A review of wetlands remote sensing and defining new considerations

Significant progress has been made in using remote sensing as a means of acquiring information about wetlands. This research provides a brief review of selected previous works, which address the issues of wetland identification, classification, biomass measurement, and change detection. Suggested new research emphases include compiling basic spectral-reflectance characteristics for individual wetland species by means of close-range instrumentation, analyzing canopies architectures to facilitate species identification, and assessing the impact on composite spectral signatures of wet soils and variable depths of standing water beneath emergent canopies. These research foci are justifiable when considered in the context of environmental change / variability and the production of trace gases.