An assessment of pans as landscape features in the north west province using remote sensing techniques.

[摘要] Pans are unique as wetlands in that they are shallow endorheic basins whicn displaymarked fluctuations in water depth and duration. They are significant sites of localecological diversity and particularly, an essential habitat for aquatic avifauna. In a reviewof pans as landscape features, pan morphology, initiation and propagation mechanisms and functioning as wetlands are discussedThe first step in building an inventory and classification of wetlands is the location ofsites. Satellite imagery is ideally suited to mapping broad level land cover and landuse. Inthis study Landsat TM data and image processing techniques are employed to locate pansof differing sizes, morphology and vegetation structure in a panfield,' in the North Westprovince.With the Landsat TM data available for this study it was possible to determine the locationand type, the surface extent of pans, whether or not they contained vegetation and to whatextent across their surfaces, and whether they contained water. It was not possible withthe vintage of Landsat™ data used to determine the plant communities associated withthe pans from spectral signatures of the vegetation.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand