One RS Image-registration Method in Rapidly Changing Areas: The Modern Yellow River Delta as a Case Study

摘要

It is well known to the geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) scientists that it is difficult to carry out the RS image-registration in areas where is absent of both enough cultural features for ground control points (GCPs) and topographic maps. Here, we summarized an image-to-image registration method with the multitemporal RS imagery of Landsat MSS and TM, which covered the modern Yellow River Delta. The Yellow River huge sediment flux and frequent shifts of the flowing route entering the sea have rapidly formed the modern Yellow River Delta. Due to most areas of the delta are composed of saline-alkali soil, the agriculture, industry and traffic developed very slowly before the early 1990s. Further, there were absent of both obvious features of geomorphology and landscape and enough topographic maps before the early 1990s. These conditions bring about great difficulty in the process of RS image-registration before the early 1990s. The successful application of the image-toimage registration summarized in this paper provides scientists an optional choice for RS-image-registration in rapidly changing areas.