Use of Meris Data for Land Cover Mapping in the Netherlands

The Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) is a payload component of Envisat-1. MERIS is operated over land with a standard 15 band setting acquiring images in the VIS and NIR part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Data are acquired at 300 m (full resolution) and 1200 m (reduced resolution) spatial resolution over land, thus vegetation can be monitored at regional to global scales. Major value of MERIS for land applications lies in the provision of (calibrated) data with a spatial resolution intermediate to that of NOAA-AVHRR or SPOT-VEGETATION and Landsat-TM or SPOT-HRV. This paper describes the results of a preliminary study towards the use of MERIS for land cover mapping in The Netherlands. Full resolution level 1b data of June 16, 2003, were used in this study. The Dutch land use database LGN was used as a reference by aggregating the database from 25 m to 300 m. First, quality and information content of the used MERIS images were explored. Subsequently, the feasibility of the data for land cover classifications was studied. Results show that the merit of MERIS primarily lies in the improved spatial resolution of the full resolution mode (300 m) when compared to the mentioned low-resolution sensors.