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East Flanders Moss, in the Stirling District of Central Region in Scotland, is part of a series of raised mires. The area is widely recognised as a site of international importance providing habitats for a wide range of flora and fauna. Critical to the conservation of this valuable habitat is the maintenance of the water table close to the surface. Due to activities such as (1) agricultural improvement, (2) grazing (3) afforestation, (4) commercial peat extraction, (5) drainage and (6) burning the moss surface is 'drying out'. To assess the rate at which is occurring and the implications the activities have for the water table, there is a need to develop a remote method of mapping wetland water tables. The wetland water table depths are most readily measured using spectral wavelengths that encompass the thermal infra-red. The use of airborne imagery, such as the Daedalus 1268 sensor, give the adequate spatial resolution necessary (2-5 metres) in order to quantify the depth to the water table. However, it must be pointed out that vegetation cover with differing transpiration rate, topography and other environmental factors confuse interpretation.

A correlation of 0.65755 was achieved between ATM data and 1995 field data, thus demonstrating the possibility of using remotely sensed data for mapping the depth to wetland water tables and wetland surface features.

Feasibility of Mapping Water Tables - Abstract