Intra-Annual Variations in LULC As Derived From Resoucesat-2 AWIFs Multi-Temporal Data

Timely and reliable information on spatial extent, distribution and temporal behavior of land use/cover is a pre- requisite for optimal land use planning leading to sustainable development. By virtue of synoptic coverage at regular intervals space-borne multi-spectral data offer immense potential in providing information on LULC at various spatial and temporal and scales. The study reported here aims at deriving information on LULC over part of Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh state, northern India with mountainous terrain and complex topography and snowfall, using three-cropping season : kharif (monsoon), rabi (winter), and zaid (summer) Resourcesat-2 Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFs) data. The approach involves geo- referencing of three-cropping season satellite data and radiometric normalization followed by image analysis using Gaussian maximum likelihood classifier (MLC) for deriving information on land use/ cover categories. A cursorily look at the three-season satellite data reveals the following: With respect to cropland (kharif-crop),at the time of satellite overpass, only few pockets of late sown / long duration kharif crops were there in the field. In fact, the ideal period for satellite data acquisition for delineation of kharif-crop is mid-to-the end of the September. The Rabi crop is seen vividly in bright-red color in the March image. Due to lack of assured irrigation very small area is put under summer crops that has been captured well in the May image. The forests are conspicuous in all the three-season data by their dark red color. Amongst three season images, the March month image has shown maximum snow cover followed by May and November. The melting snow and grassland are portrayed in bright white and dull red color in the May image.