scholarly journals Investigation on Zagros forests cover changes under the recent droughts using satellite imagery

2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (No. 1) ◽  
pp. 9-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjan Goodarzi ◽  
Mehdi Pourhashemi ◽  
Zahra Azizi

Oak decline phenomenon has recently led to considerable dieback within Zagros forests, western Iran. In the present study, Landsat imagery (2005 to 2016) and synoptic station data were used to study the forest dieback in Dorood, Lorestan province. Sixteen vegetation indices were calculated and values in each year were obtained. The correlations between the index and climatic parameters of rainfall, temperature and relative humidity were investigated. Results showed that the correlation of some indices with rainfall and the correlation of other indices with temperature were more than 70%. Optimized soil adjusted vegetation index had 80% correlation with annual rainfall and the modification of normalized difference water index was correlated with average annual temperature by 75%. Using the numerical value changes of the indices, a map of forest cover change was prepared in four classes; healthy, weak, moderate and severe dieback and the process of its change were compared with the trend of variations in regard with rainfall values in the study period. There was a close relationship between changes in the area of forest cover dieback and rainfall and temperature values.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1654
Author(s):  
Jonathan Peereman ◽  
James Aaron Hogan ◽  
Teng-Chiu Lin

Cyclonic windstorms profoundly affect forest structure and function throughout the tropics and subtropics. Remote sensing techniques and vegetation indices (VIs) have improved our ability to characterize cyclone impacts over broad spatial scales. Although VIs are useful for understanding changes in forest cover, their consistency on detecting changes in vegetation cover is not well understood. A better understanding of the similarities and differences in commonly used VIs across disturbance events and forest types is needed to reconcile the results from different studies. Using Landsat imagery, we analyzed the change between pre- and post-typhoon VI values (ΔVIs) of four VIs for five typhoons (local name of cyclones in the North Pacific) that affected the Fushan Experimental Forest of Taiwan. We found that typhoons varied in their effect on forest canopy cover even when they had comparable trajectories, wind speeds, and rainfall. Most VIs measured a decrease in forest cover following typhoons, ranging from −1.18% to −19.87%; however, the direction of ΔVI–topography relationships varied among events. All typhoons significantly increased vegetation heterogeneity, and ΔVI was negatively related to pre-typhoon VI across all typhoons. Four of the five typhoons showed that more frequently affected sites had greater VI decreases. VIs ranged in their sensitivity to detect typhoon-induced changes in canopy coverage, and no single VI was most sensitive across all typhoons. Therefore, we recommend using VIs in combination—for example Normalized Difference Infrared Index (NDII) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), when comparing cyclone-disturbance-induced changes in vegetation cover among disturbances and across forests.


Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1486
Author(s):  
Chris Cavalaris ◽  
Sofia Megoudi ◽  
Maria Maxouri ◽  
Konstantinos Anatolitis ◽  
Marios Sifakis ◽  
...  

In this study, a modelling approach for the estimation/prediction of wheat yield based on Sentinel-2 data is presented. Model development was accomplished through a two-step process: firstly, the capacity of Sentinel-2 vegetation indices (VIs) to follow plant ecophysiological parameters was established through measurements in a pilot field and secondly, the results of the first step were extended/evaluated in 31 fields, during two growing periods, to increase the applicability range and robustness of the models. Modelling results were examined against yield data collected by a combine harvester equipped with a yield-monitoring system. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) were examined as plant signals and combined with Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) and/or Normalized Multiband Drought Index (NMDI) during the growth period or before sowing, as water and soil signals, respectively. The best performing model involved the EVI integral for the 20 April–31 May period as a plant signal and NMDI on 29 April and before sowing as water and soil signals, respectively (R2 = 0.629, RMSE = 538). However, model versions with a single date and maximum seasonal VIs values as a plant signal, performed almost equally well. Since the maximum seasonal VIs values occurred during the last ten days of April, these model versions are suitable for yield prediction.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Loranty ◽  
Sergey Davydov ◽  
Heather Kropp ◽  
Heather Alexander ◽  
Michelle Mack ◽  
...  

Boreal forests are changing in response to climate, with potentially important feedbacks to regional and global climate through altered carbon cycle and albedo dynamics. These feedback processes will be affected by vegetation changes, and feedback strengths will largely rely on the spatial extent and timing of vegetation change. Satellite remote sensing is widely used to monitor vegetation dynamics, and vegetation indices (VIs) are frequently used to characterize spatial and temporal trends in vegetation productivity. In this study we combine field observations of larch forest cover across a 25 km2 upland landscape in northeastern Siberia with high-resolution satellite observations to determine how the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) are related to forest cover. Across 46 forest stands ranging from 0% to 90% larch canopy cover, we find either no change, or declines in NDVI and EVI derived from PlanetScope CubeSat and Landsat data with increasing forest cover. In conjunction with field observations of NDVI, these results indicate that understory vegetation likely exerts a strong influence on vegetation indices in these ecosystems. This suggests that positive decadal trends in NDVI in Siberian larch forests may correspond primarily to increases in understory productivity, or even to declines in forest cover. Consequently, positive NDVI trends may be associated with declines in terrestrial carbon storage and increases in albedo, rather than increases in carbon storage and decreases in albedo that are commonly assumed. Moreover, it is also likely that important ecological changes such as large changes in forest density or variable forest regrowth after fire are not captured by long-term NDVI trends.


2012 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fábio M. Breunig ◽  
Lênio S. Galvão ◽  
Antônio R. Formaggio ◽  
José C.N. Epiphanio

Directional effects introduce a variability in reflectance and vegetation index determination, especially when large field-of-view sensors are used (e.g., Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer - MODIS). In this study, we evaluated directional effects on MODIS reflectance and four vegetation indices (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index - NDVI; Enhanced Vegetation Index - EVI; Normalized Difference Water Index - NDWI1640 and NDWI2120) with the soybean development in two growing seasons (2004-2005 and 2005-2006). To keep the reproductive stage for a given cultivar as a constant factor while varying viewing geometry, pairs of images obtained in close dates and opposite view angles were analyzed. By using a non-parametric statistics with bootstrapping and by normalizing these indices for angular differences among viewing directions, their sensitivities to directional effects were studied. Results showed that the variation in MODIS reflectance between consecutive phenological stages was generally smaller than that resultant from viewing geometry for closed canopies. The contrary was observed for incomplete canopies. The reflectance of the first seven MODIS bands was higher in the backscattering. Except for the EVI, the other vegetation indices had larger values in the forward scattering direction. Directional effects decreased with canopy closure. The NDVI was lesser affected by directional effects than the other indices, presenting the smallest differences between viewing directions for fixed phenological stages.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teodoro Semeraro ◽  
Andrea Luvisi ◽  
Antonio O. Lillo ◽  
Roberta Aretano ◽  
Riccardo Buccolieri ◽  
...  

Forests are important in sequestering CO2 and therefore play a significant role in climate change. However, the CO2 cycle is conditioned by drought events that alter the rate of photosynthesis, which is the principal physiological action of plants in transforming CO2 into biological energy. This study applied recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) to describe the evolution of photosynthesis-related indices to highlight disturbance alterations produced by the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO, years 2005 and 2010) and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO, year 2015) in the Amazon forest. The analysis was carried out using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) images to build time series of the enhanced vegetation index (EVI), the normalized difference water index (NDWI), and the land surface temperature (LST) covering the period 2001–2018. The results did not show significant variations produced by AMO throughout the study area, while a disruption due to the global warming phase linked to the extreme ENSO event occurred, and the forest was able to recover. In addition, spatial differences in the response of the forest to the ENSO event were found. These findings show that the application of RQA to the time series of vegetation indices supports the evaluation of the forest ecosystem response to disruptive events. This approach provides information on the capacity of the forest to recover after a disruptive event and, therefore is useful to estimate the resilience of this particular ecosystem.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2017 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rika Hernawati ◽  
Agung Budi Harto ◽  
Dewi Kania Sari

ABSTRAKPemantauan dan prakiraan hasil tanam padi sawah penting untuk dilakukan antara lain dalam rangka menjaga ketahanan pangan nasional. Saat ini, pemantauan pertumbuhan tanaman padi sawah dapat dilakukan dengan mengaplikasikan teknologi pengindraan jauh, antara lain dengan mendeteksi fenologi tanaman padi sawah yang terekam pada setiap piksel citra yang selanjutnya dapat digunakan untuk pemetaan pola tanam dan kalender tanam padi sawah. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengembangkan algoritma deteksi fenologi padi sawah dengan menggunakan indeks vegetasi Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) dan Land Surface Water Index (LSWI) berkala yang diturunkan dari data citra MODIS, dengan menerapkan proses penapisan Gaussian. Penerapan teknik penapisan Gaussian pada data indeks vegetasi tersebut diharapkan dapat meminimalisasi derau, sehingga akan meningkatkan ketelitian hasil pendeteksian fenologi tanaman padi sawah. Wilayah studi mencakup 3 Kabupaten di Provinsi Jawa Barat bagian utara, yaitu Kabupaten Subang, Kabupaten Karawang, dan Kabupaten Bekasi. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa penerapan penapisan Gaussian pada metode deteksi fenologi padi sawah berbasis indeks vegetasi EVI dan LSWI berkala telah dapat meningkatkan ketelitian hasil deteksi tanggal-tanggal fenologis padi sawah. Keakuratan hasil estimasi luas tanam dan luas panen padi sawah divalidasi menggunakan data statistik dari Dinas Pertanian Kabupaten.Kata Kunci: deteksi fenologi, EVI, LSWI, penapisan GaussianABSTRACTMonitoring and forecasting yields of paddy rice are important to do, in order to maintain national food security. The current paddy crop growth monitoring can be done by applying remote sensing technology by detecting paddy phenology to produce the date of planting and harvest dates, which were recorded at each pixel of the digital image of rice field and can then be used for cropping pattern and planting calendar mapping. This research aims to develop a detection algorithm phenology paddy using vegetation indices Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) and Land Surface Water Index (LSWI) periodic image data derived from MODIS, by applying a Gaussian filtering process. The application of Gaussian filtering techniques to the data of vegetation indeces, EVI and LSWI, are expected to minimize the noise, thereby increasing the precision of detection of paddy rice crop phenology. The study area covers three districts in the northern part of West Java Province, i.e. Subang, Karawang and Bekasi. The results showed that the application of Gaussian filtering on the detection method of paddy rice phenology based on multitemporal vegetation indices EVI and LSWI can improve the precision of the detection of paddy phenological dates. The accuracy of the estimation results of the planting and harvested area of paddy were validated using statistical data from the District Agricultural Office.Keywords: phenology detection, EVI, LSWI, Gaussian filtering


Author(s):  
E. O. Makinde ◽  
A. D. Obigha

The Landsat system has contributed significantly to the understanding of the Earth observation for over forty years. Since May 2013, data from Landsat 8 has been available online for download, with substantial differences from its predecessors, having an extended number of spectral bands and narrower bandwidths. The objectives of this research were majorly to carry out a cross comparison analysis between vegetation indices derived from Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and also performed statistical analysis on the results derived from the vegetation indices. Also, this research carried out a change detection on four land cover classes present within the study area, as well as projected the land cover for year 2030. The methods applied in this research include, carrying out image classification on the Landsat imageries acquired between 1984 – 2016 to ascertain the changes in the land cover types, calculated the mean values of differenced vegetation indices derived from the four land covers between Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI. Statistical analysis involving regression and correlation analysis were also carried out on the vegetation indices derived between the two sensors, as well as scatter plot diagrams with linear regression equation and coefficients of determination (R2). The results showed no noticeable differences between Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 sensors, which demonstrates high similarities. This was observed because Global Environmental Monitoring Index (GEMI), Improved Modified Triangular Vegetation Index 2 (MTVI2), Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI), Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Land Surface Water Index (LSWI) had smaller standard deviations. However, Renormalized Difference Vegetation Index (RDVI), Anthocyanin Reflectance Index 1 (ARI1) and Anthocyanin Reflectance Index 2 (ARI2) performed relatively poorly because their standard deviations were high. the correlation analysis of the vegetation indices that both sensors had a very high linear correlation coefficient with R2 greater than 0.99. It was concluded from this research that Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI can be used as complimentary data.


Author(s):  
Frank D. Eckardt

This article on remote sensing or earth observation focuses on mapping and monitoring systems that produce global-scale data sets which are easily accessible to the wider public. It makes particular reference to low-earth-orbiting remote sensing platforms and sensors and associated image archives such as provided by the Landsat and Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) programs. It also draws attention to handheld space photography, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and the high-spatial-resolution capability obtained from the commercial remote sensing sector. This entry examines applications that are of global interest and are facilitated through image and data portals. Particular emphasis is placed on products such as the normalized difference vegetation index, real-time fire mapping, forest cover change, geomorphology, and global elevation data as well as actual true- and false-color imagery. All of these can be readily imported as shape or raster files into a Geographic Information System (GIS). Key papers dealing with the global monitoring of the biosphere, dynamic topography, and gravity are being cited. Special emphasis is placed on current capabilities in monitoring recent and ongoing changes in the tropics as well as Arctic and Antarctic environment. Numerous remote sensing systems capture the state and dynamics of rainforests, ice caps, glaciers, and shelf and sea ice, some of which are available in near-real-time trend analysis. Not all sensors produce images; some measure passive microwaves, send laser pulses, or detect small fluctuations in gravitational attraction. Nevertheless, all instruments measure changes in earth’s surface state, indicative of seasonal cycles and long-term trends as well as human impact. This article also makes reference to historic developments, social benefits, and ethical considerations in remote sensing as well as the modern role of aerial photography and airborne platforms. Most people will never get to see a satellite or its instruments, they might not even get to see the available data or imagery, but these systems are directly informing the masses or indirectly shaping the perception of a changing and dynamic world. Future revisions to this article will consider oceanographic and atmospheric remote sensing capabilities.


Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1016
Author(s):  
Mohammad Emran Hasan ◽  
Biswajit Nath ◽  
A.H.M. Raihan Sarker ◽  
Zhihua Wang ◽  
Li Zhang ◽  
...  

Overdependence on and exploitation of forest resources have significantly transformed the natural reserve forest of Sundarban, which shares the largest mangrove territory in the world, into a great degradation status. By observing these, a most pressing concern is how much degradation occurred in the past, and what will be the scenarios in the future if they continue? To confirm the degradation status in the past decades and reveal the future trend, we took Sundarban Reserve Forest (SRF) as an example, and used satellite Earth observation historical Landsat imagery between 1989 and 2019 as existing data and primary data. Moreover, a geographic information system model was considered to estimate land cover (LC) change and spatial health quality of the SRF from 1989 to 2029 based on the large and small tree categories. The maximum likelihood classifier (MLC) technique was employed to classify the historical images with five different LC types, which were further considered for future projection (2029) including trends based on 2019 simulation results from 1989 and 2019 LC maps using the Markov-cellular automata model. The overall accuracy achieved was 82.30%~90.49% with a kappa value of 0.75~0.87. The historical result showed forest degradation in the past (1989–2019) of 4773.02 ha yr−1, considered as great forest degradation (GFD) and showed a declining status when moving with the projection (2019–2029) of 1508.53 ha yr−1 and overall there was a decline of 3956.90 ha yr−1 in the 1989–2029 time period. Moreover, the study also observed that dense forest was gradually degraded (good to bad) but, conversely, light forest was enhanced, which will continue in the future even to 2029 if no effective management is carried out. Therefore, by observing the GFD, through spatial forest health quality and forest degradation mapping and assessment, the study suggests a few policies that require the immediate attention of forest policy-makers to implement them immediately and ensure sustainable development in the SRF.


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