ヲヱヲ Biodiversity Characterization in Marine National Park, Jamnagar, Gujarat using Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System Ganesh Datt Bhatt Global Open University, Nagaland Abstract India has a vast extent of coast line of about 8000 km spanning 13 maritime mainland states and Union Territories, which are home to a diversity of coastal and marine ecosystems, comprising nationally and globally significant biodiversity (Venkataraman and Wafar, 2005). To study the phytodiversity is very essential for conservation in a limited time and less manpower. A comprehensive methodology involving remote sensing field investigation and the Geographical Information System (GIS) has been adopted for the present study. Satellite data of MSS 4-5 is used for the present study. Supervised classification, unsupervised classification and onscreen visual interpation have been done. For supervised classification the field survey was done to become acquainted with the general patterns of vegetation of the area. Major vegetation types and a few prime localities of characteristics types were recorded. In unsupervised classification (using ISODATA) has been done with 15 classes at a 98% confidence threshold. On screen visual interpretation (1.50,000 scale) in a polygon mode using arc view has been performed with the fundamental image characteristics i.e. tone, texture, pattern, size, shape; shadow coupled with site / location and associated features. Looking at the data generated from the three classification attempts side by side, it can easily be seen that differences in land use classes are present. Furthermore, the data generated with the unsupervised technique contains additional land use classes. By simply visually analyzing the images created using the different