Mapping Soil Sealing Using Earth Observation Technology
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National Soil Resources Institute Monitoring urban sealing from space The application of remote sensing to identify and measure changes in the area of soil prevented from carrying out functions by sealing Technical report of GIFTSS project BNSC/ITT/54, Defra code SP0541 Prepared by: Gavin Wood1 Steven Braganza2, Tim Brewer1, Mary Kampouraki1, Jim Harris1, Jacqueline Hannam1, Rodney Burton1 and Graham Deane2 1Cranfield University, School of Applied Sciences, Bedfordshire, MK43 0AL 2 Infoterra Ltd., Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 0NL August, 2006 2 Contents Executive summary .......................................................................................... 5 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 15 Overview ........................................................................................................... 15 The importance of soil....................................................................................... 15 The definition of soil sealing.............................................................................. 16 Monitoring requirements ................................................................................... 16 Work programme overview ............................................................................... 18 Report structure ................................................................................................ 19 2. Processing technology................................................................................... 21 Review of processing technology...................................................................... 21 Recommended processing chain...................................................................... 25 Summary........................................................................................................... 25 Processing flow ................................................................................................. 28 3. Mapping soil sealing - methodology ............................................................. 29 Land cover typology .......................................................................................... 29 Training the classifier ........................................................................................ 30 Class separability .............................................................................................. 32 Image classification........................................................................................... 34 Accuracy assessment ....................................................................................... 36 4. Mapping of soil sealing - results.................................................................... 38 Assessing classification accuracy ..................................................................... 41 The effect of parcel size on user accuracy........................................................ 42 The effect of land parcel aggregation on accuracy ........................................... 44 The accuracy of whole-sity estimates of sealing............................................... 46 Summary........................................................................................................... 47 End-note: statistical reporting on the area sealed............................................. 49 5. Operational feasibility: logistics and finance............................................... 52 Technology matching ........................................................................................ 52 Operational feasibility........................................................................................ 54 Operational costs .............................................................................................. 58 Metadata protocols............................................................................................ 60 6. Adding value to soil sealing maps ................................................................ 62 Assessing biodiversity potential in urban areas ................................................ 62 Assessing the effect of sealing on urban drainage............................................ 72 Assessing sealing and aesthetic value.............................................................. 78 7. Cost benefit of digital image classification .................................................. 86 Relative efficiency ............................................................................................. 86 Cost-benefit....................................................................................................... 87 8. Conclusions..................................................................................................... 90 The processing chain ........................................................................................ 90 Operational feasibility........................................................................................ 91 Cost benefit ....................................................................................................... 91 Adding value to soil sealing maps..................................................................... 91 Recommendations ............................................................................................ 92 9. References....................................................................................................... 94 10. Appendices.................................................................................................... 100 Appendix 1 – Baseline Map Production .......................................................... 102 Appendix 2 – Technology Matching ................................................................ 110 Appendix 3 – Extended report, ‘Operational Feasibility’.................................. 128 3 4 Monitoring soil sealing in the built environment using satellite remote sensing Executive summary Overview Urban development presents the greatest driver of soil loss due to sealing-over by buildings, pavement and transport infrastructure. To this end, soil sealing is recognised as one of the major threats to soil. The ability to monitor the rates, types and geo-spatial distribution of soil sealing is crucial to understanding the severity of pressure on soils and their impact on European and global socio-economic and environmental systems. The overall objective of this work was to test the feasibility of using space-derived information to support the Defra Soils Team (ST) in monitoring the extent and pattern of soil sealing. The rate and nature of sealing should be routinely measured in order for it to be managed to best effect. Monitoring soil sealing is intended to be a part of a national soil monitoring scheme and to inform policy creation. This report identifies appropriate Earth Observation (EO) technology and processing procedures to deliver a range of baseline and monitoring information, and assesses the practical scope for the routine use of EO information to support the delivery of the required tasks of the Defra ST1. The project was funded under the British National Space Centre’s GIFTSS2 programme with support from Defra. The importance of soil Increasingly, the importance of soil as a natural resource is recognised alongside that of air and water. Soil represents ‘natural capital’ that provides ecological capacity by delivering a range of functions including food and fibre production, biodiversity, environmental services, landscape and heritage, raw materials and physical platforms for the built environment (Wood et al., 2005). Protection and efficient allocation of soil resources is critical to sustainable development goals because of the long renewal times for soil systems, which make soil effectively a non-renewable resource. Defra ST has an across-Government responsibility for soil protection. There are a number of existing and anticipated policy developments which are related to soil protection, both directly (e.g. The First Soil Action Plan for England: 2004-2006; EC Communication on Soil Protection (2002); Soil Protection Framework Directive) and indirectly (e.g. CAP Reform Agreement: cross-compliance on Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition; Water Framework, Habitats, Birds, and Environmental Impact Directives). In view of these policy developments, and their likely monitoring requirements, Defra ST funded the National Soil Resources Institute (NSRI), Cranfield University to produce a summary review of the “potential of aerial and 1 http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/land/soil/ 2 Government Information From The Space Sector - http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/ 5 satellite remote sensing techniques for soil monitoring”. This report was presented to Defra ST in April 2004. It was concluded that one of the opportunities for remote sensing was in monitoring soil sealing, which is a key threat to soil and its capacity to carry out essential functions. The definition of soil sealing Soil sealing describes the covering over of soil through urban development. Although areas of ‘sealed’ soils are characterised by urban expansion, it is not sufficient to equate the area of soil sealed to urban land-use area. Soil that is sealed may be defined as being unable to perform the range of functions normally associated to it, other than support of urban infrastructure, i.e. a platform function. Perhaps a suitable qualification of whether a soil is sealed or not is to assess whether