Interpretation of forest harvest conditions in New Brunswick using Landsat TM enhanced wetness difference imagery (EWDI)

Clearcut, partial harvest, and silvicultural forest stand conditions in New Brunswick over a one-year period (1997-1998) are described with the visual interpretation of differences in Tasseled Cap transformation of two Landsat Thematic Mapper images. An enhanced wetness difference image (EWDI) display was used to create examples of changes that were related to known change conditions on the ground: we interpreted distinctive patterns in the normal colour composites and the EWDI associated with clearcutting, shelterwood and seed tree harvesting, strip cutting and group selection cuts, precommercial and commercial thinning. Our interpretation suggests that these forest stand treatments and the resulting spectral patterns could be the basis for development of a classification method or potentially an automated detection/monitoring system.