740 
Considering the quality and planimetric fidelity of IRS-1A data, a national level 
project on landuse/land cover mapping at the district level has been initiated using 
Kharif and Rabi season data of IRS LISS-I. Towards this, for the 443 districts in 
India current landuse statistics are being generated for the first time using two 
seasons data providing Level-II information on landuse/land cover for effective 
operational planning of India's 15 Agro-climatic zones. So far 90 districts have 
been mapped and the results indicate accuracy levels upto 90%. 
2.4 Water Resources 
Studies in the field of water resources using IRS-1A data include those of (i) 
hydrogeological and hydrogeomorphological investigation for ground water potential 
zone mapping (ii) sediment levels in Sunderbans delta in West Bengal Pong reservoir 
Himachal Pradesh and Matatila reservoir in Gujarat (iii) waterspread and capacity 
estimation in reservoirs (iv) assessment of suspended sediments in flood water (v) 
mapping of river channel courses, command area management, etc. 
Both visual and digital analysis techniques have been used to extract the 
hydrological information for the above areas. The results show that LISS-II data is 
very useful in hydrogeomorphic/ground water potential zones mapping on 1:125,000 and 
1:50,000 scales. Geological, Geomorphological and structural details required in 
Ground water potential zone mapping are clearly depicted on LISS-II data. 
Sediment turbidity levels upto six classes in the coastal water could be delineated 
through above studies using LISS-II data. Case study in Ghaghara-Ami-Rapti river 
system in UP has shown that all the turbidity levels exhibited on 30m resolution 
Landsat TM data are also clearly described using 72 m resolution data of IRS LISS-I 
thus highlighting operational application potential of LISS-I data in reservoir 
sedimentation. Classification of Principal Component Analysed products have been 
found very effective in suspended sediment analysis in major water bodies (Parul, 
et.al, 1988). 
Apart from above studies a national level project on Ground Water Potential Zone 
Mapping for the entire country at district level has been carried out using IRS 
LISS-II and Landsat TM data on 1:250,000 scale. The Project has been completed and 
demonstrated the use of IRS LISS-II as complementary to Landsat TM. Use of these 
maps have led to increased success rate of ground water drilling to 85-90% as 
compared to 45% using conventional methods. 
Several case studies using LISS-I & II data for monitoring sediment and water spread 
levels for major reservoirs, lakes have also been carried out viz., Ramaganga 
reservoir (UP), Wooler (J&K) and Chilka lakes (Orissa), Bhadra reservoir (Karnataka) 
etc. In a study to demonstrate the use of satellite data (NIR band) for water 
spread estimation, Bhadra reservoir of Karnataka was monitored using satellite data 
which revealed an overall reduction in the reservoir capacity to 620.15 m over 
632.98 m in a span of 17 years (Manavalan, et.al, 1990). 
2.5 Soils 
Application of IRS-1A data for soil resources mapping includes mapping of soil 
classes and salinity/alkalinty and degraded soils. Soil mapping studies carried out 
using LISS-II data by digital/visual interpretation techniques for parts of Nagpur, 
Nanded, Coimbatore and Trichi districts has indicated that LISS-II data is very 
effective in mapping of soil classes. Principal component analysis and colour 
composites generated after Principal Component (PC) analysis (PCI + PC2 + PC3) are 
found very helpful in discrimination of soil classes. Another case study revealed 
that the soil maps generated using LISS-II data on 1:125,000 scale has been found as 
good as soils map generated using conventional techniques, and in addition a few 
soil groups were identified using remote sensing data that were not depicted on 
conventional soil maps (Rao, et.al, 1988). Information on physiographic units, a 
basic requirement in soils class mapping, is very well exhibited on LISS-I and LISS- 
II data. Information derived on soils from LISS-I and LISS-II data have been found 
comparable with that of Landsat MSS and TM data respectively. 
2.6 Geology 
Several case studies using IRS-1A LISS-I and LISS-II data have been carried out 
throughout the country representing various geological regions. These include 
geological/geomorphological interpretation of IRS-1A data for Chandrapur, Bhopal, 
Nagpur, Simla-Solan-Sarahan area and Nahan-Papmta areas in Himalayan terrain; Tawa 
catchment area, Hosangabad and Betul districts and North Arcot district. Also under 
the "Project Vasundhara" covering about 4,00,000 sq kms area for prospecting base 
metal mineralisation zones in Southern Pennisular India, integration of data from 
IRS-1A, Landsat TM and airborne geophysical and ground surveys is being carried out