Canadian Wetland Inventory (CWI) ; Îles de la Madeleine

Canadian Wetlands Inventory (CWI) data for the Îles de la Madeleine region. Created according to the method developed by the Canadian Wildlife Service, Quebec Region.

Between 2003 and 2007, the Canadian Wildlife Service, Quebec Region (CWS-QC) produced wetland maps for several sites in Quebec. This mapping was carried out as part of the Canadian Wetland Inventory (CWI), an initiative launched in 2002 in order to classify wetlands into the five major classes of the Canadian Wetlands Classification System, namely: bogs, fens, marshes, swamps and shallow open water. The selected approach combines Landsat-TM/ETM and RADARSAT-1 satellite imagery with object-oriented image classification.

The mapped sites are situated in a variety of ecozones and represent different types of landscapes and ecosystems. These sites include Lac Saint-Pierre, Lac Brome, Montérégie, Lac Saint-François (Appalachians), Grande-Plée-Bleue, Montmagny, Cap Tourmente, Baie de l’Isle-Verte, La Mauricie National Park, Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Radisson and Eastmain. These twelve sites represent 4% of Quebec’s land mass. The method was tested in British Columbia (Vancouver) and in the Northwest Territories (Kendall Island).

A total of 8% of the territory constituted by the twelve sites is covered by wetlands, with the percentage for each site ranging from 2% to 15%. The classifications were validated using a method developed by CWS-QC which involves the visual interpretation of Landsat colour composites. Validation was performed in two ways: between wetlands and dry areas and between the five different types of wetlands. The overall accuracy for the first validation method ranges between 61% and 91%; for the second method, accuracy ranges between 47% and 98%.

For the methodology used to do the classifications, please refer to the following reference :

Grenier, M., Demers, A.-M., Labrecque, S., Benoit, M., Fournier R., and Drolet B. 2007. An object-oriented method to map wetland using RADARSAT-1 and Landsat-ETM images: test case on two sites in Quebec, Canada. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, Vol. 33, Suppl. 1, pp. S28-S45.