Mapping Winter Wheat with Optical and SAR Images Based on Google Earth Engine in Henan Province, China

The timely and accurate acquisition of winter wheat acreage is crucial for food security. This study investigated the feasibility of extracting the spatial distribution map of winter wheat in Henan Province by using synthetic aperture radar (SAR, Sentinel-1A) and optical (Sentinel-2) images. Firstly, the SAR images were aggregated based on the growth period of winter wheat, and the optical images were aggregated based on the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer normalized difference vegetation index (MODIS-NDVI) curve. Then, five spectral features, two polarization features, and four texture features were selected as feature variables. Finally, the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud platform was employed to extract winter wheat acreage through the random forest (RF) algorithm. The results show that: (1) aggregated images based on the growth period of winter wheat and sensor characteristics can improve the mapping accuracy and efficiency; (2) the extraction accuracy of using only SAR images was improved with the accumulation of growth period. The extraction accuracy of using the SAR images in the full growth period reached 80.1%; and (3) the identification effect of integrated images was relatively good, which makes up for the shortcomings of SAR and optical images and improves the extraction accuracy of winter wheat.

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Development of a New Phenology Algorithm for Fine Mapping of Cropping Intensity in Complex Planting Areas Using Sentinel-2 and Google Earth Engine

ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information ◽

10.3390/ijgi10090587 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 587

Author(s):

Yan Guo ◽

Haoming Xia ◽

Li Pan ◽

Xiaoyang Zhao ◽

Rumeng Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Surface ◽

Vegetation Index ◽

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽

Growth Cycle ◽

Google Earth ◽

Henan Province ◽

Cropping Intensity ◽

Water Index ◽

Google Earth Engine ◽

Sentinel 2

Cropping intensity is a key indicator for evaluating grain production and intensive use of cropland. Timely and accurately monitoring of cropping intensity is of great significance for ensuring national food security and improving the level of national land management. In this study, we used all Sentinel-2 images on the Google Earth Engine cloud platform, and constructed an improved peak point detection method to extract the cropping intensity of a heterogeneous planting area combined with crop phenology. The crop growth cycle profiles were extracted from the multi-temporal normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and land surface water index (LSWI) datasets. Results show that by 2020, the area of single cropping, double cropping, and triple cropping in the Henan Province are 52,236.9 km2, 74,334.1 km2, and 1927.1 km2, respectively; the corresponding producer accuracies are 86.12%, 93.72%, and 91.41%, respectively; the corresponding user accuracies are 88.99%, 92.29%, and 71.26%, respectively. The overall accuracy is 90.95%, and the Kappa coefficient is 0.81. Using the sown area in the statistical yearbook data of cities in the Henan Province to verify the extraction results of this paper, the R2 is 0.9717, and the root mean square error is 1715.9 km2. This study shows that using all the Sentinel-2 data, the phenology algorithm, and cloud computing technology has great potential in producing a high spatio-temporal resolution dataset for crop remote sensing monitoring and agricultural policymaking in complex planting areas.

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A Long-term Spatial and Temporal Analysis of NDVI Changes in Java Island Using Google Earth Engine

IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science ◽

10.1088/1755-1315/936/1/012038 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 936 (1) ◽

pp. 012038

Author(s):

Benedict ◽

Lalu Muhamad Jaelani

Keyword(s):

Vegetation Cover ◽

Vegetation Index ◽

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽

Image Data ◽

Temporal Analysis ◽

Google Earth ◽

Vegetation Density ◽

Angle Sensor ◽

Study Results ◽

Google Earth Engine

Abstract Java is Indonesia’s and the world’s most populous island. The increase in population on the island of Java reduces the area of forest and other vegetation covers. Landslides, floods, and other natural disasters are caused by reduced vegetation cover. Furthermore, it has the potential to lead to the extinction of flora and fauna. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) can be used to monitor the vegetation cover. This study analyzes the NDVI changes value from 2005 to 2020 using Terra and Aqua MODIS image data processed using Google Earth Engine. Processing was carried out in some stages: down-setting, performing NDVI processing, calculating monthly average NDVI, calculating annual average NDVI, and analyzing. From the study results, the NDVI value of Terra and Aqua MODIS data has a solid but imperfect correlation coefficient due to differences in orbital time which causes differences in solar zenith angle, sensor viewing angle, and azimuth angle. Then from this study, it was found that overall, changes in vegetation density cover on the island of Java decreased, which was indicated by the NDVI decline rate of -0.00047/year. The most significant decrease in NDVI value occurred in the period 2015–2016, covering an area of 13994.630 km2, and the most significant increase in NDVI occurred in the period 2010–2011, covering an area of 2256.101 km2.

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HazMapper: a global open-source natural hazard mapping application in Google Earth Engine

Natural Hazards and Earth System Science ◽

10.5194/nhess-21-1495-2021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (5) ◽

pp. 1495-1511

Author(s):

Corey M. Scheip ◽

Karl W. Wegmann

Keyword(s):

Vegetation Index ◽

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽

Volcanic Eruptions ◽

Relative Difference ◽

Google Earth ◽

Satellite Networks ◽

Pyroclastic Flows ◽

Hazard Mapping ◽

Polar Regions ◽

Google Earth Engine

Abstract. Modern satellite networks with rapid image acquisition cycles allow for near-real-time imaging of areas impacted by natural hazards such as mass wasting, flooding, and volcanic eruptions. Publicly accessible multi-spectral datasets (e.g., Landsat, Sentinel-2) are particularly helpful in analyzing the spatial extent of disturbances, however, the datasets are large and require intensive processing on high-powered computers by trained analysts. HazMapper is an open-access hazard mapping application developed in Google Earth Engine that allows users to derive map and GIS-based products from Sentinel or Landsat datasets without the time- and cost-intensive resources required for traditional analysis. The first iteration of HazMapper relies on a vegetation-based metric, the relative difference in the normalized difference vegetation index (rdNDVI), to identify areas on the landscape where vegetation was removed following a natural disaster. Because of the vegetation-based metric, the tool is typically not suitable for use in desert or polar regions. HazMapper is not a semi-automated routine but makes rapid and repeatable analysis and visualization feasible for both recent and historical natural disasters. Case studies are included for the identification of landslides and debris flows, wildfires, pyroclastic flows, and lava flow inundation. HazMapper is intended for use by both scientists and non-scientists, such as emergency managers and public safety decision-makers.

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Estimating Proportion of Vegetation Cover at the Vicinity of Archaeological Sites Using Sentinel-1 and -2 Data, Supplemented by Crowdsourced OpenStreetMap Geodata

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app10144764 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (14) ◽

pp. 4764 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Athos Agapiou

Keyword(s):

Vegetation Cover ◽

Vegetation Index ◽

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽

Hazard Analysis ◽

Archaeological Site ◽

Google Earth ◽

Archaeological Sites ◽

Radar Images ◽

Optical Images ◽

Sentinel 2

Monitoring vegetation cover is an essential parameter for assessing various natural and anthropogenic hazards that occur at the vicinity of archaeological sites and landscapes. In this study, we used free and open access to Copernicus Earth Observation datasets. In particular, the proportion of vegetation cover is estimated from the analysis of Sentinel-1 radar and Sentinel-2 optical images, upon their radiometric and geometric corrections. Here, the proportion of vegetation based on the Radar Vegetation Index and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index is estimated. Due to the medium resolution of these datasets (10 m resolution), the crowdsourced OpenStreetMap service was used to identify fully and non-vegetated pixels. The case study is focused on the western part of Cyprus, whereas various open-air archaeological sites exist, such as the archaeological site of “Nea Paphos” and the “Tombs of the Kings”. A cross-comparison of the results between the optical and the radar images is presented, as well as a comparison with ready products derived from the Sentinel Hub service such as the Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar Urban and Sentinel-2 Scene classification data. Moreover, the proportion of vegetation cover was evaluated with Google Earth red-green-blue free high-resolution optical images, indicating that a good correlation between the RVI and NDVI can be generated only over vegetated areas. The overall findings indicate that Sentinel-1 and -2 indices can provide a similar pattern only over vegetated areas, which can be further elaborated to estimate temporal changes using integrated optical and radar Sentinel data. This study can support future investigations related to hazard analysis based on the combined use of optical and radar sensors, especially in areas with high cloud-coverage.

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Detecting Winter Wheat Irrigation Signals Using SMAP Gridded Soil Moisture Data

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs11202390 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (20) ◽

pp. 2390 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Hao ◽

Zhao ◽

Zhang ◽

Wang ◽

Jiang

Keyword(s):

Soil Moisture ◽

Winter Wheat ◽

Signal Detection ◽

Spatial Resolution ◽

Vegetation Index ◽

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽

Irrigation Management ◽

Hebei Province ◽

Signal Frequency ◽

Modis Ndvi

The southern part of the Hebei Province is one of China’s major crop-producing regions. Due to the continuous decline in groundwater level, agricultural water use is facing significant challenges. Precision agricultural irrigation management is undoubtedly an effective way to solve this problem. Based on multisource data (time series soil moisture active passive (SMAP) data, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and evapotranspiration (ET), and meteorological station precipitation), the irrigation signal (frequency, timing and area) is detected in the southern part of the Hebei Province. The SMAP data was processed by the 5-point moving average method to reduce the error caused by the uncertainty of the microwave data derived SM. Irrigation signals can be detected by removing the precipitation effect and setting the SM change threshold. Based on the validation results, the overall accuracy of the irrigation signal detection is 77.08%. Simultaneously, considering the spatial resolution limitation of SMAP pixels, the SMAP irrigation area was downscaled using the winter wheat area extracted from MODIS NDVI. The analytical results of 55 winter wheat samples (5 samples in a group) showed that winter wheat covered by one SMAP pixel had an 82.72% growth consistency in surface water irrigation period, which can indicate a downscaling effectiveness. According to the above statistical analysis, this paper considers that although the spatial resolution of SMAP data is insufficient, it can reflect the change of SM more sensitively. In areas where the crop pattern is relatively uniform, the introduction of high-resolution crop pattern distribution can be used not only to detect irrigation signals but also to validate the effectiveness of irrigation signal detection by analyzing crop growth consistency. Therefore, the downscaling results can indicate the true winter wheat irrigation timing, area and frequency in the study area.

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Temporal Patterns in Illumination Conditions and Its Effect on Vegetation Indices Using Landsat on Google Earth Engine

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs12020211 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 211 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Pablo Martín-Ortega ◽

Luis Gonzaga García-Montero ◽

Nicole Sibelet

Keyword(s):

Vegetation Index ◽

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽

Vegetation Indices ◽

Temporal Patterns ◽

Google Earth ◽

Surface Reflectance ◽

Enhanced Vegetation Index ◽

Google Earth Engine ◽

Level 1 ◽

Irregular Topography

Vegetation indices (VI) describe vegetation structure and functioning but they are affected by illumination conditions (IC). Moreover, the fact that the effect of the IC on VI can be stronger than other biophysical or seasonal processes is under debate. Using Google Earth Engine and the latest Landsat Surface Reflectance level 1 data, we evaluated the temporal patterns of IC and two VI, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) in a mountainous tropical forest during the years 1984–2017. We evaluated IC and VI at different times, their relationship with the topography and the correlations between them. We show that IC is useful for understanding the patterns of variation between VI and IC at the pixel level using Landsat sensors. Our findings confirmed a strong correlation between EVI and IC and less between NDVI and IC. We found a significant increase in IC, EVI, and NDVI throughout time due to an improvement in the position of all Landsat sensors. Our results reinforce the need to consider IC to interpret VI over long periods using Landsat data in order to increase the precision of monitoring VI in irregular topography.

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Multi-Year Mapping of Disturbance and Reclamation Patterns over Tronox’s Hillendale Mine, South Africa with DBEST and Google Earth Engine

Land ◽

10.3390/land10070760 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (7) ◽

pp. 760

Author(s):

Sifiso Xulu ◽

Philani T. Phungula ◽

Nkanyiso Mbatha ◽

Inocent Moyo

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Vegetation Index ◽

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽

Google Earth ◽

Abandoned Mines ◽

Remote Sensing Technology ◽

Sensing Technology ◽

Petroleum Resources ◽

Google Earth Engine ◽

The Government

This study was devised to examine the pattern of disturbance and reclamation by Tronox, which instigated a closure process for its Hillendale mine site in South Africa, where they recovered zirconium- and titanium-bearing minerals from 2001 to 2013. Restoring mined-out areas is of great importance in South Africa, with its ominous record of almost 6000 abandoned mines since the 1860s. In 2002, the government enacted the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (No. 28 of 2002) to enforce extracting companies to restore mined-out areas before pursuing closure permits. Thus, the trajectory of the Hillendale mine remains unstudied despite advances in the satellite remote sensing technology that is widely used in this field. Here, we retrieved a collection of Landsat-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) within the Google Earth Engine and applied the Detecting Breakpoints and Estimating Segments in Trend (DBEST) algorithm to examine the progress of vegetation transformation over the Hillendale mine between 2001 and 2019. Our results showed key breakpoints in NDVI, a drop from 2001, reaching the lowest point in 2009–2011, with a marked recovery pattern after 2013 when the restoration program started. We also validated our results using a random forests strategy that separated vegetated and non-vegetated areas with an accuracy exceeding 78%. Overall, our findings are expected to encourage users to replicate this affordable application, particularly in emerging countries with similar cases.

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Uso e ocupação do solo do município de novo progresso no Estado do Pará-Brasil

Research Society and Development ◽

10.33448/rsd-v10i1.12060 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. e51210112060

Author(s):

Raimara Reis do Rosário ◽

Mateus Trindade Barbosa ◽

Francimary da Silva Carneiro ◽

Merilene do Socorro Silva Costa

Keyword(s):

Vegetation Index ◽

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽

De Novo ◽

Google Earth ◽

Landsat 8 ◽

Landsat 8 Oli ◽

Google Earth Engine ◽

Para Determinar

O objetivo foi analisar o processo de uso e ocupação do solo do município de Novo Progresso no Estado do Pará, interligando-o com as atividades de maior importância econômica desenvolvidas nesta região. Utilizou-se o shapefile de limite do município de Novo Progresso na plataforma online Google Earth Engine (GEE), que disponibilizou um mosaico de imagens orbitais, do satélite Landsat-8/OLI-TIRS, referentes ao ano de 2019. O processo de classificação foi feito a partir do Code Editor do GEE, utilizando um Índice espectral de vegetação para auxiliar a classificação (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index – NDVI). Foi utilizado o Software QGis 3.10.6 para elaborar os mapas de localização do município e o de classificação de uso e cobertura do solo. Os dados foram tabulados em planilhas para determinar as taxas de crescimento do período analisado. Para realizar a avaliação da confiabilidade da classificação foi utilizado o método de Exatidão Global e o Índice Kappa. Foi possível identificar que no ano de 2019, houve a incidência de 3.064.396,65 ha (80,3%) de floresta densa, uma área de 496.104,07 ha (13,0%) com solo exposto, 248.052,03 ha (6,5%) de floresta secundária, e apenas 7.632,37 ha (0,2%) com predominância de hidrografia, totalizando uma área de 3.816.185,13 ha. As áreas que encontram-se com o solo exposto não estão diretamente relacionadas com o crescimento populacional, mas sim a forma como é estabelecido o uso do solo, com base nas principais atividades desenvolvidas na região considerando que a lógica produtiva ocorre de forma desordenada, não respeitando os critérios de desenvolvimento sustentável.

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Rapid Extraction of Regional-scale Agricultural Disasters by the Standardized Monitoring Model Based on Google Earth Engine

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12166497 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (16) ◽

pp. 6497

Author(s):

Zhengrong Liu ◽

Huanjun Liu ◽

Chong Luo ◽

Haoxuan Yang ◽

Xiangtian Meng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Vegetation Index ◽

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽

Meteorological Data ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Google Earth ◽

Spatial And Temporal Patterns ◽

Large Area ◽

Disaster Monitoring ◽

Google Earth Engine

Remote sensing has been used as an important tool for disaster monitoring and disaster scope extraction, especially for the analysis of spatial and temporal disaster patterns of large-scale and long-duration series. Google Earth Engine provides the possibility of quickly extracting the disaster range over a large area. Based on the Google Earth Engine cloud platform, this study used MODIS vegetation index products with 250-m spatial resolution synthesized over 16 days from the period 2005–2019 to develop a rapid and effective method for monitoring disasters across a wide spatiotemporal range. Three types of disaster monitoring and scope extraction models are proposed: the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) median time standardization model (RNDVI_TM(i)), the NDVI median phenology standardization model (RNDVI_AM(i)(j)), and the NDVI median spatiotemporal standardization model (RNDVI_ZM(i)(j)). The optimal disaster extraction threshold for each model in different time phases was determined using Otsu’s method, and the extraction results were verified by medium-resolution images and ground-measured data of the same or quasi-same period. Finally, the disaster scope of cultivated land in Heilongjiang Province from 2010–2019 was extracted, and the spatial and temporal patterns of the disasters were analyzed based on meteorological data. This analysis revealed that the three aforementioned models exhibited high disaster monitoring and range extraction capabilities, with verification accuracies of 97.46%, 96.90%, and 96.67% for RNDVI_TM(i), RNDVI_AM(i), and (j)RNDVI_ZM(i)(j), respectively. The spatial and temporal disaster distributions were found to be consistent with the disasters of the insured plots and the meteorological data across the entire province. Moreover, different monitoring and extraction methods were used for different disasters, among which wind hazard and insect disasters often required a delay of 16 days prior to observation. Each model also displayed various sensitivities and was applicable to different disasters. Compared with other techniques, the proposed method is fast and easy to implement. This new approach can be applied to numerous types of disaster monitoring as well as large-scale agricultural disaster monitoring and can easily be applied to other research areas. This study presents a novel method for large-scale agricultural disaster monitoring.

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Analisis Fenomena Pulau Panas Perkotaan Kota Bandung Menggunakan Google Earth Engine

10.31227/osf.io/bej3n ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Muhammad Malik Ar-Rahiem ◽

Muhamad Riza Fakhlevi

Keyword(s):

Surface Temperature ◽

Land Surface Temperature ◽

Land Surface ◽

Vegetation Index ◽

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽

Google Earth ◽

Landsat 8 ◽

Heat Island ◽

Urban Heat ◽

Google Earth Engine

Pulau Panas Perkotaan (Urban Heat Island) adalah fenomena antropogenik akibat pengaruh urbanisasi. Kawasan perkotaan yang terbangun memiliki temperatur yang lebih hangat dibandingkan kawasan sekitarnya. Fenomena Pulau Panas Perkotaan di Kota Bandung diteliti menggunakan data Suhu Permukaan Tanah (Land Surface Temperature) yang diakuisisi dari satelit Landsat 8. Lima tahun data satelit dianalisis menggunakan piranti daring Google Earth Engine untuk menganalisis variasi temporal Pulau Panas Perkotaan di Kota Bandung dan sekitarnya. Suhu yang diakuisisi dari satelit dikonversi menjadi estimasi suhu permukaan dengan mempertimbangkan nilai Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. Hasil dari penelitian ini adalah peta persebaran rata-rata dan median suhu permukaan di Cekungan Bandung tahun 2013-2018, serta grafik seri waktu suhu permukaan di 3 jenis tata guna lahan yang mewakili daerah kota (sekitar Jalan Sudirman), hutan kota (Hutan Babakan Siliwangi), dan hutan (Tamah Hutan Raya Djuanda). Suhu rata-rata Kota Bandung pada tahun 2013-2018 adalah 26,93 oC (median seluruh data) dan 25,57oC (rata-rata seluruh data). Sementara perbandingan berdasarkan tata guna lahan; daerah kota memiliki suhu permukaan rata-rata 27,30 oC, daerah hutan kota memiliki suhu 21,31oC, dan daerah hutan memiliki suhu 18,60oC. Peta persebaran suhu panas permukaan dari citra Landsat 8 menunjukkan bahwa daerah hutan secara konsisten memiliki suhu paling rendah, diikuti dengan hutan kota, dan kemudian daerah kota menjadi area yang paling panas dengan suhu maksimal hingga 33,73oC. Penggunaan Google Earth Engine yang berbasis komputasi awan sangat memudahkan pengolahan data citra satelit dalam jumlah besar yang selama ini tidak memungkinkan dilakukan dengan cara konvensional (mengunduh dan memproses di komputer).

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