Application of Simulated Radarsat Sar Data in Land Use/Land Cover Mapping in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Laili Nordin
Department of Fisheries Malaysia
Department of Agriculture
Jalan Sultan Salahuddin
50632 Kula Lumpur
Ku Mohd Noh Ku Ramli
Malaysian center for remote sensing ( Macres)
Letter Box 208 Lot CB 100, 5th Floor
City Square Center, Jalan Tun Razak
50400 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Tel: 603-2645640 Fax : 603-3645646
Abstract
A pilot project investigation the capability of using simulated Radar set SAR data together with Landsat TM imagery and other relevant data in land use/land cover mapping is being out in Highlands are of Peninsular Malaysia.
This paper reports some results of the study that has being carried out in land use/land cover mapping to date. Ground data was collected on land use/land cover at a number of selected sites on high as well as low terrain area of Cameron Highland. Some of this features has been identified Radarsat SAR imagery : on the lower terrain of Cameron highland area, extensively occurring features such as oil palm plantations, rubber plantations, residential area, natural forest, tin mining areas including the ponds, and infrastructures such as north-south highway, main roads and railways line can also be recognized. However, on the high terrain, of Cameron Highlands, land use features that generally occurred as small units of high value vegetables and flowers cultivated in the valleys and tea plantations, could not be identified. It could be discriminated if radar data acquired at a steeper incidence angles. Therefore, more SAR data or digital contour data and further processing are required to test if smaller units of the land use features could be discriminated.
Introduction
Optical remote sensing data such as Landsat Thematic Mapper and SPOT have been successfully in curtains parts of Malaysia in a number of applications, particularly in land use/ land cover mapping, land use change detection etc. however, there are some limitations; difficulty in acquiring cloud-free imageries in a regular basis: and also difficulty in performing spectral classification for certain types of land use/land cover.
Radar remote sensing data has a number of advantages in comparison with optical remote sensing data: the radar data acquisition is not constrained by poor weather conditions . thus, radar data of site on observation can be captured at any time of the year. In additions, radar data differentiate between land use/land cover types with different surface roughness, volumetric backscattering and moisture regime. These parameters are use full in separating land use/land cover types.
A pilot project of using simulated radar sat SAR data, is being carried out, covering an area in Cameron Highlands District, with the objective of assessing the capability simulated radarsat data in mapping of land use/land cover. However, this paper only the preliminary findings of land/use cover mapping.
Objective
The objective of this study is to assess the suitability of simulated Radasat SAR data for land use/land cover mapping in high and low terrain of Cameron Highlands , Malaysia.
Study Area
The study area covers a portion of Cameron highlands District in the state of Pahang. It lies approximately along the track from a point at 101 30'E to a point at 3 43'N, 101 30'E which covers areas of approximately 2000km square, Appendix 1. the undulating terrain of the area covers a variety of information including forest types, land use for agriculture etc.
