Landsat satellite data for soil investigation in a Apennines region of Southern Italy

Abstract

Since the launch of first earth observation satellites at the beginning of 1970s, great attention has been paid to the use of satellite remote sensing techniques in soil studies. Some investigations have studied the relationships between soil surface characteristics and soil spectral behaviour, under both laboratory and field conditions. Others have focused their attention on the image processing techniques applied to satellite and airborne scanner spectral data. This paper presents the results of a research, using spectral information from a Landsat satellite source, for soil studies in a southern Italy Apennines region. Specifically, the objectives of the investigation were to determine the degree with which variations in soil parameters could be monitored and quantified on the basis of radiometric data gathered by the Landsat TM-5 satellite sensor. A spectral soil map has been produced over the test site. An accurate comparison between the latter and numerous available thematic maps has led to the formulation of an hypothesis about the actual and potential applications of radio-metric data to soil spatial variability.