Jacek Siry, University of Georgia, email@example.com (Presenter)
Pete Bettinger, University of Georgia, firstname.lastname@example.org
Krista Merry, University of Georgia, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, email@example.com
JM Bowker, USFS Southern Research Station, firstname.lastname@example.org
We assess the amount of urban land that is available for planting and development of carbon projects in select U.S. cities. We rely on SPOT 4/5 imagery provided by satellites managed by Spot Image, based in Toulouse, France. The products produced from this satellite imaging program have a spatial resolution of 2.5 m and 5 m (in panchromatic mode), 10 m (in multispectral mode), and 20 m (in infrared mode). This spatial resolution is smaller than what can be obtained using Landsat satellite images, yet larger than what can be obtained using contemporary digital orthophotographs. The spectral resolution of all three groups of products (Landsat, SPOT, and digital orthophotos) is about the same, with differences mainly in how many infrared bands of data are available. The 60 km by 60 km ground coverage provided by each SPOT image is very useful for medium-scale urban and rural planning projects (i.e., normally requiring about a 1:25000 to 1:10000 scale). We assess the usefulness of SPOT imagery as a reasonable alternative to the use of Landsat imagery until a more permanent solution can be reached regarding Landsat imagery resulting from the malfunction of one of satelliteâ€™s sensors. We further evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the different imagery sources for large-scale assessments of urban carbon opportunities. Archived SPOT images would also be of value to projects such as this in order to help assess land classification problems related to seasonal differences in spectral reflectance values and to assess land use changes.