ABSTRACT

It is well known to the geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) scientists that it is difficult to carry out the RS image-registration in areas where is absent of both enough cultural features for ground control points (GCPs) and topographic maps. Here, we summarized an image-to-image registration method with the multitemporal RS imagery of Landsat MSS and TM, which covered the modern Yellow River Delta. The Yellow River huge sediment flux and frequent shifts of the flowing route entering the sea have rapidly formed the modern Yellow River Delta. Due to most areas of the delta are composed of saline-alkali soil, the agriculture, industry and traffic developed very slowly before the early 1990s. Further, there were absent of both obvious features of geomorphology and landscape and enough topographic maps before the early 1990s. These conditions bring about great difficulty in the process of RS image-registration before the early 1990s. The successful application of the image-toimage registration summarized in this paper provides scientists an optional choice for RS-image-registration in rapidly changing areas.

INTRODUCTION

The repetitive acquisition and synoptic capabilities of remote sensing (RS) systems can be exploited to provide timely broader scale spatial data for geographical information systems (GIS). Significantly changing areas, such as the Nile Delta and the Yellow River Delta, have aroused the interests of many researchers in different fields of the world (e.g., Pang and Si, 1979; Blodget et al., 1991; Frihy and Komar, 1993; White and Asmar, 1999; Liu et al., 2001; Yu, 2002; Chang et al., 2004; Liu et al., 2008; Xue et al., 2009). It is well known to the GIS and RS scientists that it is necessary to carry out the RS image-registration with identical ground control points (GCPs), which are shown in the RS images.

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