A GIS-BASED LAND SURFACE PARAMETERISATION OF OBUDU MOUNTAIN REGION USING SRTM-3 DEM

This study parameterised the land surface of Obudu Mountain region using the SRTM-3 DEM from a GIS point of view. Five land surface parameters (elevation, slope, aspect, profile curvature and plan curvature) were extracted from the DEM. The extracted land surface parameters were then stacked and classified into land surface units using unsupervised ISOCLUST algorithm. The results show that slope in the Obudu mountain region ranged between 0 and 45o with most of them facing the East and North East directions with a mean aspect value of 69.045o. Profile and plan curvatures are in the range of -0.5 <= x >= 0.5. The area therefore exhibits the characteristics of a rugged terrain. The ISOCLUST classification revealed nine (9) land surface units. The overall classification accuracy is 81.0 per cent. With these results, environmental processes in the area can be predicted to a very high degree.