Integrating global land cover products for improved forest cover characterization: an application in North America

Six widely used coarse-resolution global land cover data-sets – Global Land Cover Characterization (GLCC), Global Land Cover 2000 (GLC2000), GlobCover land cover product (GlobCover), MODIS land cover product (MODIS LC), the University of Maryland land cover product (UMD LC), and the MODIS Vegetation Continuous Fields tree cover layer (MODIS VCF) disagree substantially in their estimates of forest cover. Employing a regression tree model trained on higher-resolution, Landsat-based data, these multisource multiresolution maps were integrated for an improved characterization of forest cover over North America. Evaluated using a withheld test sample, the integrated percent forest cover (IPFC) data-set has a root mean square error of 11.75% – substantially better than the 17.37% of GLCC, 17.61% of GLC2000, 17.96% of GlobCover, 15.23% of MODIS LC, 19.25% of MODIS VCF, and 15.15% of UMD LC, respectively. Although demonstrated for forest, this approach based on integration of multiple products has potential for improved characterization of other land cover types as well.     

Production of global land cover data – GLCNMO

Abstract

Global land cover is one of the fundamental contents of Digital Earth. The Global Mapping project coordinated by the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping has produced a 1-km global land cover dataset – Global Land Cover by National Mapping Organizations. It has 20 land cover classes defined using the Land Cover Classification System. Of them, 14 classes were derived using supervised classification. The remaining six were classified independently: urban, tree open, mangrove, wetland, snow/ice, and water. Primary source data of this land cover mapping were eight periods of 16-day composite 7-band 1-km MODIS data of 2003. Training data for supervised classification were collected using Landsat images, MODIS NDVI seasonal change patterns, Google Earth, Virtual Earth, existing regional maps, and expert's comments. The overall accuracy is 76.5% and the overall accuracy with the weight of the mapped area coverage is 81.2%. The data are available from the Global Mapping project website (http://www.iscgm.org/). The MODIS data used, land cover training data, and a list of existing regional maps are also available from the CEReS website. This mapping attempt demonstrates that training/validation data accumulation from different mapping projects must be promoted to support future global land cover mapping.     

Evaluation of global land cover maps for cropland area estimation in the conterminous United States

Global land cover data could provide continuously updated cropland acreage and distribution information, which is essential to a wide range of applications over large geographical regions. Cropland area estimates were evaluated in the conterminous USA from four recent global land cover products: MODIS land cover (MODISLC) at 500-m resolution in 2010, GlobCover at 300-m resolution in 2009, FROM-GLC and FROM-GLC-agg at 30-m resolution based on Landsat imagery circa 2010 against the US Department of Agriculture survey data. Ratio estimators derived from the 30-m resolution Cropland Data Layer were applied to MODIS and GlobCover land cover products, which greatly improved the estimation accuracy of MODISLC by enhancing the correlation and decreasing mean deviation (MDev) and RMSE, but were less effective on GlobCover product. We found that, in the USA, the CDL adjusted MODISLC was more suitable for applications that concern about the aggregated county cropland acreage, while FROM-GLC-agg gave the least deviation from the survey at the state level. Correlation between land cover map estimates and survey estimates is significant, but stronger at the state level than at the county level. In regions where most mismatches happen at the county level, MODIS tends to underestimate, whereas MERIS and Landsat images incline to overestimate. Those uncertainties should be taken into consideration in relevant applications. Excluding interannual and seasonal effects, R² of the FROM-GLC regression model increased from 0.1 to 0.4, and the slope is much closer to one. Our analysis shows that images acquired in growing season are most suitable for Landsat-based cropland mapping in the conterminous USA.     

应用MODIS数据对陕西地区土地利用/覆盖变化的监测

应用MODIS数据监测陕西地区土地利用/覆盖变化。主要内容是利用陕西省MODIS影像辅助以ETM＋等数据进行最大似然法监督分类,根据分类的结果得到各个土地利用类型面积,然后与统计资料对比,进行土地利用/土地覆盖动态监测分析。     

基于MODIS数据的环北京地区土地资源监测研究

本文基于MODIS 16天合成的NDVI时间序列数据及其他辅助数据,首先用PCA方法对NDVI时间序列数据进行信息增强与压缩处理,结合LST数据、DEM数据及降雨温度数据,利用模糊K-均值非监督分类法,进行环北京地区的土地覆盖分类,得到土地资源现状情况。然后利用变化矢量(CVA)分析方法对环北京地区的土地利用及植被覆盖的多年变化状况进行了分析。结果表明,MODIS数据能很好的应用于大范围的土地资源监测中,并能得到较好的结果。     

Estimating spatial variations of total evaporation using multispectral sensors within the uMngeni catchment,South Africa

Total evaporation is of importance in assessing and managing long-term water use, especially in water-limited environments. Therefore, there is need to account for water utilisation by different land uses for well-informed water resources management and future planning. This study investigated the feasibility of using multispectral Landsat 8 and moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) remote sensing data to estimate total evaporation within the uMngeni catchment in South Africa, using surface energy balance system. The results indicated that Landsat 8 at 30 m resolution has a better spatial representation of total evaporation, when compared to the 1000 m MODIS. Specifically, Landsat 8 yielded significantly different mean total evaporation estimates for all land cover types (one-way ANOVA; F_4.964?=?87.011, p < 0.05), whereas MODIS failed to differentiate (one-way ANOVA; F_2.853?=?0.125, p = 0.998) mean total evaporation estimates for the different land cover types across the catchment. The findings of this study underscore the utility of the Landsat 8 spatial resolution and land cover characteristics in deriving accurate and reliable spatial variations of total evaporation at a catchment scale.     

土地覆盖类型对城市热岛效应的响应分析

利用夏季MODIS地表温度和土地覆盖产品,结合Landsat等辅助遥感数据,分别提取济南、武汉、重庆3个城市2003年、2008年、2013年的土地覆盖与地表温度信息,确定3个城市不同年份的热岛效应等级分布。在此基础上,对济南、武汉、重庆这3个城市的地表温度分布特征、热岛效应等级分布特征与土地覆盖类型各因子之间的关系展开分析。结果表明：城市用地是城市热岛的主要贡献因素,相关系数达到0.42;最能缓解城市热岛效应的是林地,平均相关系数为-0.41;3个城市中最能缓解城市热岛效应的土地覆盖类型并不完全相同：济南市为林地和耕地,武汉市为水体,重庆市为林地。     

Land use and land cover changes over a century (1914–2007) in the Neyyar River Basin,Kerala: a remote sensing and GIS approach

Abstract

Land use and land cover change, perhaps the most significant anthropogenic disturbance to the environment, mainly due to rapid urbanization/industrialization and large scale agricultural activities. In this paper, an attempt has been made to appraise land use/land cover changes over a century (1914–2007) in the Neyyar River Basin (L=56 km; Area = 483.4 km²) in southern Kerala – a biodiversity hot spot in Peninsular India. In this study, digital remote sensing data of the Indian Remote Sensing satellite series I-D (LISS III, 2006–2007) on 1:50,000 scale, Survey of India (SOI) toposheet of 1914 (1:63,360) and 1967 (1:50,000) have been utilized to map various land use/land cover changes. Maps of different periods have been registered and resampled to similar geographic coordinates using ERDAS Imagine 9.0. The most notable changes include decreases in areas of paddy cultivation, mixed crops, scrub lands and evergreen forests, and increases in built-up areas, rubber plantations, dense mixed forests, and water bodies. Further, large scale exploitation of flood plain mud and river sand have reached menacing proportions leading to bank caving and cut offs at channel bends. Conservation of land and water resources forms an important aspect of ecosystem management in the basin.     

The improvement of an object-oriented classification using multi-temporal MODIS EVI satellite data

Abstract

This paper investigates the contribution of multi-temporal enhanced vegetation index (EVI) data to the improvement of object-based classification accuracy using multi-spectral moderate resolution imaging spectral-radiometer (MODIS) imagery. In object-oriented classification, similar pixels are firstly grouped together and then classified; the produced result does not suffer the speckled appearance and closer to human vision. EVI data are from the MODIS sensor aboard Terra spacecraft. 69 EVI data (scenes) were collected during the period of three years (2001–2003) in a mountainous vegetated area. These data sets were used to study the phenology of the land cover types. Different land cover types show distinct fluctuations over time in EVI values and this information might be used to improve object-oriented land cover classification. Two experiments were carried out: one was only with single date MODIS multispectral data, and the other one including also the 69 EVI images. Eight classes were distinguished: temperate forest, tropical dry forest, grassland, irrigated agriculture, rain-fed agriculture, orchards, lava flows and human settlement. The two classifications were evaluated with independent verification data, and the results showed that with multi-temporal EVI data, the classification accuracy was improved 5.2%. Evaluated by McNemar's test, this improved was significant, with significance level p=0.01.     

Angular effect of MODIS emissivity products and its application to the split-window algorithm

The angular effects of emissivity are ignored in current land surface temperature (LST) products. As a result, the directionality of these LST products limits their further application in many fields. Accurate correction of the angular problem of LST products requires explicit understanding of the angular effects of emissivity at the pixel scale. Currently, nearly ten years of global emissivity products of MODIS are available. However, the pixel-scale directionality of emissivity has never been analyzed. By performing a statistical analysis of 5-year MODIS emissivity products over most of East Asia, we generated the empirical relationships between the directional emissivity, land cover, and seasonal variations. Two look-up tables (LUTs) of directional emissivity were created for typical land cover types and applied to the generalized split-window algorithm to modify the MODIS LST. The results showed that the angular effect of emissivity could introduce a significant bias of −1-3 K to the 1 km resolution LST. Finally, the spatial scale effects of emissivity were analyzed, and it was found that the temperature differences caused by scale effects fell within +/−0.5 K for most pixels if 5 km emissivity was used in 1 km LST retrieval. Therefore, wide use of the LUTs can be expected.     

Development of S-NPP VIIRS global surface type classification map using support vector machines

With the launch of the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS)/Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) satellite in October 2011, many of the terrestrial remote sensing products generated from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), such as the global land cover map, have been inherited and expanded into the JPSS/S-NPP mission using the new Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) data. In this study, an improved algorithm including the use of a new classifier support vector machines (SVM) classifier was proposed to produce VIIRS surface type maps. In addition to the new classification algorithm, a new post-processing strategy involving the use of new ancillary data to refine the classification output is implemented. As a result, the new global International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) map based on the 2014 VIIRS surface reflectance data was generated with a 78.5 ± 0.6% overall classification accuracy. The new map was compared to a previously delivered VIIRS surface type map, and to the MODIS land cover product. Validation results including the error matrix, overall accuracy, and the user’s and producer’s accuracy suggest the new global surface type map provides similar classification accuracy compared to the old VIIRS surface type map, with higher accuracy achieved in agricultural types.     

Approaches for Linking People,Place, and Environment for Human Dimensions Research

Abstract

Much of the human dimensions of environmental change research emphasize the mapping and modeling of land use and land cover patterns over space and time, and the linkages between people, place, and environment as proximate and distal forces of landscape dynamics. Spatial digital technologies, framed within a GIScience (GISc) context, figure prominently in the characterization of land use and land cover through remote sensing technologies, and in the assessment of social and demographic factors and local and regional site and situation considerations achieved through global positioning systems, data visualizations, and spatial and statistical analyses. Here, we describe some fundamental approaches for linking data across thematic domains, essential for the study of human‐environment interactions. The goal is to generate compatible data sets that extend across social, biophysical, and geographical domains so that the causes and consequences of land use and land cover dynamics might be explored within a spatially‐explicit context.     

MODIS V006和V005全球反照率产品精度对比分析

反照率作为一种非常重要的地表能量平衡、全球变化研究的参数,在众多研究领域中得到了广泛的应用,到目前为止已经有多种全球范围的反照率产品进行业务化生产和发布,针对不同反照率产品质量评价的研究也变得愈加重要。MODLAND团队在MODIS V005反照率产品反演算法的基础上通过改进16天周期内观测数据加权的方法生产出新版本的反照率产品MODIS V006。本文针对MODIS两个版本V005及V006的反照率产品,利用FLUXNET地面站点数据,比较验证两个版本反照率的总体精度以及在不同地表类型条件下的精度差异,同时通过交叉验证的方法分析二者的差异及稳定性。验证结果表明,MODIS V006反照率产品虽然在全反演高质量的数据比例上较V005有所下降,但是在同等条件下V006在提高时间分辨率的同时其精度也有所提高,在不同的地表类型条件下精度也优于V005,且在时间序列分布上具有稳定比例的高质量数据,可以满足大多数应用的精度需求。     

Atmospheric correction to IRS-P6 AWiFS data and its validation with ground measurements: A study over the semi-arid region

In this study, we have implemented a fast atmospheric correction algorithm to IRS-P6 advanced wide field sensor (AWiFS) satellite data for retrieving surface reflectance under different atmospheric and surface conditions. The algorithm is based on MODIS climatology products and simplified use of Second Simulation of Satellite Signal in Solar Spectrum (6S) radiative transfer code. The algorithm requires information on aerosol optical depth (AOD) for correcting the satellite dataset. The atmospheric correction algorithm has been tested for IRS-P6 AWiFS False colour composites covering the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics Farm, Patancheru, Hyderabad, India, under varying atmospheric conditions. Ground measurements of surface reflectance representing different land use/land cover, i.e. red soil, chick pea, groundnut and pigeon pea crops were conducted to validate the algorithm. Terra MODIS AOD₅₅₀ validated with Microtops-II sun photometer–derived AOD₅₀₀ over the urban region of Hyderabad exhibited very good correlation of ～0.92, suggesting possible use of satellite-derived AOD for atmospheric correction.     

评估MODIS的BRDF角度指数产品

应用地表观测的二向性反射数据集和多种MODIS数据产品,通过统计分析,对MODIS的二向性反射角度指数产品进行综合评估,结果表明:(1)MODIS角度指数包含了地表三维结构信息,有望用来反演地表的物理结构参数;(2)MODIS角度指数是内在的三维关系,各向异性因子(Anisotropic Factor:ANIF)和各向异性指数(Anisotropic Index:ANIX)高相关,建议去掉ANIF以精炼MODIS角度指数产品;(3)各向异性平整指数(Anisotropic FlatIndex:AFX)较好地指示了地表基本散射类型的变化,且具有较小的类内方差,对改善特定地表分类精度可能会更有用.     

基于ASTER GED产品的地表发射率估算

地表发射率是地表温度反演的重要输入参数,为了解决现有地表发射率估算方法在裸露地表精度较差的问题,本文基于最新的ASTER全球地表发射率产品(ASTER GED)和基于植被覆盖度的方法(VCM),提出了一个改进的地表发射率估算方法。首先,利用ASTER GED产品求解裸土发射率,然后,利用ASTER波谱库中的植被发射率和植被覆盖度结合VCM方法计算地表发射率。利用张掖地区2012年11景ASTER TES算法反演的地表发射率产品和实测地表发射率数据进行了验证,同时利用一景Landsat 8 TIRS数据分析了对地表温度反演精度的影响。结果表明该方法估算的地表发射率整体精度较高,可以有效改进裸露地表的发射率估算精度,用于支持利用多种热红外传感器数据生产高精度的地表温度产品。     

Anomaly Detection in MODIS Land Products via Time Series Analysis

With remote sensing information products becoming increasingly varied and arguably improved, scientific applications of such products rely on their quality assessment. In an operational context such as the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) information production based on the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument on board Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra and Aqua satellites, efficient ways of detecting product anomaly, i.e., to discriminate between product artifacts and real changes in Earth processes being monitored, are extremely important to assist and inform the user communities about potential unreliability in the products. A technique for anomaly detection, known as MAD (the median of absolute deviate from the median), in MODIS land products via time series analysis is described, which can handle intra- and in-ter-annual variation in the data by using MAD statistics of the original data and their first-order difference. This method is shown to be robust and work across major land products, including NDVI, active fire, snow cover, and surface reflectance, and its applicabil-ity to multi-disciplinary products is anticipated.     

Primitives as building blocks for constructing land cover maps

Land cover maps play an integral role in environmental management. However, countries and institutes encounter many challenges with producing timely, efficient, and temporally harmonized updates to their land cover maps. To address these issues we present a modular Regional Land Cover Monitoring System (RLCMS) architecture that is easily customized to create land cover products using primitive map layers. Primitive map layers are a suite of biophysical and end member maps, with land cover primitives representing the raw information needed to make decisions in a dichotomous key for land cover classification. We present best practices to create and assemble primitives from optical satellite using computing technologies, decision tree logic and Monte Carlo simulations to integrate their uncertainties. The concept is presented in the context of a regional land cover map based on a shared regional typology with 18 land cover classes agreed on by stakeholders from Cambodia, Laos PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. We created annual map and uncertainty layers for the period 2000–2017. We found an overall accuracy of 94% when taking uncertainties into account. RLCMS produces consistent time series products using free long term historical Landsat and MODIS data. The customizable architecture can include a variety of sensors and machine learning algorithms to create primitives and the best suited smoothing can be applied on a primitive level. The system is transferable to all regions around the globe because of its use of publicly available global data (Landsat and MODIS) and easily adaptable architecture that allows for the incorporation of a customizable assembly logic to map different land cover typologies based on the user's landscape monitoring objectives     

Multi-year MODIS active fire type classification over the Brazilian Tropical Moist Forest Biome

ABSTRACT

The Brazilian Tropical Moist Forest Biome (BTMFB) spans almost 4 million km² and is subject to extensive annual fires that have been categorized into deforestation, maintenance, and forest fire types. Information on fire types is important as they have different atmospheric emissions and ecological impacts. A supervised classification methodology is presented to classify the fire type of MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) active fire detections using training data defined by consideration of Brazilian government forest monitoring program annual land cover maps, and using predictor variables concerned with fuel flammability, fuel load, fire behavior, fire seasonality, fire annual frequency, proximity to surface transportation, and local temperature. The fire seasonality, local temperature, and fuel flammability were the most influential on the classification. Classified fire type results for all 1.6 million MODIS Terra and Aqua BTMFB active fire detections over eight years (2003–2010) are presented with an overall fire type classification accuracy of 90.9% (kappa 0.824). The fire type user’s and producer’s classification accuracies were respectively 92.4% and 94.4% (maintenance fires), 88.4% and 87.5% (forest fires), and, 88.7% and 75.0% (deforestation fires). The spatial and temporal distribution of the classified fire types are presented and are similar to patterns reported in the available recent literature.