Land cover analysis with high-resolution multispectral satellite imagery and its application for CO2 flux estimations

Abstract

The global warming caused by CO2 greenhouse effect becomes a world wide critical issue nowadays. In order to make suitable and sustainable policies for fully managing and monitoring the CO2 emission and reduction, the identification of CO2 volume and spatial distribution is highly crucial for the local environmental authorities. Therefore, an indirect measurement method using land cover classes and their CO2 emission estimation per unit area driven from the sample survey or statistical analysis was proposed in this chapter. To prove the feasibility, Boryeong and Yoengi cities in South Korea were selected as the two test sites, and CO2 emission maps covering these areas were produced using the proposed method. One of the key factors for a successful mapping of CO2 emission was to produce an accurate land cover map over the test site. To achieve this, the Rapideye satellite imagery with characteristics of high-resolution and multispectral was chosen as the main data source for land cover analysis. Together with the SPOT satellite images and GIS land-use data, the accurate land cover map was created. The emission ratio of each land cover type was subsequently applied on the land cover map to produce CO2 emission map and also estimate the total CO2 flux.