Classification of Leafy Spurge With Earth Observing-1 Advanced Land Imager
Abstract
Leafy spurge ( Euphorbia esula L.) is an invasive exotic plant that can completely displace native plant communities. Automatedtechniques for monitoring the location and extent of leafy spurge, especially if available on a seasonal basis, could add greatly tothe effectiveness of control measures. As part of a larger study including multiple sensors, this study examines the utility ofmapping the location and extent of leafy spurge in Theodore Roosevelt National Park using Earth Observing-1 satelliteAdvanced Land Imager (ALI) scanner data. An unsupervised classification methodology was used producing accuracies in therange of 59% to 66%. Existing field studies, with their associated limitations, were used for identifying class membership andaccuracy assessment. This sensor could be useful for broad landscape scale mapping of leafy spurge, from which controlmeasures could be based.