Linking geomorphic systems theory and remote sensing : a conceptual approach to Alpine landform detection (Reintal, Bavarian Alps, Germany)

Abstract. Although the global importance of high mountains is increasingly being recognised, their geomorphic process System has not been completely understood as yet. While Systems theory and geographical information Systems (GIS) approaches have been long-serving in alpine geomorphology, the implementation of remote sensing (RS) tools is still rare. However, objeet-oriented image analysis lends itself to alpine applications, as it unites the benefits of RS and GIS. The Systems approach and the object-oriented classification of an ASTER satellite scene with digital elevation information are parallelized in the Reintal (Bavarian Alps). In a hierarchical, multiscale data segmentation and Classification, alpine landforms can be detected with high accuracy. Hence, RS techniques represent a valuable tool for high mountain geomorphology.