Multispectral Change Detection and Interpretation Using Selective Principal Components and the Tasseled Cap Transformation

University of Utah

Temporal change is typically observed in all six reflective LANDSAT bands. The change is nominally six dimensional, yet these bands have significant correlation. The actual dimensionality of the change is typically three. Detection methods that do not produce at least three dimensions of change cannot make the most effective use of data. The objective is to obtain a sequence of detection and interpretation techniques that detects change in all six bands, then presents essentially all of the detected change in three physically meaningful dimensions. Such a sequence is described herein. The detection is performed by Selective Principal Components Analysis, and the interpretation is performed by the Tasseled cap transformation. This sequence extracts change information from all six bands, then displays essentially all (typically over 98%) of the detected change in three dimensions corresponding to soil, vegetation, and moisture. The technique is one that will consistently present the farmer or forester with complete and interpretable visualizations of temporal change.