PRINCIPLES OF MAPPING THE SOIL-VEGETATION STRUCTURE IN WEST SIBERIA BASED ON REMOTE SENSING IMAGERY

Procedures for mapping the soil-vegetation structure of West Siberia on the basis of remote sensing images are described. Four principal stages are involved: interpretation of individual structures on the images; determination of the functions of the interpreted structures; classification of soil-vegetation structures; and mapping of the territory by types of soil-vegetation structures (micro-, meso- and microstructures). Particular attention is given to detection of soil-vegetation hydromorphism using remote sensing imagry, important in the swampy Western Siberian environment, and the special problems related to image scale. Translated by Edward Torrey, Alexandria, VA 22308 from: Geografiya i prirodnyye resursy, 1990, No. 1, pp. 138–145.