SATELLITE REMOTE SENSINGS OF LAND COVER AND IMPERVIOUS SURFACE OF THE ST. CROIX RIVER BASIN

Marvin Bauer, Jay Whitmore, Adam Berland, Trent Erickson
University of Minnesota

Land cover and land use are critical drivers of environmental change and improved information and understanding of their spatial and temporal dynamics is essential for effective land and water management and policy. Impervious surface area is a key component of land cover-use and an important indicator of environmental quality, affecting stormwater runoff to streams and lakes and water quality of surrounding lakes and streams, urban heat island effects, habitat degradation and fragmentation, and aesthetics of landscapes.

Over large geographic areas classification of multispectral satellite imagery provides an effective means to map and monitor land cover. This presentation will describe the early results of classifications of Landsat Thematic Mapper data acquired in 2007 of the St. Croix River Basin of Minnesota and Wisconsin. The data, available in a GIS web-based mapping application, will provide current maps and statistics of the spatial patterns of land cover and impervious area for use as inputs to land use planning and policy and hydrology, stormwater and water quality models.