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Remote Sensing of Water in Wetlands: Inundation Patterns and Extent

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The Wetland Book

Abstract

Seasonally varying inundation extent and duration are key properties of wetlands, but are poorly quantified, particularly in tropical, boreal, and coastal regions. Optical sensors such as Landsat are limited by cloud cover, although sensors such as MODIS, with high repeat frequency, partly compensate for this limitation. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors are insensitive to cloud cover, and at longer wavelengths (C-band and L-band) are capable of detecting water beneath vegetation canopies. Time series of SAR data are effective for monitoring seasonal inundation dynamics, and combinations of different SAR wavelengths and polarizations can discriminate vegetation structure. Optical, SAR, and passive microwave sensors are being employed at global scale to characterize the role of wetlands in global hydrologic and biogeochemical cycles.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E California Blvd, 91125, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Bruce Chapman

  2. Earth Research Institute, University of California, 6th Floor Ellison Hall, 93106, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Laura Hess

  3. Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, SY23 2EJ, Aberystwyth, UK

    Richard Lucas

Authors
  1. Bruce Chapman
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  2. Laura Hess
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  3. Richard Lucas
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Bruce Chapman , Laura Hess or Richard Lucas .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Ecology and Biodiversity, Charles Sturt University Inst. for Land, Water and Society, Albury, New South Wales, Australia

    C. Max Finlayson

  2. Great Somerford, Wiltshire, United Kingdom

    Mark Everard

  3. Chair of Aquatic Ecosystems, UNESCO-IHE Chair of Aquatic Ecosystems, Delft, The Netherlands

    Kenneth Irvine

  4. RM Wetland & Environment Ltd. , Littleworth, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

    Robert J. McInnes

  5. USGS National Wetlands Research Center , Lafayette, Louisiana, USA

    Beth A. Middleton

  6. Dept. of Water Science and Engineering, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education Dept. of Water Science and Engineering, Delft, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands

    Anne A. van Dam

  7. Charles Sturt University , Albury, New South Wales, Australia

    Nick C. Davidson

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© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Chapman, B., Hess, L., Lucas, R. (2016). Remote Sensing of Water in Wetlands: Inundation Patterns and Extent. In: Finlayson, C., et al. The Wetland Book. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6172-8_317-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6172-8_317-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6172-8

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