Microwave Remote Sensing of Palm Swamp Distribution and Flooding Status in Regions of the Upper Amazon Basin of Northern Peru

Erika Podest, JPL, erika.podest@jpl.nasa.gov (Presenter)
Kyle McDonald, CCNY, kmcdonald2@ccny.cuny.edu
Ronny Schroeder, JPL, ronny.schroeder@jpl.nasa.gov
Naiara Pinto, University of Maryland, npinto@umd.edu
Reiner Zimmermann, University of Hohenheim, dr.reiner.zimmermann@uni-hohenheim.de
Viviana Horna, University of Bayreuth, vhorna@gwdg.de

Palm swamp wetlands are widespread in the Amazon basin, including large regions in northern Peru. These ecosystems form where seasonal flooding is moderate but surface inundation remains constant. The combination of permanently saturated soils, warm temperature year-round, and low oxygen soils can lead to a large carbon release to the atmosphere. Because of the widespread occurrence and expected sensitivity of these ecosystems to climate change, it is crucial to develop methods to quantify their spatial extent and inundation state in order to assess their carbon dynamics. Precise information on palm swamps is difficult to gather because of their remoteness and difficult accessibility. Spaceborne microwave remote sensing is an effective tool for characterizing these ecosystems since it is sensitive to surface water and vegetation structure and it allows monitoring large inaccessible areas on a temporal basis regardless of atmospheric conditions or solar illumination.

We are developing a remote sensing methodology using microwave data to determine palm swamp distribution and inundation state over sub-regions in northern Peru where ground data is available. Two types of multi-temporal microwave data are used: 1) high-resolution (100 m) data from the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array L-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) to derive maps of palm swamp extent, density and seasonal inundation and 2) coarse resolution (25 km) combined active and passive microwave data from AMSR-E and QuikSCAT to derive inundation extent on a weekly basis. The synergistic combination of high and low resolution datasets allow for characterization of palm swamps and assessment of their flooding status.

This work has been undertaken partly within the framework of the JAXA ALOS Kyoto & Carbon Initiative. PALSAR data have been provided by JAXA. Portions of this work were carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Presentation Type:  Poster

Session:  Other   (Tue 11:30 AM)

Associated Project(s): 

• Podest, Erika: Remote Sensing of Palm Swamp Distribution and Flooding Status in the Amazon Basin for Assessing Carbon Dioxide and Methane Release ...details

Poster Location ID: 276