Remote Sensing of Wetland Types: Temperate Bogs, Mires, and Fens

Abstract

In temperate regions, many bogs, mires, and fens have been subject to anthropogenic disturbance and hence are relatively small in extent and often fragmented. Two examples provided are the active raised upland and lowland bogs of Cors Caron and Cors Fochno in Wales, where the complexity of wetland vegetation and the surrounding landscape necessitates the use of Very High Resolution (VHR) sensor data, such as that provided by the Worldview Sensor. A range of spectral indices can be derived that indicate relative amounts of vegetation with different productivities, dead material, and water, which can also be used to infer vegetation distributions. An approach to classifying temperate wetlands has involved the use of a rule-based classification based that uses these indices as well as other spectral information and the Food and Agricultural Organization’s (FAO) Land Cover Classification System (LCCS).