Monitoring Forest Disturbance in Lesser Khingan Mountains Using MODIS and Landsat TM Time Series from 2000 to 2011

The widespread changes in forest cover caused by climatological and anthropogenic factors can influence the forest ecosystem and climate system to a great extent. With the increasing availability of remote sensing data, monitoring of forest changes at high temporal resolution and on various scales is becoming more realistic. Though several methods based on time series data have been used to detect forest disturbance, there are few studies paying attention to boreal areas where the forest is significant in regulating the global carbon cycle and biogeophysical processes. In this paper, we present a robust method of Breaks Detection Based On Polynomial Model (BDPM) to track boreal (e.g. Lesser Khingan Mountains) deforestation and forest fires based on the MODIS and Landsat TM time series data. Compared with the previous methods, the BDPM offers the following advantages: (1) Fitting of the polynomial model using the seasonal variation of forests in the whole region instead of a single pixel to avoid error accumulation; (2) to avoid confusion between vegetation change due to climate changes and abrupt forest disturbances, we segmented the long-time NDVI series data into 12 seasonal cycles and simulated the temporal variations in each seasonal cycle.     

用基于知识的决策树方法分层提取矿区土地类型——以湖北大冶为例

以湖北大冶为研究区,采用多时相陆地卫星遥感图像,通过不同波段组合,以及ironoxide指数和归一化差异植被指数(NDVI)等,详细分析了各地表地物光谱特征和空间特征,建立了研究区分类知识库表,采用决策二叉树法进行分类,得到了高精度分类结果图。基于不同时相分类结果的变化检测,通过对研究区水体污染、矿区复垦、耕地变化等分析,认为从1986～2002年,研究区水质虽有一定改善,但矿区植被退化严重,耕地大量减少,停产矿区复垦仅为20%,为合理保护矿区生态环境和科学管理采矿企业提供了有用资料。     

基于无人机数据的植被指数空间尺度效应研究

利用cm级空间分辨率的无人机高光谱图像研究了NDVI、PRI等14种植被指数随空间尺度升高的变化规律,并分析了不同植被覆盖度(FVC)下植被指数的空间尺度效应,比较了各植被指数空间尺度效应的强弱。得到的结论如下:(1)随着空间尺度升高,不同植被指数的变化趋势和幅度并不一致;(2)cm级的空间分辨率下,由于植被类内光谱差异和冠层阴影的影响,植被指数在植被覆盖度大于等于0.5的中高植被覆盖下受空间尺度效应的影响更大;(3)由相对简单的比值形式构成的植被指数如NDVI、SR等,具有抵抗空间尺度效应的能力,增加计算公式的复杂性会降低这种能力;(4)对色素和冠层水分敏感的窄波段容易受到空间尺度效应的影响,进而使得由这些窄波段构成的植被指数对空间尺度变化更为敏感。     

Abrupt spatiotemporal land and water changes and their potential drivers in Poyang Lake, 2000–2012

Driven by various natural and anthropogenic factors, Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China, has experienced significant land use/cover changes in the past few decades. The aim of this study is to investigate the spatial–temporal patterns of abrupt changes and detect their potential drivers in Poyang Lake, using time-series Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 16-day maximum value composite vegetation indices between 2000 and 2012. The breaks for additive seasonal and trend (BFAST) method was applied to the smoothed time-series normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), to detect the timing and magnitude of abrupt changes in the trend component. Large part of Poyang Lake (98.9% for trend component) has experienced abrupt changes in the past 13 years, and the change patterns, including the distributions in timing and magnitudes of major abrupt trend changes between water bodies and land areas were clearly differentiated. Most water bodies had abrupt increasing NDVI changes between 2010 and 2011, caused by the sequential severe flooding and drought in the two years. In contrast, large parts of the surrounding land areas had abrupt decreasing NDVI changes. Large decreasing changes occurred around 2003 at the city of Nanchang, which were driven by urbanization. These results revealed spatial–temporal land cover changing patterns and potential drivers in the wetland ecosystem of Poyang Lake.     

Analyzing fine-scale wetland composition using high resolution imagery and texture features

In order to monitor natural and anthropogenic disturbance effects to wetland ecosystems, it is necessary to employ both accurate and rapid mapping of wet graminoid/sedge communities. Thus, it is desirable to utilize automated classification algorithms so that the monitoring can be done regularly and in an efficient manner. This study developed a classification and accuracy assessment method for wetland mapping of at-risk plant communities in marl prairie and marsh areas of the Everglades National Park. Maximum likelihood (ML) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers were tested using 30.5 cm aerial imagery, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), first and second order texture features and ancillary data. Additionally, appropriate window sizes for different texture features were estimated using semivariogram analysis. Findings show that the addition of NDVI and texture features increased classification accuracy from 66.2% using the ML classifier (spectral bands only) to 83.71% using the SVM classifier (spectral bands, NDVI and first order texture features).     

利用AVHRR植被指数数据集分析中国东部季风区的物候季节特征

利用ＮＯＡＡ／ＮＡＳＡＰａｔｈｆｉｎｄｅｒＡＶＨＲＲ陆地数据集,建立了中国东部季风区（１０８°－１２３°Ｅ,２１°－４５°Ｎ）的１９８６年归一化植被指数（ＮＤＶＩ）距平图像序列。对此数据集进行主成分分析（ＰＣＡ）,前２个主成分的时间序列和空间场展示了中国东部季风区植被物候季节性特征和地域差异。南岭一五夷山以南的华南地区,植被生长季的物候季节性变化不明显。在南岭－五夷山以北地区,植被生长季的物候季节性特征明显,可以比较清晰地确定生长季的变化过程。以淮河流域为界,植被生长季的物候季节性特征又存在明显差异。华北平原表现出强烈的双峰植被物候过程。淮河以南地区,虽然也存在这种双峰物候过程,但比较华北平原的植被,还具有持续性的植被生长特征。淮河流域构成一条区分南北物候季节特征差异的过渡带。     

1983—1992年中国陆地植被NDVI演变特征的变化矢量分析

以NDVI时序资料为基本数据源，综合应用变化矢量分析和主成分分析方法对1983年至1992年中国陆地植被NDVI的变化强度、变化类型及空间结构变化特征进行了分析。研究结果表明在此期间中国陆地植被NDVI变化有以下特点：（1）十年间NDVI变化东西分异明显，东部变化幅度远大于西部。NDVI变化整体表现为稳中略增，增加区主要分布在台湾、福建、四川、河南等地；减少区主要分布在云南省和新疆北部等地。（2）空间结构信息表现了景观异质性，其变化主要发生在南方，反映了植被的生长和衰老过程及地形（山脉走向）变化。     

利用MERIS数据植被指数分析福建省植被长势季节变化

监测植被长势动态变化可以提供生态系统状况有价值的信息,可以检测到人类或气候作用引起的变化。本研究利用2004—2005年间10期MERIS影像数据,以福建省为例,探讨MERIS数据在区域植被长势季节变化监测中的应用效果;分析了MERIS数据用于区域植被季节变化监测时的数据处理方法;比较了MERIS数据几种植被指数,提出了利用10和8波段组合改进MERISNDVI的建议;利用多时相合成的NDVI简单分析了2004年夏季—2005年夏季三个季节的植被长势状况。结果表明,MERIS植被指数的时空变化有效反映了气候变化对植被长势的影响。     

Geostatistical estimation of signal-to-noise ratios for spectral vegetation indices

In the past 40 years, many spectral vegetation indices have been developed to quantify vegetation biophysical parameters. An ideal vegetation index should contain the maximum level of signal related to specific biophysical characteristics and the minimum level of noise such as background soil influences and atmospheric effects. However, accurate quantification of signal and noise in a vegetation index remains a challenge, because it requires a large number of field measurements or laboratory experiments. In this study, we applied a geostatistical method to estimate signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) for spectral vegetation indices. Based on the sample semivariogram of vegetation index images, we used the standardized noise to quantify the noise component of vegetation indices. In a case study in the grasslands and shrublands of the western United States, we demonstrated the geostatistical method for evaluating S/N for a series of soil-adjusted vegetation indices derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor. The soil-adjusted vegetation indices were found to have higher S/N values than the traditional normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and simple ratio (SR) in the sparsely vegetated areas. This study shows that the proposed geostatistical analysis can constitute an efficient technique for estimating signal and noise components in vegetation indices.     

Using ground observations of a digital camera in the VIS-NIR range for quantifying the phenology of Mediterranean woody species

The spectral reflectance of most plant species is quite similar, and thus the feasibility of identifying most plant species based on single date multispectral data is very low. Seasonal phenological patterns of plant species may enable to face the challenge of using remote sensing for mapping plant species at the individual level. We used a consumer-grade digital camera with near infra-red capabilities in order to extract and quantify vegetation phenological information in four East Mediterranean sites. After illumination corrections and other noise reduction steps, the phenological patterns of 1839 individuals representing 12 common species were analyzed, including evergreen trees, winter deciduous trees, semi-deciduous summer shrubs and annual herbaceous patches. Five vegetation indices were used to describe the phenology: relative green and red (green\red chromatic coordinate), excess green (ExG), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and green-red vegetation index (GRVI). We found significant differences between the phenology of the various species, and defined the main phenological groups using agglomerative hierarchical clustering. Differences between species and sites regarding the start of season (SOS), maximum of season (MOS) and end of season (EOS) were displayed in detail, using ExG values, as this index was found to have the lowest percentage of outliers. An additional visible band spectral index (relative red) was found as useful for characterizing seasonal phenology, and had the lowest correlation with the other four vegetation indices, which are more sensitive to greenness. We used a linear mixed model in order to evaluate the influences of various factors on the phenology, and found that unlike the significant effect of species and individuals on SOS, MOS and EOS, the sites' location did not have a direct significant effect on the timing of phenological events. In conclusion, the relative advantage of the proposed methodology is the exploitation of representative temporal information that is collected with accessible and simple devices, for the subsequent determination of optimal temporal acquisition of images by overhead sensors, for vegetation mapping over larger areas.     

Detecting winter wheat phenology with SPOT-VEGETATION data in the North China Plain

Monitoring phenological change in agricultural land improves our understanding of the adaptation of crops to a warmer climate. Winter wheat–maize and winter wheat–cotton double-cropping are practised in most agricultural areas in the North China Plain. A curve-fitting method is presented to derive winter wheat phenology from SPOT-VEGETATION S10 normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data products. The method uses a double-Gaussian model to extract two phenological metrics, the start of season (SOS) and the time of maximum NDVI (MAXT). The results are compared with phenological records at local agrometeorological stations. The SOS and MAXT have close agreement with in situ observations of the jointing date and milk-in-kernel date respectively. The phenological metrics detected show spatial variations that are consistent with known phenological characteristics. This study indicates that time-series analysis with satellite data could be an effective tool for monitoring the phenology of crops and its spatial distribution in a large agricultural region.     

Spatiotemporal analysis of vegetation index after typhoons in the mountainous watershed

An extensive land cover change was triggered by a series of typhoons, especially Typhoon Morakot in 2009 in Taiwan. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) series from multiple satellite images were applied to monitor the change processes of land cover. This study applied spatiotemporal analysis tools, including empirical orthogonal functions (EOF), and multiple variograms in analyzing space–time NDVI data, and detected the effects of large chronological disturbances in the characteristics of land cover changes. Spatiotemporal analysis delineated the temporal patterns and spatial variability of NDVI caused by these large typhoons. Results showed that mean of NDVI decreased but spatial variablity of NDVI increased after typhoons in the study area. The EOF can clarify the major component of NDVI variations and identify the core area of the NDVI changes. Various approaches showed consistent results that Typhoon Morakot significantly lowered the NDVI in land cover change process. Furthermore, the spatiotemporal analysis is an effective monitoring tool, which advocates the use of the index for the quantification of land cover change and resilience.     

Characterizing spring phenology of temperate broadleaf forests using Landsat and Sentinel-2 time series

Vegetation phenology has a great impact on land-atmosphere interactions like carbon cycling, albedo, and water and energy exchanges. To understand and predict these critical land-atmosphere feedbacks, it is crucial to measure and quantify phenological responses to climate variability, and ultimately climate change. Coarse-resolution sensors such as MODIS and AVHRR have been useful to study vegetation phenology from regional to global scales. These sensors are, however, not capable of discerning phenological variation at moderate spatial scales. By offering increased observation density and higher spatial resolution, the combination of Landsat and Sentinel-2 time series might provide the opportunity to overcome this limitation.In this study, we analyzed the potential of combined Sentinel-2 and Landsat time series for estimating start of season (SOS) of broadleaf forests across Germany for the year 2018. We tested two common statistical modeling approaches (logistic and generalized additive models using thin plate splines) and the two most commonly used vegetation indices, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI).We found strong agreement between SOS estimates from logistic and spline models (r_EVI = 0.86; r_NDVI = 0.65), whereas agreement was higher for EVI than for NDVI (RMSD_EVI = 3.07, RMSD_NDVI = 5.26 days). The choice of vegetation index thus had a higher impact on the results than the fitting method. The EVI-based SOS also showed higher correlation with ground observations compared to NDVI (r_EVI = 0.51, r_NDVI = 0.42). Data density played an important role in estimating land surface phenology. Models combining Sentinel-2A/B, with an average cloud-free observation frequency of 12 days, were largely consistent with the combined Landsat and Sentinel-2 models, suggesting that Sentinel-2A/B may be sufficient to capture SOS for most areas in Germany in 2018. However, in non-overlapping swath areas and mountain areas, observation frequency was significantly lower, underlining the need to combine Landsat and Sentinel-2 for consistent SOS estimates over large areas. Our study demonstrates that estimating SOS of temperate broadleaf forests at medium spatial resolution has become feasible with combined Landsat and Sentinel-2 time series.     

Isolating type-specific phenologies through spectral unmixing of satellite time series

Vegetation phenology is commonly studied using time series of multi-spectral vegetation indices derived from satellite imagery. Differences in reflectance among land-cover and/or plant functional types are obscured by sub-pixel mixing, and so phenological analyses have typically sought to maximize the compositional purity of input satellite data by increasing spatial resolution. We present an alternative method to mitigate this ‘mixed-pixel problem’ and extract the phenological behavior of individual land-cover types inferentially, by inverting the linear mixture model traditionally used for sub-pixel land-cover mapping. Parameterized using genetic algorithms, the method takes advantage of the discriminating capacity of calibrated surface reflectance measurements in red, near infrared, and short-wave infrared wavelengths, as well as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Normalized Difference Water Index. In simulation, the unmixing procedure reproduced the reflectances and phenological signals of grass, crop, and deciduous forests with high fidelity (RMSE?相似文献   

光谱指数趋势面的城市地表温度降尺度转换

针对城市及周边区域建造区和自然地表交织分布的特点,探讨了利用归一化植被指数(NDVI)和归一化建造指数(NDBI)构造趋势面的地表温度(LST)降尺度方法,以北京市市区及周边较平坦区域为例实现了LST自960 m向120 m的降尺度转换。分析了LST空间分布特征及NDVI、NDBI对地物的指示性特征;以北京市四至六环为界分析NDVI、NDBI趋势面对地表温度的拟合程度及各自的适用区域;在120 m、240 m、480 m和960 m 4个尺度上评价了NDVI、NDBI和NDVI+NDBI趋势面对LST的拟合程度和趋势面转换函数的尺度效应;对NDVI、NDBI和NDVI NDBI等3种方法的降尺度结果分覆盖类型、分区域对比评价。实验结果表明结合两种光谱指数的NDVI NDBI方法降尺度转换精度有所改善,改善程度取决于地表覆盖类型组合。     

河南省植被指数变化特征研究

为了研究河南省植被指数变化特征,采用最大值合成法(MVC)对MODIS-NDVI和MODIS-EVI两种指数产品进行处理,然后进行时空变化分析,得到归一化植被指数(NDVI)与增强型植被指数(EVI)两种指数产品的特点,实验结果表明:1)在时间分布特征上,两种植被指数均随季节呈现规律性变化,并且最大值均出现在7月或8月,但EVI相比NDVI更具季节性规律,能够更好地反映高植被覆盖区的植被季节性变化特征;2)在空间分布特征上,两种植被指数的区域性都非常明显,但在高植被覆盖区,NDVI出现饱和现象,而EVI未出现饱和现象。     

Scrutinising MODIS and GIMMS Vegetation Indices for Extracting Growth Rhythm of Natural Vegetation in India

Satellite derived vegetation vigour has been successfully used for various environmental modeling since 1972. However, extraction of reliable annual growth information about natural vegetation (i.e., phenology) has been of recent interest due to their important role in many global models and free availability of time-series satellite data. In this study, usability of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer (MODIS) and Global Inventory Modelling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) based products in extracting phenology information about evergreen, semi-evergreen, moist deciduous and dry deciduous vegetation in India was explored. The MODIS NDVI and EVI time-series data (MOD13C1: 5.6 km spatial resolution with 16 day temporal resolution—2001 to 2010) and GIMMS NDVI time-series data(8 km spatial resolution with 15 day temporal resolution—2000 to 2006) were used. These three differently derived vegetation indices were analysed to extract and understand the vegetative growth rhythm over different regions of India. Algorithm was developed to derive onset of greenness and end of senescence automatically. The comparative analysis about differences in the results from these products was carried out. Due to dominant noise in the values of NDVI from GIMMS and MODIS during monsoon period the phenology rhythm were wrongly depicted, especially for evergreen and semi-evergreen vegetation in India. Hence, care is needed before using these data sets for understanding vegetative dynamics, biomass cestimation and carbon studies. MODIS EVI based results were truthful and comparable to ground reality. The study reveals spatio-temporal patterns of phenology, rate of greening, rate of senescence, and differences in results from these three products.     

Investigation of terrain illumination effects on vegetation indices and VI-derived phenological metrics in subtropical deciduous forests

We used RapidEye and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)/Terra data to study terrain illumination effects on 3 vegetation indices (VIs) and 11 phenological metrics over seasonal deciduous forests in southern Brazil. We applied TIMESAT for the analysis of the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) derived from the MOD13Q1 product to calculate phenological metrics. We related the VIs with the cosine of the incidence angle i (Cos i) and inspected percentage changes in VIs before and after topographic C-correction. The results showed that the EVI was more sensitive to seasonal changes in canopy biophysical attributes than the NDVI and Red-Edge NDVI, as indicated by analysis of non-topographically corrected RapidEye images from the summer and winter. On the other hand, the EVI was more sensitive to terrain illumination, presenting higher correlation coefficients with Cos i that decreased with reduction in the canopy background L factor. After C-correction, the RapidEye Red-Edge NDVI, NDVI, and EVI decreased 2%, 1%, and 13% over sunlit surfaces and increased up to 5%, 14%, and 89% over shaded surfaces, respectively. The EVI-related phenological metrics were also much more affected by topographic effects than the NDVI-derived metrics. From the set of 11 metrics, the 2 that described the period of lower photosynthetic activity and seasonal VI amplitude presented the largest correlation coefficients with Cos i. The results showed that terrain illumination is a factor of spectral variability in the seasonal analysis of phenological metrics, especially for VIs that are not spectrally normalized.     

2000-2012年鄂尔多斯高原植被动态及干旱响应

针对鄂尔多斯高原植被覆盖变化受干旱胁迫的状况,该文结合降水和气温的协同变化,以2000-2012年生长季的MODIS-NDVI数据和同期降水、温度和帕尔默干旱指数为依据,采用线性趋势分析、标准偏差分析和相关性分析等方法,对鄂尔多斯高原植被与气候变化的相关关系和干旱异常变化对植被动态的影响进行了研究.结果表明:鄂尔多斯高原生长季及季节(春季、夏季和秋季)植被归一化植被指数主要受降水的控制和干旱的制约,秋季归一化植被指数更多地受到夏季干旱的影响.与气象因子的空间相关分析表明,春季温度上升有利于研究区北部归一化植被指数像元的增加.在荒漠草原和沙漠地区,夏季干旱与归一化植被指数的相关关系最强.秋季降水对典型草原归一化植被指数的提升显著.     

Vegetation response to intensive commercial horticulture and environmental changes within watersheds in central highlands,Kenya, using AVHRR NDVI data

Expansion and heterogeneous clustering of commercial horticulture within the central highlands of Kenya after the mid-1990s impact watersheds and the sustainable resource management. This is distressing since climate conditions for world horticultural regions are projected to change, making such farming extremely difficult and costly to the environment. To understand the scope of impact on vegetation, the study evaluated (1) interannual variability in averaged normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI); (2) trends in average annual NDVI before and after 1990 – the presumed onset of rapid horticulture; and (3) relationship between the average annual NDVI and large-scale commercial farms, population density, and mean annual rainfall in subwatersheds. Time-series analysis of long-term Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies NDVI data were analyzed as indicator of vegetation condition. NDVI trends before 1990s (1982–1989) and after 1990s (1990–2006) were evaluated to determine the slope (sign), and the Spearman’s correlation coefficient (strength). Overall, results show considerable variations in vegetation condition due largely to mixed factors including intensive farming activities, drought, and rainfall variation. Statistical analysis shows significant differences in slopes before 1990 and after 1990 (p < 0.05 and p < 0.1 respectively). Negative (decline) trends were common after 1990, linked to increased commercial horticulture and related anthropogenic disturbances on land cover. There was decline in vegetation over densely populated subwatersheds, though low NDVI values in 1984 and 2000 were the effect of severe droughts. Understanding the linkage between vegetation responses to the effects of human-induced pressure at the subwatershed scale can help natural resource managers approach conservation measures more effectively.