Integration of multi-sensor data to characterize Amazon river floodplain habitats

This paper reports on the integration of multi-sensor data to characterize floodplain habitats in the lower reach of the Amazon River. The study area is located between the Tapajos river mouth and the Xingu River mouth. Three data sets are available for this study: C-band ScanSAR wide mode RADARSAT images, L-band SAR JERS-1 images and TM/Landsat images. The RADARSAT C-band image enhanced floodplain boundaries and hydrodynamic differences between the Tapajos and Xingu rivers. The JERS-1 L-band images improved the detection of recent clear cut areas allowing the update of deforested areas especially where the cloud cover prevented the acquisition of optical data such as TM. As the shaded fraction image derived from TM data also enhances deforested areas, the combination of JERS-I and TM shade fraction are an optimal data set to estimate the increment of deforested areas