Cluster Analysis
A cluster analysis was performed on the Landsat ETM+ dataset using the module ISOCLUST from the IDRISI computer program (Clark Labs). This analysis used seven bands from the dataset, including visible and near-infrared (1-4), infrared (5, 7), and thermal (6). The panchromatic band was not used.What cluster analysis can do is to raise further questions for field investigation. Several variations of the analysis showed images with very discriminating results, in the range from 8 to 16 classes. However, the more discriminating images could not be interpreted for lack of data. This exercise shows that with only 6 classes, cluster analysis is no better than the composite 3-4-5 image used to seed the computations. In fact, the cluster analysis did not show the peat-mining areas so well as the 3-4-5 composite.
