Landsat-Assisted Environmental Mapping in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

摘要

This report presents a Landsat-derived land cover map of the northwest portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. The report is divided into two parts. The first is devoted to the land cover map with detailed descriptions of the mapping methods and legend. The second part is a description of the study area. The classification system used for the maps is an improvement over existing methods of describing tundra vegetation. It is a comprehensive method of nomenclature that consistently applies the same criteria for all vegetation units. It is applicable for large- and small-scale mapping and is suitable for describing vegetation complexes, which are common in the patterned-ground terrain of the Alaskan Arctic. The system is applicable to Landsat-derived land cover classifications. The description of the study area focuses on five primary terrain types: flat thaw-lake plains, hilly coastal plains, foothills, mountainous terrain, and river flood plains. Topography, landforms, soils and vegetation are described for each terrain type. The report also contains area summaries for the Landsat-derived map categories. The area summaries are generated for the five terrain types and for the 89 townships within the study areas. Two land cover maps at 1:250,000 are included.