Mapping of desert locust habitats in Africa using Landsat Thematic Mapper data

The results of the research at the Sudan Red Sea coast, which is part of the GTZ project Integrated Biological Control of Grasshoppers and Locusts will be presented. For detecting desert locust biotopes multitemporal Landsat Thematic Mapper data and ground truth information are analyzed. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) shows the areas covered with vegetation. These areas are masked and then classified with the maximum likelihood classifier. Rectification and ground truthing are carried out by means of a GPS (Global Positioning System). The results of the multitemporal classification are merged with an enhanced satellite scene. The final map shows the potential desert locust biotopes. The current desert locust breeding area can be demarcated by combining the classification results with up-to-date data from monitoring satellites, such as Meteosat and NOAA. Further research is carried out in Mali and Mauritania.