Monitoring and mapping of waters and wetlands in arid regions using the SPOT-4 VEGETATION imaging system

Monitoring the state of small waterbodies and wetlands is very useful in dry regions, because their existence is entirely controlled by the rhythm of local rainfall. On VEGETATION image colour composites, waterbodies and marshy vegetation show up clearly. Yet simple image classification does not yield sufficiently good results because 'spectral signatures' vary significantly together with the ecological conditions of these surfaces. A robust contextual procedure taking into account local contrast was successfully developed and tested. A systematic validation was carried out and a map of waterbodies and wetlands was produced for Burkina Faso and neighbouring regions.