VEGETATION TYPES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH DIFFERENT TOPOGRAPHIC VARIABLES IN THE KUMAUN HIMALAYAN REGION (original) (raw)

Vegetation and landuse mapping was carried out in the Kumaun Himalayan region, covering 21,034 km 2 area, with the help of multi-season AWiFS data of IRS-P6. Different vegetation and landuse categories were identified using a hybrid approach of classification including unsupervised, supervised and contextual refinement techniques. 41% of the total area was occupied by vegetation with a dominance of pine forest spread in an area of 1982.74 km 2 (23% of total forest area). SRTM DEM was used for post classification refinements. Classified map was assessed for accuracy, and an overall accuracy of 92% was obtained. Distribution of different vegetation types was also analyzed with respect to different topographic variables in the study area. Maximum area with vegetation was observed in mid elevation zone in comparison to other altitude zones. In different categories maximum distribution of forest area was under low followed by mid and higher slope categories. Southern aspect was observed with maximum forest area.