Mapping conifer understory within boreal mixedwoods from Landsat TM satellite imagery and forest inventory information

2000 ◽  
Vol 76 (6) ◽  
pp. 887-902 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. Hall ◽  
D. R. Peddle ◽  
D. L. Klita

Information about conifer understory within deciduous-dominated mixed-wood stands would increase the possible range of management options for these complex communities, yet cost-effective and accurate inventory methods remain elusive. Maps of conifer understory produced from field-checked photo interpretation were compared with classified images created from Landsat Thematic Mapper data and two image classifiers. The highest accuracy achieved was 71% using an evidential reasoning classifier that integrated satellite remote sensing observations with stand inventory information. The image map did provide an advantage by capturing some of the spatial variability of conifer understory that is not captured by photo interpretation methods. Predicting the presence and spatial distribution of conifer understory is difficult because its establishment is influenced by many factors such as ecosite, available substrate, distance to seed source and mechanisms of recruitment that are not typically available in spatial formats. The image maps are considered estimates that may be suitable for broad strategic planning, and may serve as validation information for national satellite land cover mapping initiatives. Keywords: boreal mixedwood, conifer understory, image classification, Landsat TM, reflectance, forest inventory, vegetation index

CERNE ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Resende Silva ◽  
Fausto Weimar Acerbi Júnior ◽  
Luis Marcelo Tavares de Carvalho ◽  
José Roberto Soares Scolforo

The aim of this study was to develop a methodology for mapping land use and land cover in the northern region of Minas Gerais state, where, in addition to agricultural land, the landscape is dominated by native cerrado, deciduous forests, and extensive areas of vereda. Using forest inventory data, as well as RapidEye, Landsat TM and MODIS imagery, three specific objectives were defined: 1) to test use of image segmentation techniques for an object-based classification encompassing spectral, spatial and temporal information, 2) to test use of high spatial resolution RapidEye imagery combined with Landsat TM time series imagery for capturing the effects of seasonality, and 3) to classify data using Artificial Neural Networks. Using MODIS time series and forest inventory data, time signatures were extracted from the dominant vegetation formations, enabling selection of the best periods of the year to be represented in the classification process. Objects created with the segmentation of RapidEye images, along with the Landsat TM time series images, were classified by ten different Multilayer Perceptron network architectures. Results showed that the methodology in question meets both the purposes of this study and the characteristics of the local plant life. With excellent accuracy values for native classes, the study showed the importance of a well-structured database for classification and the importance of suitable image segmentation to meet specific purposes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Khamis Naba Sayl ◽  
Sadeq Oleiwi Sulaiman ◽  
Ammar Hatem Kamel ◽  
Nur Shazwani Muhammad ◽  
Jazuri Abdullah ◽  
...  

Currently, desertification is a major problem in the western desert of Iraq. The harsh nature, remoteness, and size of the desert make it difficult and expensive to monitor and mitigate desertification. Therefore, this study proposed a comprehensive and cost-effective method, via the integration of geographic information systems (GISs) and remote sensing (RS) techniques to estimate the potential risk of desertification, to identify the most vulnerable areas and determine the most appropriate sites for rainwater conservation. Two indices, namely, the Normalized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Land Degradation Index (LDI), were used for a cadastral assessment of land degradation. The findings of the combined rainwater harvesting appropriateness map, and the maps of NDVI and LDI changes found that 65% of highly suitable land for rainwater harvesting lies in the large change and 35% lies in the small change of NDVI, and 85% of highly suitable land lies in areas with a moderate change and 12% lies in strong change of LDI. The adoption of the weighted linear combination (WLC) and Boolean methods within the GIS environment, and the analysis of NDVI with LDI changes can allow hydrologists, decision-makers, and planners to quickly determine and minimize the risk of desertification and to prioritize the determination of suitable sites for rainwater harvesting.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 91-100
Author(s):  
Belete Berhanu ◽  
Ethiopia Bisrat

Ethiopia is endowed with water and has a high runoff generation area compared to many countries, but the total stored water only goes up to approximately 36BCM. The problem of water shortage in Ethiopia emanates from the seasonality of rainfall and the lack of infrastructure for storage to capture excess runoff during flood seasons. Based on this premise, a method for a syndicate use of topography, land use and vegetation was applied to locate potential surface water storing sites. The steady-state Topographic Wetness Index (TWI) was used to represent the spatial distribution of water flow and water stagnating across the study area and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was used to detect surface water through multispectral analysis. With this approach, a number of water storing sites were identified in three categories: primary sources (water bodies based), secondary sources (Swampy/wetland based) and tertiary sources (the land based). A sample volume analysis for the 120354 water storing sites in category two, gives a 44.92BCM potential storing capacity with average depth of 4 m that improves the annual storage capacity of the country to 81BCM (8.6 % of annual renewable water sources). Finally, the research confirmed the TWI and NDVI based approach for water storing sites works without huge and complicated earth work; it is cost effective and has the potential of solving complex water resource challenges through spatial representation of water resource systems. Furthermore, the application of remote sensing captures temporal diversity and includes repetitive archives of data, enabling the monitoring of areas, even those that are inaccessible, at regular intervals.


2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 897 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luana Portz ◽  
Laurindo Antonio Guasselli ◽  
Iran Carlos Stalliviere Corrêa

Neste estudo foram analisadas as variações espaciais e temporais do Índice de Vegetação por Diferença Normalizada (NDVI) na lagoa do Peixe, no litoral do Rio Grande do Sul. Para alcançar o objetivo proposto foram utilizadas imagens de satélite Landsat TM5, entre os anos de 1986 e 2009, seguindo os procedimentos de elaboração de mosaico das cenas, verificação de campo, geração das imagens de NDVI, análise de dados de precipitação acumulada, geração dos mapas finais e análise qualitativa dos resultados obtidos. Os resultados obtidos com a geração de imagens de NDVI mostraram que a análise espaço-temporal associada aos dados de precipitação fornecem informações de valiosa importância sobre a dinâmica da lagoa do Peixe. A importância  do NDVI neste estudo se destaca pelo contraste existente entre água e vegetação, realçando os diferentes níveis de água sobre os bancos vegetados presentes na borda oeste da lagoa. Estes bancos são um importante controlador da dinâmica de circulação lagunar, onde em períodos de seca ocorre a compartimentação da lagoa, enquanto que em épocas de grande precipitação e acumulação de água estes bancos ficam submersos. Palavras-chave: Landsat TM, série temporal, Parque Nacional.  Spatial and Temporal Variation of NDVI in the Peixe Lagoon, RS  ABSTRACTThis paper analyzed the spatial and temporal variation of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in the Peixe lagoon. To reach the purpose,  the NDVI time-series were collected from the study area between year 1986 and 2009 derived from Landsat TM5 satellite. The adopted methodology may be subdivided into the following steps: mosaic of scenes, fild verification, generation of NDVI time-series and qualitative analysis, in addition, it was complemented with rainfall analysis.  The results obtained with the NDVI time-series associated with the rainfall analysis data provide valuable information about the environmental dynamics. The importance of NDVI in this work is given by the contrast between water and vegetation, highlighting the different levels of water over vegetated banks present on the western edge of the lagoon. These banks are an important driver circulation in the lagoon, where in periods of drought occurs the partitioning of the lagoo, while in periods of high precipitation and accumulation of water they are submerged.    Keywords: Landsat TM, time-series, National Park.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 76-79
Author(s):  
Peter I May ◽  
Matthew Lagomarsino ◽  
Patrick Kangas

In urban harbors there is a reliance on the “gray infrastructure” of armored bulkheads along shorelines. While this form of shoreline technology provides stability and eliminates erosion, it limits shoreline biodiversity and lacks aesthetic value. In this paper, a living shoreline concept, termed the Green Bulkhead, is described and demonstrated. This is a kind of artificial vertical wetland with plants grown in a porous plastic fabric that is draped over the surface of an existing bulkhead. The system is irrigated with water that is pumped from the harbor. Several alternate designs have been tested for different medium types, planting patterns and water pumping regimes. It is proposed that the green bulkhead system can provide limited treatment wetland services in an urban setting where cost-effective water quality management options are minimal. Testing found that high percentages of sediment were retained within the matrix of the different media. The system has aesthetic benefits by “greening” the harbor environment with wetland plants and, because of its vertical orientation, it can be managed adaptively for sea level rise. This work is a report of an on-going ecological engineering project with demonstrations along the Baltimore, Maryland Inner Harbor and the Anacostia Waterfront in Washington, DC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 30-37
Author(s):  
N.N. Sliusar ◽  
A.P. Belousova ◽  
G.M. Batrakova ◽  
R.D. Garifzyanov ◽  
M. Huber-Humer ◽  
...  

The possibilities of using remote sensing of the Earth data to assess the formation of phytocenoses at reclaimed dumps and landfills are presented. The objects of study are landfills and dumps in the Perm Territory, which differed from each other in the types and timing of reclamation work. The state of the vegetation cover on the reclaimed and self-overgrowing objects was compared with the reference plots with naturally formed herbage of zonal meadow vegetation. The process of reclamation of the territory of closed landfills was assessed by the presence and homogeneity of the vegetation layer and by the values of the vegetation index NDVI. To identify the dynamics of changes in the vegetation cover, we used multi-temporal satellite images from the open resources of Google Earth and images in the visible and infrared ranges of the Landsat-5/TM and Landsat-8/OLI satellites. It is shown that the data of remote sensing of the Earth, in particular the analysis of vegetation indices, can be used to assess the dynamics of overgrowing of territories of reclaimed waste disposal facilities, as well as an additional and cost-effective method for monitoring the restoration of previously disturbed territories.


Fire ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 68
Author(s):  
Sarah A. Lewis ◽  
Peter R. Robichaud ◽  
Andrew T. Hudak ◽  
Eva K. Strand ◽  
Jan U. H. Eitel ◽  
...  

As wildland fires amplify in size in many regions in the western USA, land and water managers are increasingly concerned about the deleterious effects on drinking water supplies. Consequences of severe wildfires include disturbed soils and areas of thick ash cover, which raises the concern of the risk of water contamination via ash. The persistence of ash cover and depth were monitored for up to 90 days post-fire at nearly 100 plots distributed between two wildfires in Idaho and Washington, USA. Our goal was to determine the most ‘cost’ effective, operational method of mapping post-wildfire ash cover in terms of financial, data volume, time, and processing costs. Field measurements were coupled with multi-platform satellite and aerial imagery collected during the same time span. The image types spanned the spatial resolution of 30 m to sub-meter (Landsat-8, Sentinel-2, WorldView-2, and a drone), while the spectral resolution spanned visible through SWIR (short-wave infrared) bands, and they were all collected at various time scales. We that found several common vegetation and post-fire spectral indices were correlated with ash cover (r = 0.6–0.85); however, the blue normalized difference vegetation index (BNDVI) with monthly Sentinel-2 imagery was especially well-suited for monitoring the change in ash cover during its ephemeral period. A map of the ash cover can be used to estimate the ash load, which can then be used as an input into a hydrologic model predicting ash transport and fate, helping to ultimately improve our ability to predict impacts on downstream water resources.


Drones ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sathishkumar Samiappan ◽  
Lee Hathcock ◽  
Gray Turnage ◽  
Cary McCraine ◽  
Jonathan Pitchford ◽  
...  

Wildfires can be beneficial for native vegetation. However, wildfires can impact property values, human safety, and ecosystem function. Resource managers require safe, easy to use, timely, and cost-effective methods for quantifying wildfire damage and regeneration. In this work, we demonstrate an approach using an unmanned aerial system (UAS) equipped with a MicaSense RedEdge multispectral sensor to classify and estimate wildfire damage in a coastal marsh. We collected approximately 7.2 km2 of five-band multispectral imagery after a wildfire event in February 2016, which was used to create a photogrammetry-based digital surface model (DSM) and orthomosaic for object-based classification analysis. Airborne light detection and ranging data were used to validate the accuracy of the DSM. Four-band airborne imagery from pre- and post-fire were used to estimate pre-fire health, post-fire damage, and track the vegetation recovery process. Immediate and long-term post-fire classifications, area, and volume of burned regions were produced to track the revegetation progress. The UAS-based classification produced from normalized difference vegetation index and DSM was compared to the Landsat-based Burned Area Reflectance Classification. Experimental results show the potential of using UAS and the presented approach compared to satellite-based mapping in terms of classification accuracies, turnaround time, and spatial and temporal resolutions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 3023 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuai Xie ◽  
Liangyun Liu ◽  
Xiao Zhang ◽  
Jiangning Yang ◽  
Xidong Chen ◽  
...  

The Google Earth Engine (GEE) has emerged as an essential cloud-based platform for land-cover classification as it provides massive amounts of multi-source satellite data and high-performance computation service. This paper proposed an automatic land-cover classification method using time-series Landsat data on the GEE cloud-based platform. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land-cover products (MCD12Q1.006) with the International Geosphere–Biosphere Program (IGBP) classification scheme were used to provide accurate training samples using the rules of pixel filtering and spectral filtering, which resulted in an overall accuracy (OA) of 99.2%. Two types of spectral–temporal features (percentile composited features and median composited monthly features) generated from all available Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) data from the year 2010 ± 1 were used as input features to a Random Forest (RF) classifier for land-cover classification. The results showed that the monthly features outperformed the percentile features, giving an average OA of 80% against 77%. In addition, the monthly features composited using the median outperformed those composited using the maximum Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) with an average OA of 80% against 78%. Therefore, the proposed method is able to generate accurate land-cover mapping automatically based on the GEE cloud-based platform, which is promising for regional and global land-cover mapping.


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