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ARS Home » Northeast Area » University Park, Pennsylvania » Pasture Systems & Watershed Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #285204

Title: Monitoring grazinglands with satellite imagery

Author
item Goslee, Sarah

Submitted to: Society for Range Management Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/25/2012
Publication Date: 2/4/2013
Citation: Goslee, S.C. 2013. Monitoring grazinglands with satellite imagery. Society for Range Management Meeting Abstracts. Paper No. 0127.

Interpretive Summary: An interpretive summary is not required.

Technical Abstract: While Landsat data has been used to monitor primary production in range and pasture areas, such monitoring has generally been intended to track broad changes across multiple years. With an 8-day return time and 30m resolution, Landsat data can be used to assess intra-annual changes, even within rotationally-grazed paddocks. Such detailed monitoring requires careful attention to the correction of atmospheric effects and illumination angle; biases introduced by these factors can overwhelm the changes of interest. Two cases are of particular interest: standardizing images of a single site within a single growing season so that production can be tracked, and standardizing multiple scenes from a single date to enable comparison of multiple sites. A standardized procedure for tracking primary production in grazed systems has been developed and tested with retrospective data. This protocol has been largely automated for use across large areas and multiple times, and can be used in conjunction with 250m MODIS NDVI images to efficiently monitor regional and site changes in production, thereby improving both farm management and regional planning.