Forest Cover Mapping in French Guiana since 1992 Using Satellite Radar Imagery

摘要

Forest cover in entire French Guiana was mapped and changes monitored using C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from the ESA satellites. Three SAR ortho-rectified mosaics from 1992/1993, 2003/2004, and 2006/2007 were compiled. The areas of land cover classes were validated with an independent sample from optical satellite imagery (Landsat for around 1990 and Spot for 2006). The forest area showed a slight decrease, which was mainly caused by building of a water reservoir in the late 1990's. C-band SAR is applicable for the wall-to-wall mapping of forest cover but the reference data should be improved. A specific very high resolution optical satellite mission is proposed for this purpose.