361
the general
lan, 1962,
ave and White,
:ions into
3u, 1963)
3 which have
arai oossibi-
antlv,
ducted into
a of long
was launched
1984) has
ransmission
3nseouently
ulpawn
aich before
3 (OCP, 1973)
ns attracted
e into the
abilitate
» (1985) are
rated ago-
e area,
aina that
rcunied areas,
anqe ooten-
The oresent
:hin the limits
2 imaaery
nrovide the
.ncludinq
i its land-
jLITE IMAGERY
¡at scenes
u From 1973
r the study.
: presented
end dust-about
The cover
The contrast
! recretation
1 sharpness
elds.
ected for
d 5 and the
ndividually
settlement
Veaetation
• could be
healthy
sediment-
The near
ation of the
lv thereby
the oreen
d neighbour-
he Earth
e final
ide print at
the dominant
es was false,
on was falsely
near natural
he rivers
rk blue; but
blueish
f large
roads
or reddish
The study was indeed aware of not only the weakness
of using a single-date imagery but also the problems
associated with out-dated land use information of an
imagery ten years old; however, within the constrain
ts imposed by the lack of additional imacreries, colla
teral information from both formal and non-formal
sources were utilized to support FCC data-analysis.
The collateral materials came frem the following
sources: extracts iron the periodic economic survey
reports convering the Northern Region (CBS 1979-1981);
annual reports of agronomic and farm mechanization
trials in agricultural stations and on-farm projects;
technical reports on forestry, fisheries crop deve
lopment, livestock and wildlife potentials of the
Northern Region (NORRIP Tech. Reports, 1983). Frcm
the daily newspapers and radio forum came those
relevant nieces Q f news about land development and
the environment. Also a special aerial surveillance
flight was organized primarily to match the 1975 FCC
information with the 1984 terrain details in order
to estimate the general trend of the land use situa
tion over the ten year period. The effectiveness
of this last activity was however hampered by the
lateness of the recce flight which came four weeks
after the imagery date. This interval of time spelt
so much changes in the landscape due to early on-set
of the dry season and the'rapidspread of bush fires.
There was also overcast of harmattan fog which redu
ced visibility considerably. Notwithstanding the
problemsencountered in the aerial recce flight,it
was possible to have impressions of those broad
changes that had occured, though these could not be
mapped on the basis of the data at hand. Finally
the 1970 and 1984 population census figures were
integrated with landsat data. A supportive stere
oscopic interpretation of the existing, though out
dated aerial photographs, of the 1960's situation,
was carried out to verify the landform characteris
tics of the photcmorphic units which were delineated
with the FCC.
Table: 1 interpretative elements of the landscapes
and their FCC characteristics
Landscape Element
FCC Characteristics
Nucleated large settle - -
ments and associated com
pact land uses
Light blue
Dispersed traditional
settlements and associa
ted farm and grazing lands
White to yellowish
Disseminated patches
Large Mechnized farm
plots/eroded surfaces
in the valleys and depre
ssions
Linear Shape, White
in colour, valley
site
DepressionsSloughs
seasonally Swamped
Bluish/greenish blue,
stipples of red/dots,
associated with streams
Riparian Woodland on
terraces and leavees
in the flood plain
Linear shape; red/
orange red with course
texture, located along
stream bank.
Upland range terrain
Mainly woodland with
hebaceous undergrowth
Dominantly red to
reddish orange and
sandy texture
Mainly covered with
shurb savannah
Balanced mixture of
green and orange mott-
lings on yellowish
background
PHOTCMORPHIC ANALYSIS OF LAND OCCUPATION ZONES
In the FCC imagery, one could discern a number of
descriptive landscape elements. These and their FCC
characteristics of tone, colour ranae, texture and
pattern were photo-keyed (Table 1) and applied to
differentiate the landscapes into photographically
hemogenious units. The interpretative elements, when
they were taken simultaneously together, defined
those fairly homogenous unit areas into photcmorphic
unit (Leighly, 1965, MaccPhail, 1971)
These units on the FCC imaaery were delineated into
four broad intensity levels of land occupation. The
Figure 2. The Mid - White Vplta Basin: Zones of
varying intensitv o^ lanf occupation,
associated soil tvnes assessed for
agriculture*
Land occupation zones:
I The Trans White Volta Frontier II The White
Volta Floodplain Frontier III The Nabogo -
Nasia Frontier IV Transition into permanent
occupation
Soils broadly assessed for hand and mechanized
cultivation
A: Suitable ^or hand and mechanized cultivation
B: ioderately suitable for mechanization but
good for hand cultivation
C: Marginally suitable for hand cultivation,
unsuitable for mechanization
D: Very shallow, gravelly soils unsuitable for
farming
E: Stonv, oravelly surfaces not to be cultivated.
* Sources:
(a) Photcmorphic delineation with M SS-FCC o f Land-
sat 2 imagery, November 1975
(b) S.V. Adu, Soils of the White Volta and Nasia
Basins, Soil Research Institute (1968) Kumasi,
