The use of multispectral aerial video to determine land cover for hydrological simulations in small urban watersheds

Abstract

Airborne multispectral video was evaluated as a tool for obtaining urban land cover information for hydrological simulations. Land cover data was obtained for a small urban watershed in Tucson, Arizona using four methods: multispectral aerial video (2 meter and 4 meter pixel resolution), National High Altitude Photography (NHAP), multispectral satellite imagery from Systeme Pour l'Observation de la Terre (SPOT), and by conventional survey. A semi-automated land cover classification produced four classes: vegetation, buildings, pavement, and bare soil. The land cover data from each classification was used as input to a runoff simulation model. Runoff values generate by each simulation were compared to observed runoff. A chi-square goodness-of-fit test indicated that SPOT produced landcover data most similar to the conventional classification. In the curve number model, the SPOT data produced simulated runoff values most similar to observed runoff.