Robert Zomer
Division of Environmental Studies 
University of California, Davis

Landscape Ecology of the Makalu-Barun National Park, Nepal

GIS/Remote Sensing analysis of vegetation and landuse within the Makalu-Barun National Park and Conservation Area.

Digital elevation model of the Makalu-Barun National Park and Conservation Area, generated from vectorized topographic map (1:250k). Elevation ranges from 438 meters asl, at the the southern end of the project area along the Arun River, to Mt. Makalu (fifth highest mountain in the world) at 8,463 meters asl.
  

Digital base map of the MBNPCA produced fom SPOT panchromatic imagery (resolution of 10 m), geocorrected and orthorectified using a DEM based upon the ICIMOD 1:250k Nepal GIS Regional Database.

Satellite imagery based Digital Elevation Model of Makalu-Barun National Park, with Mt. Everest in upper left corner, extracted from SPOT stereo pair imagery. DEM encompassess an altitudinal gradient of over 8,300 m.

Comparison of DEM extracted from satellite imagery (SPOT stereo pair) with contour map from ICIMOD Nepal 1:250k GIS Database (based on Survey of India Maps, 1978). Contrours are at 500 ft. intervals.

Landsat TM image of the Upper Barun Valley. Mt. Makalu is in the upper right hand corner, and the Upper Barun Glacier in the upper left corner. The Lower Barun Glacier is seen in the bottom of the scene, along with the glacial lake dammed at the terminus.

Landsat TM of vegetation in Upper Barun Valley. Extensive stands of old-growth Abies spectabilis (Silver Fir) are found here. Treeline can be discerned just above the middle of the scene, with alpine scrub grading into alpine meadow also discernable.
Topographic  3D visualization of Upper Barun Valley (Yangle Kharka in center), based upon a DEM generated from digitized contour map (ICIMOD 1:250,000 GIS).
SPOT image of the Makalu Barun Area draped over DEM extracted from SPOT imagery to produce three dimensional representation of the landscape.  View is looking north alont the Inku Khola towards Mts. Chamlang and Makalu.
 

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For more information or comments, send email to: rjzomer@ucdavis.edu