scholarly journals Satellite Time Series and Google Earth Engine Democratize the Process of Forest-Recovery Monitoring over Large Areas

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 4745
Author(s):  
Jennifer N. Hird ◽  
Jahan Kariyeva ◽  
Gregory J. McDermid
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Forest Health ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Forest Recovery ◽  
Percent Recovery ◽  
Health Initiatives ◽  
Spectral Recovery ◽  
Google Earth Engine ◽  
Normalized Burn Ratio

Contemporary forest-health initiatives require technologies and workflows that can monitor forest degradation and recovery simply and efficiently over large areas. Spectral recovery analysis—the examination of spectral trajectories in satellite time series—can help democratize this process, particularly when performed with cloud computing and open-access satellite archives. We used the Landsat archive and Google Earth Engine (GEE) to track spectral recovery across more than 57,000 forest harvest areas in the Canadian province of Alberta. We analyzed changes in the normalized burn ratio (NBR) to document a variety of recovery metrics, including year of harvest, percent recovery after five years, number of years required to achieve 80% of pre-disturbance NBR, and % recovery the end of our monitoring window (2018). We found harvest areas in Alberta to recover an average of 59.9% of their pre-harvest NBR after five years. The mean number of years required to achieve 80% recovery in the province was 8.7 years. We observed significant variability in pre- and post-harvest spectral recovery both regionally and locally, demonstrating the importance of climate, elevation, and complex local factors on rates of spectral recovery. These findings are comparable to those reported in other studies and demonstrate the potential for our workflow to support broad-scale management and research objectives in a manner that is complimentary to existing information sources. Measures of spectral recovery for all 57,979 harvest areas in our analysis are freely available and browseable via a custom GEE visualization tool, further demonstrating the accessibility of this information to stakeholders and interested members of the public.

Multi-temporal analysis of post-fire vegetation spectral recovery over European forests

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Floriana Spatola ◽  
Angelo Rita ◽  
Marco Borghetti ◽  
Francesco Ripullone ◽  
Agostino Ferrara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Forest Ecosystems ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Biogeographic Regions ◽  
Spectral Recovery ◽  
Google Earth Engine ◽  
European Forest ◽  
Normalized Burn Ratio

<p>The disturbance and recovery of European Forest ecosystems are greatly affected by wildfires, requiring continued monitoring to observe vegetational structure altered over time. One of the most important parameters is “fire severity” defined as magnitude of environmental change caused by wildfires. Due to correlation between severity and post-fire recovery vegetation, fire severity is an  important indicator to define operations in the burned areas. Satellite based-data is becoming a key information for near real-time mapping and monitoring burned area after wildfire disturbances. Moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) time-series data allows for both the capture of the initial disturbance and the ability to monitor the subsequent vegetation regeneration with spectral vegetation indices. In this study, the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform, was used to analyse post-fire spectral recovery of European forests through the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Relative Recovery Indicator (RRI) based on the Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR). We assessed Normalized Burn Ratio time series in order to determine trends in the short term rates of spectral recovery for three forest land cover classes and European Biogeographic regions disturbed by wildfire (2004-2013), using a series of 5-year post-disturbance time window. NBR pattern of mixed forests showed a lower variability than broadleaved and coniferous forest, indicating high resilience to environmental disturbances. Results indicate different trends of forest recovery according to different spectral indices analysed for European forest ecosystems. During the analysis period (2004-2013) we found that post-fire spectral recovery rates decreased over ten years of observation in each land cover classes and Biogeographic regions. These trends could be related to on-going climate changes affecting the Mediterranean region.</p><p>Keywords: Fire severity, Forest, Google Earth Engine, Modis (time series), Recovery, Spectral index, Wildfire.</p><p> </p>

scholarly journals The NDVI algorithm utilization on the google earth engine platform to monitor changes in forest density in mining area

2021 ◽  
Vol 886 (1) ◽  
pp. 012100
Author(s):  
Munajat Nursaputra ◽  
Siti Halimah Larekeng ◽  
Nasri ◽  
Andi Siady Hamzah
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Aerial Images ◽  
Forest Monitoring ◽  
Forest Density ◽  
Google Earth Engine

Abstract Periodic forest monitoring needs to be done to avoid forest degradation. In general, forest monitoring can be conducted manually (field surveys) or using technological innovations such as remote sensing data derived from aerial images (drone results) or cloud computing-based image processing. Currently, remote sensing technology provides large-scale forest monitoring using multispectral sensors and various vegetation index processing algorithms. This study aimed to evaluate the use of the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform, a geospatial dataset platform, in the Vale Indonesia mining concession area to improve accountable forest monitoring. This platform integrates a set of programming methods with a publicly accessible time-series database of satellite imaging services. The method used is NDVI processing on Landsat multispectral images in time series format, which allows for the description of changes in forest density levels over time. The results of this NDVI study conducted on the GEE platform have the potential to be used as a tool and additional supporting data for monitoring forest conditions and improvement in mining regions.

scholarly journals Monitoring temperate forest degradation on Google Earth Engine using Landsat time series analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 265 ◽  
pp. 112648
Author(s):  
Shijuan Chen ◽  
Curtis E. Woodcock ◽  
Eric L. Bullock ◽  
Paulo Arévalo ◽  
Paata Torchinava ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Time Series Analysis ◽  
Temperate Forest ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Series Analysis ◽  
Google Earth Engine

scholarly journals Time-series snowmelt detection over the Antarctic using Sentinel-1 SAR images on Google Earth Engine

2021 ◽  
Vol 256 ◽  
pp. 112318
Author(s):  
Dong Liang ◽  
Huadong Guo ◽  
Lu Zhang ◽  
Yun Cheng ◽  
Qi Zhu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Sar Images ◽  
Google Earth Engine ◽  
The Antarctic

An updated national-scale mangrove forest map in China Using Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 Time-Series Data with Google Earth Engine

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luojia Hu ◽  
Wei Yao ◽  
Zhitong Yu ◽  
Yan Huang
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Mangrove Forest ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Series Data ◽  
National Scale ◽  
Mangrove Area ◽  
Google Earth Engine ◽  
Forest Maps ◽  
Sentinel 2

<p>A high resolution mangrove map (e.g., 10-m), which can identify mangrove patches with small size (< 1 ha), is a central component to quantify ecosystem functions and help government take effective steps to protect mangroves, because the increasing small mangrove patches, due to artificial destruction and plantation of new mangrove trees, are vulnerable to climate change and sea level rise, and important for estimating mangrove habitat connectivity with adjacent coastal ecosystems as well as reducing the uncertainty of carbon storage estimation. However, latest national scale mangrove forest maps mainly derived from Landsat imagery with 30-m resolution are relatively coarse to accurately characterize the distribution of mangrove forests, especially those of small size (area < 1 ha). Sentinel imagery with 10-m resolution provide the opportunity for identifying these small mangrove patches and generating high-resolution mangrove forest maps. Here, we used spectral/backscatter-temporal variability metrics (quantiles) derived from Sentinel-1 SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) and sentinel-2 MSI (Multispectral Instrument) time-series imagery as input features for random forest to classify mangroves in China. We found that Sentinel-2 imagery is more effective than Sentinel-1 in mangrove extraction, and a combination of SAR and MSI imagery can get a better accuracy (F1-score of 0.94) than using them separately (F1-score of 0.88 using Sentinel-1 only and 0.895 using Sentinel-2 only). The 10-m mangrove map derived by combining SAR and MSI data identified 20,003 ha mangroves in China and the areas of small mangrove patches (< 1 ha) was 1741 ha, occupying 8.7% of the whole mangrove area. The largest area (819 ha) of small mangrove patches is located in Guangdong Province, and in Fujian the percentage of small mangrove patches in total mangrove area is the highest (11.4%). A comparison with existing 30-m mangrove products showed noticeable disagreement, indicating the necessity for generating mangrove extent product with 10-m resolution. This study demonstrates the significant potential of using Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 images to produce an accurate and high-resolution mangrove forest map with Google Earth Engine (GEE). The mangrove forest maps are expected to provide critical information to conservation managers, scientists, and other stakeholders in monitoring the dynamics of mangrove forest.</p>

Sentinel-1 Time-Series Analysis for Fires Monitoring using Google Earth Engine Tools

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Massimiliano Gargiulo ◽  
Antonio Iodice ◽  
Daniele Riccio ◽  
Giuseppe Ruello
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Time Series Analysis ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Series Analysis ◽  
Google Earth Engine

scholarly journals Socio-environmental land cover time series analysis of mining landscapes using Google Earth Engine and web-based mapping

2020 ◽  
pp. 100458
Author(s):  
Michelle Li Ern Ang ◽  
Dirk Arts ◽  
Danielle Crawford ◽  
Bonifacio V. Labatos ◽  
Khanh Duc Ngo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Time Series Analysis ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Cover Time ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Series Analysis ◽  
Google Earth Engine

Monitoring of water table dynamics in peatlands with OPTRAM: Towards globally applicable algorithms in Google Earth Engine using Landsat and Sentinel-2

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iuliia Burdun ◽  
Michel Bechtold ◽  
Viacheslav Komisarenko ◽  
Annalea Lohila ◽  
Elyn Humphreys ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Water Table ◽  
Input Data ◽  
Short Wave ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Google Earth Engine ◽  
Short Wave Infrared ◽  
Northern Peatlands ◽  
Sentinel 2

<p>Fluctuations of water table depth (WTD) affect many processes in peatlands, such as vegetation development and emissions of greenhouse gases. Here, we present the OPtical TRApezoid Model (OPTRAM) as a new method for satellite-based monitoring of the temporal variation of WTD in peatlands. OPTRAM is based on the response of short-wave infrared reflectance to the vegetation water status. For five northern peatlands with long-term in-situ WTD records, and with diverse vegetation cover and hydrological regimes, we generate a suite of OPTRAM index time series using (a) different procedures to parametrise OPTRAM (peatland-specific manual vs. globally applicable automatic parametrisation in Google Earth Engine), and (b) different satellite input data (Landsat vs. Sentinel-2). The results based on the manual parametrisation of OPTRAM indicate a high correlation with in-situ WTD time-series for pixels with most suitable vegetation for OPTRAM application (mean Pearson correlation of 0.7 across sites), and we will present the performance differences when moving from a manual to an automatic procedure. Furthermore, for the overlap period of Landsat and Sentinel-2, which have different ranges and widths of short-wave infrared bands used for OPTRAM calculation, the impact of the satellite input data to OPTRAM will be analysed. Eventually, the challenge of merging different satellite missions in the derivation of OPTRAM time series will be explored as an important step towards a global application of OPTRAM for the monitoring of WTD dynamics in northern peatlands.</p>

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