LANDSAT 7, OBTAINED FROM THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE REMOTE SENSING IMAGE ARCHIVE

Figure 1. This January 2002 Landsat 7 image of South Florida reveals a variety of land uses and infrastructure in and around Everglades and Biscayne national parks and Big Cypress National Preserve, including farming, water conservation and control, residential development, roads, levees and canals, and the coastal metropolis of Miami-Dade counties. Analysis of a time series of images from sensors on board this and other satellites can assist park managers in detecting changes in land use and ecosystem conditions.

Remotely sensed data are well established as valuable sources of information for natural resource managers. Now, the accumulation of multi-decadal historical records, implementation of new sensors, and developments in analytical techniques are driving a rapid expansion in the application of remotely sensed data. Time series of images are used to analyze landscape-scale changes in natural resources, while data from high-resolution sensors can be used to detect and quantify small changes in topography, map plant species or even individual plants, or measure flows of nutrients and energy that alter plant growth and affect fire risk (fig. 1). Several recent reviews document the broad range of applications of remotely sensed data to support conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem management, and to evaluate broader issues of land use change (Kerr and Ostrovsky 2003; Turner et al. 2003; Hansen et al. 2004). Some of these applications can directly support monitoring and management needs in units of the National Park System, including high-priority areas of monitoring landscape dynamics, invasive species, and other disturbances.

“Remotely sensed data.… can directly support monitoring and management needs in units of the National Park System.”