COMBINING DEM PARAMETERS WITH LANDSAT MSS AND TM IMAGERY IN A GIS FOR MOUNTAIN GLACIER CHARACTERIZATION

The building of a glaciological database is explored as an answer to the management of multisource and multiscale information required for the study of mountain glacier variations. A prime source of information is remote sensing data, including satellite imagery. Topographic information is derived from the 1: 250 000 scale digital elevation model (DEM) of the Surveys and Mapping Branch of Energy Mines and Resources, Canada. The interfacing of a geographic information system (GIs) and an image analysis system (IAS) permits the inclusion of ancillary glaciological information in the automated sampling of training and test data for multispectral classification of Landsat MSS and TM imagery. The combination of visually and automatically classified covers increases the classification accuracy of MSS and TM data by 24% (kappa 0.61-0.85) and 13% (kappa 0.74-0.87), respectively. The Intergraph Standard Interchange Format (ISIF) vector DEM file is read with ARClInfo and interpolated in a raster format using a bivariate algorithm available in the triangular irregular network (TIN) module. Slope and aspect coverages are extracted from the raster DEM. The integration of satellite image classifications and DEM features in SPANS permits the subdivision of glacier basin covers into physiographic units. An example is presented for the ablation zone covers of the Columbia Icefield. © 1990 IEEE