Possibilities of applying CORONA archive satellite images in forest cover change detection - Example of the Fruška Gora mountain

Abstract

This paper examines the possibilities, advantages and limitations of the use of high resolution archive satellite images in evaluation of forest and other land cover changes, based on research in the sample area of the Fruška Gora mountain (Serbia). Satellite images available from the declassified archives of CORONA program were used to assess the extent of forest cover in the past. By comparing the resulting datasets with newer images, changes in the forest coverage can be detected and reconstructed for a period of more than 40 years. Despite many limiting factors, the images provided valuable information about the state of the forest cover in the past. The methodology used can be utilised in other similar areas, where no other, more precise source is available about forest coverage, as a means of reasonably inexpensive and time efficient assessment of forest cover and other land use changes in the past five decades.