MAPPING THE STRUCTURE OF THE SOIL COVER OF THE TAIGA FROM REMOTE SENSING IMAGERY

An experiment is described in which multiscalar remote sensing imagery is sequentially employed in the detection of various rankings of soil types endemic to the taiga natural zone in the northern USSR. Relief features, vegetation associations, extent of surface water, and drainage patterns visible on imagery at scales from 1:12,000,000 to 1:5,000, also examined at low altitude and in the field at a series of test sites, served as indicators of various soil cover types. Considerable attention is given to an explanation of why these features can be considered valid indicators of taiga soil types as well as to the appearance of the indicators on band-specific (black-and-white) and color composite imagery. Translated from: Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, seriya geograficheskaya, 1987, No. 3, pp. 87-99.