Sahelian wetlands

Monitoring and modeling of dynamical wetland processes in the Sahel region using time series of optical satellite imagery and climate data

Funded by: Belgian Federal Science policy (BELSPO), within the Research Programme for Earth Observation Stereo II

Research associate: Toon Westra

Promoter: Robert De Wulf

Duration: 01/2005 – 12/2006

Project objectives

When multi-temporal satellite data is studied in combination with precipitation data, the relationship between wetland extent and rainfall can be modelled. Such a model can predict the possible impact of climate changes due to Global Warming. The two main objectives of this research project are:

1. Construction and validation of a wetland model;
2. Relating wetland variables (extent, vegetation composition, duration of the flooding,...) to precipitation data.

Two key publications

Westra, Toon, Sarah Crabbe, and Robert De Wulf. “Studying Flooded Grasslands in the Waza-Logone Region of Northern Cameroon Using Envisat ASAR Alternating Polarization Images.” Second Recent Advances in Quantitative Remote Sensing. Ed. José A Sobrino. Valencia, Spain: Universitat de València, 2006. 979–984.

Westra, Toon, and Robert De Wulf. “Monitoring Sahelian Floodplains Using Fourier Analysis of MODIS Time-series Data and Artificial Neural Networks.” INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF REMOTE SENSING 28.7-8 (2007): 1595–1610.