Evaluation of SIR-A (Shuttle Imaging Radar) images from the Tres Marias region (Minas Gerais State, Brazil) using derived spatial features and registration with MSS-LANDSAT images

Two image processing experiments are described using a MSS-LANDSAT scene from the Tres Marias region and a shuttle Imaging Radar SIR-A image digitized by a vidicon scanner. In the first experiment the study area is analyzed using the original and preprocessed SIR-A image data. The following thematic classes are obtained: (1) water, (2) dense savanna vegetation, (3) sparse savanna vegetation, (4) reforestation areas and (5) bare soil areas. In the second experiment, the SIR-A image was registered together with MSS-LANDSAT bands five, six, and seven. The same five classes mentioned above are obtained. These results are compared with those obtained using solely MSS-LANDSAT data. The spatial information as well as coregistered SIR-A and MSS-LANDSAT data can increase the separability between classes, as compared to the use of raw SIR-A data solely.