scholarly journals Optimal Combination of Predictors and Algorithms for Forest Above-Ground Biomass Mapping from Sentinel and SRTM Data

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Chen ◽  
Yeqiao Wang ◽  
Chunying Ren ◽  
Bai Zhang ◽  
Zongming Wang

Accurate forest above-ground biomass (AGB) mapping is crucial for sustaining forest management and carbon cycle tracking. The Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) and Sentinel satellite series offer opportunities for forest AGB monitoring. In this study, predictors filtered from 121 variables from Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR), Sentinal-2 multispectral instrument (MSI) and SRTM digital elevation model (DEM) data were composed into four groups and evaluated for their effectiveness in prediction of AGB. Five evaluated algorithms include linear regression such as stepwise regression (SWR) and geographically weighted regression (GWR); machine learning (ML) such as artificial neural network (ANN), support vector machine for regression (SVR), and random forest (RF). The results showed that the RF model used predictors from both the Sentinel series and SRTM DEM performed the best, based on the independent validation set. The RF model achieved accuracy with the mean error, mean absolute error, root mean square error, and correlation coefficient in 1.39, 25.48, 61.11 Mg·ha−1 and 0.9769, respectively. Texture characteristics, reflectance, vegetation indices, elevation, stream power index, topographic wetness index and surface roughness were recommended predictors for AGB prediction. Predictor variables were more important than algorithms for improving the accuracy of AGB estimates. The study demonstrated encouraging results in the optimal combination of predictors and algorithms for forest AGB mapping, using openly accessible and fine-resolution data based on RF algorithms.

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (16) ◽  
pp. 3590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bui ◽  
Moayedi ◽  
Kalantar ◽  
Osouli ◽  
Gör ◽  
...  

In this research, the novel metaheuristic algorithm Harris hawks optimization (HHO) is applied to landslide susceptibility analysis in Western Iran. To this end, the HHO is synthesized with an artificial neural network (ANN) to optimize its performance. A spatial database comprising 208 historical landslides, as well as 14 landslide conditioning factors—elevation, slope aspect, plan curvature, profile curvature, soil type, lithology, distance to the river, distance to the road, distance to the fault, land cover, slope degree, stream power index (SPI), topographic wetness index (TWI), and rainfall—is prepared to develop the ANN and HHO–ANN predictive tools. Mean square error and mean absolute error criteria are defined to measure the performance error of the models, and area under the receiving operating characteristic curve (AUROC) is used to evaluate the accuracy of the generated susceptibility maps. The findings showed that the HHO algorithm effectively improved the performance of ANN in both recognizing (AUROCANN = 0.731 and AUROCHHO–ANN = 0.777) and predicting (AUROCANN = 0.720 and AUROCHHO–ANN = 0.773) the landslide pattern.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 958 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luofan Dong ◽  
Huaqiang Du ◽  
Ning Han ◽  
Xuejian Li ◽  
Di’en Zhu ◽  
...  

Above-ground biomass (AGB) directly relates to the productivity of forests. Precisely, AGB mapping for regional forests based on very high resolution (VHR) imagery is widely needed for evaluation of productivity. However, the diversity of variables and algorithms and the difficulties inherent in high resolution optical imagery make it complex. In this paper, we explored the potentials of the state-of-art algorithm convolutional neural networks (CNNs), which are widely used for its high-level representation, but rarely applied for AGB estimation. Four experiments were carried out to compare the performance of CNNs and other state-of-art Machine Learning (ML) algorithms: (1) performance of CNN using bands, (2) performance of Random Forest (RF), support vector regression (SVR), artificial neural network (ANN) on bands, and vegetation indices (VIs). (3) Performance of RF, SVR, and ANN on gray-level co-occurrence matrices (GLCM), and exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA), and (4) performance of RF, SVR, and ANN based on all combined data and ESDA+VIs. CNNs reached satisfactory results (with R2 = 0.943) even with limited input variables (i.e., only bands). In comparison, RF and SVR with elaborately designed data obtained slightly better accuracy than CNN. For examples, RF based on GLCM textures reached an R2 of 0.979 and RF based on all combined data reached a close R2 of 0.974. However, the results of ANN were much worse (with the best R2 of 0.885).


Sensors ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 601
Author(s):  
Prakriti Sharma ◽  
Larry Leigh ◽  
Jiyul Chang ◽  
Maitiniyazi Maimaitijiang ◽  
Melanie Caffé

Current strategies for phenotyping above-ground biomass in field breeding nurseries demand significant investment in both time and labor. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) can be used to derive vegetation indices (VIs) with high throughput and could provide an efficient way to predict forage yield with high accuracy. The main objective of the study is to investigate the potential of UAV-based multispectral data and machine learning approaches in the estimation of oat biomass. UAV equipped with a multispectral sensor was flown over three experimental oat fields in Volga, South Shore, and Beresford, South Dakota, USA, throughout the pre- and post-heading growth phases of oats in 2019. A variety of vegetation indices (VIs) derived from UAV-based multispectral imagery were employed to build oat biomass estimation models using four machine-learning algorithms: partial least squares (PLS), support vector machine (SVM), Artificial neural network (ANN), and random forest (RF). The results showed that several VIs derived from the UAV collected images were significantly positively correlated with dry biomass for Volga and Beresford (r = 0.2–0.65), however, in South Shore, VIs were either not significantly or weakly correlated with biomass. For Beresford, approximately 70% of the variance was explained by PLS, RF, and SVM validation models using data collected during the post-heading phase. Likewise for Volga, validation models had lower coefficient of determination (R2 = 0.20–0.25) and higher error (RMSE = 700–800 kg/ha) than training models (R2 = 0.50–0.60; RMSE = 500–690 kg/ha). In South Shore, validation models were only able to explain approx. 15–20% of the variation in biomass, which is possibly due to the insignificant correlation values between VIs and biomass. Overall, this study indicates that airborne remote sensing with machine learning has potential for above-ground biomass estimation in oat breeding nurseries. The main limitation was inconsistent accuracy in model prediction across locations. Multiple-year spectral data, along with the inclusion of textural features like crop surface model (CSM) derived height and volumetric indicators, should be considered in future studies while estimating biophysical parameters like biomass.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Negar Tavasoli ◽  
Hossein Arefi

Assessment of forest above ground biomass (AGB) is critical for managing forest and understanding the role of forest as source of carbon fluxes. Recently, satellite remote sensing products offer the chance to map forest biomass and carbon stock. The present study focuses on comparing the potential use of combination of ALOSPALSAR and Sentinel-1 SAR data, with Sentinel-2 optical data to estimate above ground biomass and carbon stock using Genetic-Random forest machine learning (GA-RF) algorithm. Polarimetric decompositions, texture characteristics and backscatter coefficients of ALOSPALSAR and Sentinel-1, and vegetation indices, tasseled cap, texture parameters and principal component analysis (PCA) of Sentinel-2 based on measured AGB samples were used to estimate biomass. The overall coefficient (R2) of AGB modelling using combination of ALOSPALSAR and Sentinel-1 data, and Sentinel-2 data were respectively 0.70 and 0.62. The result showed that Combining ALOSPALSAR and Sentinel-1 data to predict AGB by using GA-RF model performed better than Sentinel-2 data.


Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Chen ◽  
Chunying Ren ◽  
Bai Zhang ◽  
Zongming Wang ◽  
Yanbiao Xi

Accurate forest above-ground biomass (AGB) is crucial for sustaining forest management and mitigating climate change to support REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, plus the sustainable management of forests, and the conservation and enhancement of forest carbon stocks) processes. Recently launched Sentinel imagery offers a new opportunity for forest AGB mapping and monitoring. In this study, texture characteristics and backscatter coefficients of Sentinel-1, in addition to multispectral bands, vegetation indices, and biophysical variables of Sentinal-2, based on 56 measured AGB samples in the center of the Changbai Mountains, China, were used to develop biomass prediction models through geographically weighted regression (GWR) and machine learning (ML) algorithms, such as the artificial neural network (ANN), support vector machine for regression (SVR), and random forest (RF). The results showed that texture characteristics and vegetation biophysical variables were the most important predictors. SVR was the best method for predicting and mapping the patterns of AGB in the study site with limited samples, whose mean error, mean absolute error, root mean square error, and correlation coefficient were 4 × 10−3, 0.07, 0.08 Mg·ha−1, and 1, respectively. Predicted values of AGB from four models ranged from 11.80 to 324.12 Mg·ha−1, and those for broadleaved deciduous forests were the most accurate, while those for AGB above 160 Mg·ha−1 were the least accurate. The study demonstrated encouraging results in forest AGB mapping of the normal vegetated area using the freely accessible and high-resolution Sentinel imagery, based on ML techniques.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 2678 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhu ◽  
Sun ◽  
Peng ◽  
Huang ◽  
Li ◽  
...  

Crop above-ground biomass (AGB) is a key parameter used for monitoring crop growth and predicting yield in precision agriculture. Estimating the crop AGB at a field scale through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is promising for agronomic application, but the robustness of the methods used for estimation needs to be balanced with practical application. In this study, three UAV remote sensing flight missions (using a multiSPEC-4C multispectral camera, a Micasense RedEdge-M multispectral camera, and an Alpha Series AL3-32 Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensor onboard three different UAV platforms) were conducted above three long-term experimental plots with different tillage treatments in 2018. We investigated the performances of the multi-source UAV-based 3D point clouds at multi-spatial scales using the traditional multi-variable linear regression model (OLS), random forest (RF), backpropagation neural network (BP), and support vector machine (SVM) methods for accurate AGB estimation. Results showed that crop height (CH) was a robust proxy for AGB estimation, and that high spatial resolution in CH datasets helps to improve maize AGB estimation. Furthermore, the OLS, RF, BP, and SVM methods all maintained an acceptable accuracy for AGB estimation; however, the SVM and RF methods performed slightly more robustly. This study is expected to optimize UAV systems and algorithms for specific agronomic applications.


2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 264 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Ilia ◽  
D. Rozos ◽  
I. Koumantakis

The main objective of this paper is to classify landforms in Kimi municipality area of Euboea Island, Greece using advanced spatial techniques. Landform categories were determined by conducting morphometric analysis through the use of advanced GIS functions. In particular, the process of classifying the landscape into landform categories was based on Topographic Position Index (TPI). The main topographic elements such as slope inclination, aspect, slope shape (curvature), topographic wetness index and stream power index were obtained from the DEM file of the study area. Landform classification was obtained using TPI grids and the classes were related with the geological pattern and the land cover by sophisticated spatial analysis function. The knowledge obtained from the present study could be useful in identifying areas prone to land degradation and instability problems in which landforms are identified as an essential parameter


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaxiao Niu ◽  
Liyuan Zhang ◽  
Huihui Zhang ◽  
Wenting Han ◽  
Xingshuo Peng

The rapid, accurate, and economical estimation of crop above-ground biomass at the farm scale is crucial for precision agricultural management. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote-sensing system has a great application potential with the ability to obtain remote-sensing imagery with high temporal-spatial resolution. To verify the application potential of consumer-grade UAV RGB imagery in estimating maize above-ground biomass, vegetation indices and plant height derived from UAV RGB imagery were adopted. To obtain a more accurate observation, plant height was directly derived from UAV RGB point clouds. To search the optimal estimation method, the estimation performances of the models based on vegetation indices alone, based on plant height alone, and based on both vegetation indices and plant height were compared. The results showed that plant height directly derived from UAV RGB point clouds had a high correlation with ground-truth data with an R2 value of 0.90 and an RMSE value of 0.12 m. The above-ground biomass exponential regression models based on plant height alone had higher correlations for both fresh and dry above-ground biomass with R2 values of 0.77 and 0.76, respectively, compared to the linear regression model (both R2 values were 0.59). The vegetation indices derived from UAV RGB imagery had great potential to estimate maize above-ground biomass with R2 values ranging from 0.63 to 0.73. When estimating the above-ground biomass of maize by using multivariable linear regression based on vegetation indices, a higher correlation was obtained with an R2 value of 0.82. There was no significant improvement of the estimation performance when plant height derived from UAV RGB imagery was added into the multivariable linear regression model based on vegetation indices. When estimating crop above-ground biomass based on UAV RGB remote-sensing system alone, looking for optimized vegetation indices and establishing estimation models with high performance based on advanced algorithms (e.g., machine learning technology) may be a better way.


Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (20) ◽  
pp. 5763 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahab S. Band ◽  
Saeid Janizadeh ◽  
Subodh Chandra Pal ◽  
Indrajit Chowdhuri ◽  
Zhaleh Siabi ◽  
...  

Prediction of the groundwater nitrate concentration is of utmost importance for pollution control and water resource management. This research aims to model the spatial groundwater nitrate concentration in the Marvdasht watershed, Iran, based on several artificial intelligence methods of support vector machine (SVM), Cubist, random forest (RF), and Bayesian artificial neural network (Baysia-ANN) machine learning models. For this purpose, 11 independent variables affecting groundwater nitrate changes include elevation, slope, plan curvature, profile curvature, rainfall, piezometric depth, distance from the river, distance from residential, Sodium (Na), Potassium (K), and topographic wetness index (TWI) in the study area were prepared. Nitrate levels were also measured in 67 wells and used as a dependent variable for modeling. Data were divided into two categories of training (70%) and testing (30%) for modeling. The evaluation criteria coefficient of determination (R2), mean absolute error (MAE), root mean square error (RMSE), and Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) were used to evaluate the performance of the models used. The results of modeling the susceptibility of groundwater nitrate concentration showed that the RF (R2 = 0.89, RMSE = 4.24, NSE = 0.87) model is better than the other Cubist (R2 = 0.87, RMSE = 5.18, NSE = 0.81), SVM (R2 = 0.74, RMSE = 6.07, NSE = 0.74), Bayesian-ANN (R2 = 0.79, RMSE = 5.91, NSE = 0.75) models. The results of groundwater nitrate concentration zoning in the study area showed that the northern parts of the case study have the highest amount of nitrate, which is higher in these agricultural areas than in other areas. The most important cause of nitrate pollution in these areas is agriculture activities and the use of groundwater to irrigate these crops and the wells close to agricultural areas, which has led to the indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers by irrigation or rainwater of these fertilizers is washed and penetrates groundwater and pollutes the aquifer.


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