band reflectance images, RADARSAT images with larger incidence angle, or multi-temporal and multi-spectral MODIS data. Because of different resolutions and spectral regions covered, the transition zone maps derived from different data types were not identical, but the general patterns were consistent.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of Maryland, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, USA

    Guoqing Sun

  2. Biospheric Sciences Branch, NASA/GSFC, Code 923, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, USA

    Guoqing Sun

  3. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, USA

    Kenneth J. Ranson

  4. V.N. Sukachev Institute of Forest, SB RAS, Academgorodok, 50, 660036, Krasnoyarsk, Russia

    Viatcheslav I. Kharuk, Sergey T. Im & Mukhtar M. Naurzbaev

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  1. Guoqing Sun
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  2. Kenneth J. Ranson
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  3. Viatcheslav I. Kharuk
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  4. Sergey T. Im
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  5. Mukhtar M. Naurzbaev
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Correspondence to Guoqing Sun .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. NASA Headquarters, E. Street, SW 300, Washington, 20546, District of Columbia, USA

    Garik Gutman

  2. University of Helsinki, Department of Physics, iLEAPS International Project Office, Erik Palmenin aukio 1 2a, Helsinki, 00014, Finland

    Anni Reissell

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Sun, G., Ranson, K.J., Kharuk, V.I., Im, S.T., Naurzbaev, M.M. (2010). Characterization and Monitoring of Tundra-Taiga Transition Zone with Multi-sensor Satellite Data. In: Gutman, G., Reissell, A. (eds) Eurasian Arctic Land Cover and Land Use in a Changing Climate. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9118-5_4

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