About the Maps
by Judy Purdy
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VERSIONFeature | About the Maps
Native shrubs like flame azalea thrive in the understory of the Smokies' forests.
About the Maps
UGA researchers
mapped the half-million acres of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
to an accuracy of 15 feet. This feat included draping color infrared digital
photographs over a computerized elevation model of the park, thus creating
a perspective view of such features as the access road to Clingman's Dome
(top image). Photos were corrected for camera tilt, or the "wide-angle
lens" effect, and for elevation differences between valleys and mountains.
At 6,643 feet, Clingman's Dome is the park's — and the Appalachian Trail's
— highest elevation.
Above The perspective view illustrates vegetation in the Clingman's Dome section of the Smokies. Area 1 on all four maps pinpoints a stand of Fraser fir trees wiped out by the balsam wooly adelgid. The insect pest, introduced accidentally from Europe more than a century ago, has migrated south from New England during the past two decades, killing fir trees in its path. The detailed vegetation maps and associated database products constructed by UGA scientists will help park staff track the condition of native plant and animal communities through time and will provide feedback on management and protection strategies.
Above UGA scientists at the Center for Remote Sensing and Mapping Science identified and then plotted 170 distinct vegetation communities in the Smokies that included 100 tree canopy communities and
another 70 in the understory. Maps A, B and C show the same area near Clingman's Dome and provide information on (A) the tree species that dominate the canopy, (B) the plants that rule the understory and (C) the risk for forest fires based on the kinds and amounts of plant material available to fuel a fire. UGA scientists compiled data from maps A and B to determine classes of fire fuels. Each map section covers 1,459 acres or only 0.3 percent of the entire park area mapped.
Maps courtesy of the University of Georgia Center for Remote Sensing and Mapping Science
Feature | About the Maps
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