Extraction of fractional cover from spaceborne hyperspectral data for rangeland monitoring

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Rangeland occupies 47% of the Earth's land surface and represents a major source of food production. There are 40 million acres of native rangeland in western Canada. Rangeland is crucial to sustain soil quality, enhance the availability of clean water, sequester carbon dioxide and maintain biodiversity. Improper rangeland management practices can cause severe degradation that can lead to irreversible changes of this ecosystem. There is an urgent need for timely information on the state of rangeland for the protection of these resources and long-term sustainability.The project's goal is to map fractional (percent) cover of surface material such as green and dead vegetation and soil from high-spectral resolution satellite data for monitoring rangeland in Alberta. For this purpose, specific remote sensing technologies will be developed to derive to the fractional products. They will directly act as important inputs for the rangeland management and, subsequently, will help to reduce the cost of rangeland monitoring and assessment and provide timely input for decision making by various levels of government. These products also provide the necessary support to properly manage this fragile ecosystem over time for optimization of economic and social values to ensure its long-term sustainability. The developed technologies will reach far beyond rangeland monitoring, benefiting other applications, such as climate change, geological mapping and forestry monitoring, where repeated large-scale mapping as provided by satellite systems is required. In addition, the research program provides important training opportunities for students at the leading edge of remote sensing related to an ecosystem important for our society.