Detection and Mapping of Sahara Mustard (Brassica tournefortii) in the Colorado Desert of Southern California using Landsat Satellite Imagery

Sahara mustard (Brassica tournefortii Gouan), a plant native to North Africa and the Middle East, has become a troublesome invasive pest in arid ecosystems of the Southwest United States, northern and central Mexico, and Australia. In the desert Southwest, B. tournefortii is commonly found in sandy washes, sand sheets, rocky hillsides, and other disturbed areas at elevations below 1000 m. The objective of this study was to evaluate the Landsat MTMF technique for detecting B. tournefortii presence and biomass density in the Colorado Desert region of California.