Type of Document Master's Thesis Author Breeden, Charles, III F URN etd-04172008-133241 Title A Multitemporal Analysis of Georgia's Coastal Vegetation, 1990-2005 Degree Master of Arts Department Geosciences Advisory Committee
Advisor Name Title Jeremy Diem Committee Chair Jeremy Crampton Committee Member John Allensworth Committee Member Keywords
- Soil-Moisture
- Coastal Landcover
- Vegetation Change
- Principal Components Analysis
- Remote Sensing
- AVHRR-NDVI
Date of Defense 2008-04-11 Availability unrestricted Abstract Land and vegetation changes are part of the continuous and dynamic cycle of earth system variation. This research examines vegetation changes in the 21-county eco-region along coastal Georgia. The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) with Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data is used in tandem with a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and climatic variables to determine where, and to what extent vegetation and land cover change is occurring. This research is designed around a 16 year time-series from 1990-2005. Findings were that mean NDVI values were either steady or slightly improved, and that PC1 (Healthiness) and PC2 (Time-Change) explained nearly 99 percent of the total mean variance. Healthiness declines are primarily the result of expanding urban districts and decreased soil moisture while increases are the results of restoration, and increased soil moisture. This research aims to use this analysis for the assessment of land changes as the conduit for future environmental research.Files
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