Space Grant Undergraduate Remote Sensing Research in Urban Growth near Mobile Bay, Alabama

During late 2009, four Tennessee Space Grant undergraduate researchers began a remote sensing investigation of urban growth southeast of Mobile Bay, Alabama. They selected the study area in consultation with the Marshall Space Flight Center Earth Science Office, and they share the study area with a multi-institution NASA-funded project exploring the application of remotely sensed data and related models to conservation and restoration along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast. In the first phase of the Space Grant investigation, four undergraduate researchers used a November 7, 2009 Landsat scene to map developed land near Mobile, Alabama. They used supervised and unsupervised classification to map developed land in two areas: 10 miles southeast of Mobile along U.S. Route 98 between Daphne and Fairhope, Alabama, and 25 miles southeast of Mobile near Foley, Alabama. Visual comparison of their map with the circa 2001 National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) revealed urban growth in both areas. In the year ahead, Space Grant undergraduates will explore ways to improve their map by incorporating ancillary vector data and images. They will also collect reference data on the ground, and then they will use ground-based reference data and air photos to assess map accuracy. As an ultimate goal, the Space Grant undergraduates seek to compare their results with those of the larger multi-institution project. The Space Grant investigation will lead to a better understanding of the potential for undergraduate interaction with a large NASA-funded remote sensing applications project.