Contribution of the ERS-1 data in the remote sensing analysis of floodplain landscape structure

The observation of the Earth is possible in the visible and also in the microwave region, with the ERS-1 sensor for example. Both methods of observation have their own advantages and faults. In the ecological framework, the use of remote sensing in the visible region has shown how efficient it is thanks to the diversity of the spectral measurements and the high spatial resolution of the sensors. The originality of the microwave data can be found at different levels. These data give us informations about the soil coarseness and the orientation of the different elements. There ave indifferent to the cloud coverage but very sensitive to the soil and vegetation water content. This last point is of great interest to us in the frame of the structure analysis of floodplain landscapes. The first results concerning the contribution of the ERS-1 and the Landsat TM data are presented in this study of the French Haut Rhone floodplain.