GIS and Remote Sensing Applications in Geomorphology

Geomorphology is the science of studying landforms, landscapes, and their related processes, including the description, materials, classification, origin, evolution, and history of earth/planetary surfaces. Geographic information system (GIS) is a computer-based system used for collection, maintenance, storage, retrieval, analysis, and distribution of geographic data and information. A closely related technique to GIS is remote sensing (RS), the noncontact recording of electromagnetic spectrum of earth/planetary surfaces based on satellite-, aircraft-, or ground-based sensors to measure, detect, and classify ground objects. GIS and remote sensing have been integrated in many geomorphological studies to quantify surface processes and landforms. GIS/RS has been strongly linked with the methodology and concepts in geomorphology since its initial development. With the continual development of GIS and RS techniques, GIS/RS has been widely used to classify landform and landscape units, extract specific landform features, quantify process-landform relationships, and detect geomorphic changes. In particular, the combination of GIS/RS with digital elevation models (DEMs) has become one of the most common approaches for geomorphological research, especially with the early-21st-century progress in using LiDAR (light detection and ranging) and UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) to obtain high-resolution DEMs. A new discipline, geomorphometry, have been developed to quantify landforms and topography at various spatial scales on the basis of mathematical, statistical, and image-processing techniques. This article first includes a section focusing on the use of GIS/RS in general landform and landscape classification and then categorizes literature into a variety of subfields of geomorphology in which GIS/RS has been applied to solve geomorphological issues. These subfields include Glacial Geomorphology, Watershed and Fluvial Geomorphology, Hillslope Processes and Landslides, Coastal Geomorphology, Karst Geomorphology, Aeolian Geomorphology, and Tectonic Geomorphology. Some subfields, such as volcanic geomorphology and planetary geomorphology, are not included, but the methods and principles summarized in this article can be applied to these subfields.