Monitoring and assessment of forest cover disturbance in the Middle Volga region of Russia using Landsat images

The knowledge of the disturbance effect on the forest ecosystems is crucial for sustainable development on the global level. It is important to quantify, map and monitor forest cover resulting from natural and anthropogenic disturbances. This research presents spatio-temporal trend analyses of forest cover disturbance in the Middle Volga region of Russia, using a time series of Landsat images. We generated a series of image composites at different year intervals between 1985 and 2018 and utilized a hybrid strategy consisting of Tasseled Cap transformation, sampling ground truth data and post-classification analyses. For validation of the disturbance maps, we used a point-based accuracy assessment, using local forest inventory reports and ground truth sample plots data for 2016-2018. The produced Landsat 1985, 2001 и 2018 thematic maps for 7 classes of forest cover show that coniferous area decreased by 4%. At the same time, there is a decrease in small-leaved (19%), mixed (8%) and an increase in young stands (23%). A significant disturbed forest area 85,120 ha was observed between 2014-2018, where much of the loss occurs due to severe wildfires. More research is needed with the inclusion of the additional number of anthropogenic and natural factors to increase the accuracy of monitoring and detection of forest disturbance of the region.