Remote sensing derived maps of tamarisk (2009) and beetle impacts (2013) along 412 km of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, Arizona

These data are aerial image-derived, classification maps of tamarisk (Tamarisk spp.) in the riparian zone of the Colorado River from Glen Canyon Dam to Separation Canyon, a total river distance of 412 km. The classification maps are published in GIS vector format. Two maps are published: 1) a classification of tamarisk from a 0.2 m resolution multispectral image dataset acquired in May 2009 (Tamarisk Classification 2009), and 2) a classification of tamarisk impacted by the tamarisk beetle (Diorhabda carinulata) from a 0.2 m resolution multispectral image dataset acquired in May 2013 (Beetle Impact Classification 2013). Tamarisk presence in 2009 was classified using the Mahalanobis Distance method with a total of 2,500 training samples, and classification accuracy was assessed with an independent set of 7,858 samples across 49 image quads. A total of 214 ha of tamarisk were detected in 2009. Tamarisk classification accuracies varied across the 49 image quads, and the combined overall accuracy across the entire study region was 74%. The 2013 beetle-impacted tamarisk classification was completed using change detection of NDVI values in the 2009 and 2013 multispectral imagery within pixels classified as tamarisk in the 2009 dataset. A region-specific NDVI ratio of >1.5 decline between the two image dates (2009NDVI/2013NDVI) was used to identify tamarisks impacted by beetle herbivory. The area of beetle-impacted tamarisk totaled 32.1 ha, but varies spatially throughout the river corridor. The Glen Canyon reach of the river had the greatest proportion of beetle-impacted tamarisk in the study region.

                                            [
  "010:12"
]
                                        

                                            {
  "fn": "Joel B. Sankey",
  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:jsankey@usgs.gov"
}
                                        

                                            [
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Digital Data",
    "format": "XML",
    "accessURL": "https://doi.org/10.5066/F72B8X71",
    "mediaType": "application/http",
    "description": "Landing page for access to the data"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Original Metadata",
    "format": "XML",
    "mediaType": "text/xml",
    "description": "The metadata original format",
    "downloadURL": "https://data.usgs.gov/datacatalog/metadata/USGS.5a144ec0e4b09fc93dcfcffa.xml"
  }
]
                                        

                                            [
  "Arizona",
  "Change Detection",
  "Classification maps",
  "Colorado River",
  "GIS vector format data",
  "Glen Canyon",
  "Glen Canyon Dam",
  "Grand Canyon",
  "NDVI",
  "Normalized difference vegetation index",
  "Remote Sensing",
  "Riparian vegetation",
  "Riparian zone",
  "Separation Canyon",
  "Tamarisk",
  "Tamarisk Beetle",
  "USGS:5a144ec0e4b09fc93dcfcffa"
]
                                        

                                            {
  "name": "U.S. Geological Survey",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
                                        

                                            [
  "Geospatial"
]