Developing a spatial database for the interpretation of karst landscape and vegetation in the Jamaican Cockpit Country

The Jamaican Cockpit Country is the World's “type-example” of the cockpit style of polygonal karst. This research focused on the development of a biogeomorphological database that classifies and quantifies the cockpit karst landforms and associated vegetation densities. A digital elevation model (DEM) is processed using map algebra to delineate the karst landforms in a geographic information system (GIS). Satellite imagery (ASTER) is used to create a DEM of the study area and identify vegetation densities (NDVI) by landform, slope and aspect. The mean NDVI value for all landforms is 0.8 suggesting a high degree of vegetation density homogeneity in the landscape related to the wet season. There is, however, a pattern of increasing vegetation density toward the west. Satellite imagery acquired during the dry season and finer resolution (4-meter) remotely sensed data are two important criteria for the successful identification of vegetation density patterns associated with tropical karst landforms.