Using Automated Methods to Update the National Wetland Inventory in Louisiana

Challenge

The National Wetlands Inventory maps the entire country’s wetlands and provides important information to countless private and government agencies, helping them to make critical decisions. It’s the largest database of its kind. However, due to the time and expense involved in maintaining it, some of the data are decades old.

Solution

Using New Orleans, Louisiana, as a pilot site, researchers used high-resolution land cover data from the Digital Coast to develop techniques that make updating the National Wetlands Inventory faster and cheaper than previous methods. This means higher quality information is in the hands of decision-makers, and helps reduce duplicative efforts while ensuring consistency.

To learn more, read the full study.

This image highlights NOAA’s high-resolution land cover (left) compared to the same area as mapped in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Wetland Inventory (right). The eastern portion of both products were produced based on the same date of imagery and correlate well, while the wetland inventory data in the western half of the mapping is about a decade older. Differences in the area between the two products highlight the changes seen since the last National Wetland Inventory mapping.

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