Rangeland runoff curve numbers as determined from Landsat MSS data

Abstract A relationship has been found between satellite data and hydrologically-defined runoff curve numbers (CN) for a limited number of watersheds. Watershed CNs calculated from rainfall-runoff data on small range-land basins were correlated with Landsat multispectral scanner data transformed into 19 reflectance index models (RIM). In this study, nine small watersheds were found where sufficient CN and Landsat data were available. After eliminating the redundant or poorly correlated RIMs, five significant and highly correlated (r>|0.90|) RIM versus CN regression relationships were selected as promising for use in rangeland studies. More testing should be done to validate the approach; however, the results indicate that satellite data may eventually be employed to directly and efficiently estimated rangeland CNs. This empirical approach has potential for use in planning studies and comprehensive range resource models.

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