Developing a gross primary production model for coniferous forests of northeastern USA from MODIS data

Accurate estimation of ecosystem carbon fluxes is crucial for understanding the feedbacks between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere and for making climate-policy decisions. A statistical model is developed to estimate the gross primary production (GPP) of coniferous forests of northeastern USA using remotely sensed (RS) radiation (land surface temperature and near-infra red albedo) and ecosystem variables (enhanced vegetation index and global vegetation moisture index) acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor. This GPP model (called R-GPP-Coni), based only on remotely sensed data, was first calibrated with GPP estimates derived from the eddy covariance flux tower of the Howland forest main tower site and then successfully transferred and validated at three other coniferous sites: the Howland forest west tower site, Duke pine forest and North Carolina loblolly pine site, which demonstrate its transferability to other coniferous ecoregions of northeastern USA. The proposed model captured the seasonal dynamics of the observed 8-day GPP successfully by explaining 84–94% of the observed variations with a root mean squared error (RMSE) ranging from 1.10 to 1.64 g C/m²/day over the 4 study sites and outperformed the primary RS-based GPP algorithm of MODIS.     

Mapping the functional dimension of vegetation series in the Mediterranean region using multitemporal MODIS data

ABSTRACT

Monitoring the structural and functional dimensions of natural vegetation is a critical issue to ensure effective management of biodiversity. While coarse-resolution satellite image time-series have been used extensively to monitor vegetation physiognomies, their potential to describe plant species composition remains understudied. The objective of this study is to assess the potential of annual time-series of MODIS images to discriminate combinations of plant communities, called “vegetation series,” and characterize their structural and functional dimensions at the landscape scale. Twelve vegetation series were mapped in a 16 574 ha study area in a Mediterranean context located in Corsica (France). First, the structural dimension of vegetation series was examined using a random forest (RF) model calibrated with a reference field map to (i) measure the importance of each MODIS image in discriminating vegetation series; (ii) quantify the influence of the number of dates on model accuracy; and (iii) map the vegetation series with the optimal subset of MODIS images. Second, the functional dimension of vegetation series was analyzed by ordinating three functional indices through principal component analysis. These indices were the annual sum of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), the annual amplitude of NDVI, and the date of maximum NDVI, considered as a proxy for annual primary production, seasonality of carbon fluxes, and vegetation phenology, respectively. Results showed that (i) vegetation series were mapped accurately (median Kappa index 0.70, median overall accuracy 0.76), preferably using images acquired from February to August; (ii) at least 10 MODIS images were required to achieve sufficient accuracy; and (iii) a functional gradient was detected, ranging from high annual net primary production with low seasonality of carbon fluxes and early phenology in Mediterranean vegetation series to low annual net primary production with high seasonality of carbon fluxes and late phenology in alpine vegetation series.     

Carbon fluxes resulting from land-use changes in the Tamaulipan thornscrub of northeastern Mexico

Information on carbon stock and flux resulting from land-use changes in subtropical, semi-arid ecosystems are important to understand global carbon flux, yet little data is available. In the Tamaulipan thornscrub forests of northeastern Mexico, biomass components of standing vegetation were estimated from 56 quadrats (200 m² each). Regional land-use changes and present forest cover, as well as estimates of soil organic carbon from chronosequences, were used to predict carbon stocks and fluxes in this ecosystem.     

Use of ETM+ images to extend stem volume estimates obtained from LiDAR data

Airborne LiDAR techniques can provide accurate measurements of tree height, from which estimates of stem volume and forest woody biomass can be obtained. These techniques, however, are still expensive to apply repeatedly over large areas. The current paper presents a methodology which first transforms mean stand heights obtained from LiDAR over small strips into relevant stem volume estimates. These are then extended over an entire forest by applying two estimation methods (k-NN and locally calibrated regression) to Landsat ETM+ images. The methodology is tested over a coastal area covered by pine forest in the Regional Park of San Rossore (Central Italy). The results are evaluated by comparison with the ground stem volumes of a recent forest inventory, taking into consideration the effect of stand size. In general, the accuracies of two estimation methods are dependent on the size of the forest stands and are satisfactory only when considering stands larger than 5-10 ha. The outputs of the parametric regression procedure are slightly more stable than those of k-NN and more faithfully reproduce the spatial patterns of the ground data.     

Estimating carbon sequestration in the piedmont ecoregion of the United States from 1971 to 2010

Human activities have diverse and profound impacts on ecosystem carbon cycles. The Piedmont ecoregion in the eastern United States has undergone significant land use and land cover change in the past few decades. The purpose of this study was to use newly available land use and land cover change data to quantify carbon changes within the ecoregion. Land use and land cover change data (60-m spatial resolution) derived from sequential remotely sensed Landsat imagery were used to generate 960-m resolution land cover change maps for the Piedmont ecoregion. These maps were used in the Integrated Biosphere Simulator (IBIS) to simulate ecosystem carbon stock and flux changes from 1971 to 2010. Results show that land use change, especially urbanization and forest harvest had significant impacts on carbon sources and sinks. From 1971 to 2010, forest ecosystems sequestered 0.25 Mg C ha?1 yr?1, while agricultural ecosystems sequestered 0.03 Mg C ha?1 yr?1. The total ecosystem C stock increased from 2271 Tg C in 1971 to 2402 Tg C in 2010, with an annual average increase of 3.3 Tg C yr?1. Terrestrial lands in the Piedmont ecoregion were estimated to be weak net carbon sink during the study period. The major factors contributing to the carbon sink were forest growth and afforestation; the major factors contributing to terrestrial emissions were human induced land cover change, especially urbanization and forest harvest. An additional amount of carbon continues to be stored in harvested wood products. If this pool were included the carbon sink would be stronger.     

Forest carbon in North America: annual storage and emissions from British Columbia's harvest, 1965- 2065

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The default international accounting rules estimate the carbon emissions from forest products by assuming all harvest is immediately emitted to the atmosphere. This makes it difficult to assess the greenhouse gas (GHG) consequences of different forest management or manufacturing activities that maintain the storage of carbon. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) addresses this issue by allowing other accounting methods. The objective of this paper is to provide a new model for estimating annual stock changes of carbon in harvested wood products (HWP). RESULTS: The model, British Columbia Harvested Wood Products version 1 (BC-HWPv1), estimates carbon stocks and fluxes for wood harvested in BC from 1965 to 2065, based on new parameters on local manufacturing, updated and new information for North America on consumption and disposal of wood and paper products, and updated parameters on methane management at landfills in the USA. Based on model results, reporting on emissions as they occur would substantially lower BC[RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK]s greenhouse gas inventory in 2010 from 48 Mt CO2 to 26 Mt CO2 because of the long-term forest carbon storage in-use and in the non-degradable material in landfills. In addition, if offset projects created under BC[RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK]s protocol reported 100 year cumulative emissions using the BC-HWPv1 the emissions would be lower by about 11%. CONCLUSIONS: This research showed that the IPCC default methods overestimate the emissions North America wood products. Future IPCC GHG accounting methods could include a lower emissions factor (e.g. 0.52) multiplied by the annual harvest, rather than the current multiplier of 1.0. The simulations demonstrated that the primary opportunities for climate change mitigation are in shifting from burning mill waste to using the wood for longer-lived products.     

A comparative assessment of catchment runoff generation and forest productivity in a semi-arid environment

Understanding the dynamic interactions between forest ecosystems and water in the Mediterranean region is essential for increasing ecosystem services. Even if many studies were implemented to analyse the variations of water and net primary productivity (NPP) in the last decade, this is still an important research question especially for the Eastern Mediterranean, where the research attempts are limited. The main objective of this study was to carry out a comparative analysis of catchment runoff generation and forest NPP and to reveal their temporal dynamics at basin scale in a semi-arid Mediterranean environment. The methodology consisted three steps: (i) estimating catchment runoff generation by implementing process-based J2000 modelling suite, (ii) modelling NPP of the land cover/use types by adapting an ecosystem-process model (BIOME-Biogeochemical cycles) and (iii) assessing the spatio-temporal variability of NPP and runoff dynamics by incorporating the modelling results with multiple regression analysis. Model simulations showed that temperature highly contributed to NPP variations of needle-leaf forests and grasslands. The multiple regression analysis also indicated that runoff was influenced by elevation, precipitation and forest cover. This relationship showed that the inter-annual variability in forest NPP would relate to the variations in runoff distribution across a small Mediterranean subcatchment.     

Large area forest inventory using Landsat ETM+: A geostatistical approach

Large area forest inventory is important for understanding and managing forest resources and ecosystems. Remote sensing, the Global Positioning System (GPS), and geographic information systems (GIS) provide new opportunities for forest inventory. This paper develops a new systematic geostatistical approach for predicting forest parameters, using integrated Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) images, GPS, and GIS. Forest parameters, such as basal area, height, health conditions, biomass, or carbon, can be incorporated as a response variable, and the geostatistical approach can be used to predict parameter values for uninventoried points. Using basal area as the response and Landsat ETM+ images of pine stands in Georgia as auxiliary data, this approach includes univariate kriging (ordinary kriging and universal kriging) and multivariable kriging (co-kriging and regression kriging). The combination of bands 4, 3, and 2, as well as the combination of bands 5, 4, and 3, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and principal components (PCs) were used in this study with co-kriging and regression kriging. Validation based on 200 randomly sampling points withheld field inventory was computed to evaluate the kriging performance and demonstrated that band combination 543 performed better than band combination 432, NDVI, and PCs. Regression kriging resulted in the smallest errors and the highest R-squared indicating the best geostatistical method for spatial predictions of pine basal area.     

The potential of the greenness and radiation (GR) model to interpret 8-day gross primary production of vegetation

Remote sensing of vegetation gross primary production (GPP) is an important step to analyze terrestrial carbon (C) cycles in response to changing climate. The availability of global networks of C flux measurements provides a valuable opportunity to develop remote sensing based GPP algorithms and test their performances across diverse regions and plant functional types (PFTs). Using 70 global C flux measurements including 24 non-forest (NF), 17 deciduous forest (DF) and 29 evergreen forest (EF), we present the evaluation of an upscaled remote sensing based greenness and radiation (GR) model for GPP estimation. This model is developed using enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and land surface temperature (LST) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and global course resolution radiation data from the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). Model calibration was achieved using statistical parameters of both EVI and LST fitted for different PFTs. Our results indicate that compared to the standard MODIS GPP product, the calibrated GR model improved the GPP accuracy by reducing the root mean square errors (RMSE) by 16%, 30% and 11% for the NF, DF and EF sites, respectively. The standard MODIS and GR model intercomparisons at individual sites for GPP estimation also showed that GR model performs better in terms of model accuracy and stability. This evaluation demonstrates the potential use of the GR model in capturing short-term GPP variations in areas lacking ground measurements for most of vegetated ecosystems globally.     

Diverse responses of vegetation production to interannual summer drought in North America

Droughts are projected to occur more frequently with future climate change of rising temperature and low precipitation. However, its impact on regional and global vegetation production is not well understood, which in turn contributes to uncertainties to model carbon sequestration under drought scenarios. Using long-term continuous eddy covariance measurements (168 site-year), we present an analysis of the influences of interannual summer drought on vegetation production across 29 sites representing diverse ecoregions and plant functional types in North America. Results showed that interannual summer drought, which was evaluated by the increase in summer temperature or decrease in soil moisture, would cause reductions of both summer gross primary production (GPP) and net ecosystem production (NEP) in non-forest sites (e.g., grasslands and crops). On the contrary, forest ecosystems presented a very different pattern. For evergreen forests, lower summer soil moisture decreased both GPP and NEP; however, higher summer temperature only reduced NEP with no apparent impacts on GPP. Furthermore, summer drought did not show evident impacts on either summer GPP or NEP in deciduous forests, suggesting a better potential of deciduous forests in resisting summer drought and accumulating carbon from atmosphere. These observations imply diverse responses of vegetation production to interannual summer drought and such features would be useful to improve the strengths and weaknesses of ecosystem models to better comprehend the impacts of summer drought with future climate change.     

土地覆被变化对陆地碳循环的影响—以黄河三角洲河口地区为例

土地利用/土地覆被变化是全球变化研究的重点，是影响陆地碳循环的一个重要因子。该文对黄河三角洲河口地区1992年和1996年9月份的TM影像进行非监督分类，做出该地区土地覆被类型分布图，以及估算土地覆被类型的变化面积，计算结果显示1992年该研究地区植被碳库和土壤碳库分别为11.43×10     

基于ICESatGLAS的云南省森林地上生物量反演

结合机载、星载激光雷达对GLAS(地球科学激光测高系统)光斑范围内的森林地上生物量进行估测,并利用MODIS植被产品以及MERIS土地覆盖产品进行了云南省森林地上生物量的连续制图。机载LiDAR扫描的260个训练样本用于构建星载GLAS的森林地上生物量估测模型,模型的决定系数(R2)为0.52,均方根误差(RMSE)为31Mg/ha。研究结果显示,云南省总森林地上生物量为12.72亿t,平均森林地上生物量为94Mg/ha。估测的森林地上生物量空间分布情况与实际情况相符,森林地上生物量总量与基于森林资源清查数据的估测结果相符,表明了利用机载LiDAR与星载ICESatGLAS结合进行大区域森林地上生物量估测的可靠性。     

Modeling the Potential Distribution of Pine Forests Susceptible to Sirex Noctilio Infestations in Mpumalanga,South Africa

Reducing the impact of the siricid wasp, Sirex noctilio is crucial for the future productivity and sustainability of commercial pine resources in South Africa. In this study we present a machine learning model that serves as a spatial guide and allows forest managers to focus their existing detection and monitoring efforts on key areas and proactively adopt the most appropriate course of intervention. We implemented the random forest model within a spatial framework to determine which pine forests in Mpumalanga are highly susceptible to S. noctilio infestations. Results indicate that a majority (63%) of pine forest plantations located in Mpumalanga have a high susceptibility (>70%) to S. noctilio infestation. A KHAT value of 0.84 and F measures above 0.87 indicate that the random forest model is a robust classifier that produces accurate results. Additionally, the use of the backward variable selection method enabled us to simplify the random forest modeling process and identify the minimum number of explanatory variables that offer the best discriminatory power and help in the empirical interpretation of the final random forest model. Overall, the results show that pine forests that experience stress caused by evapotranspiration and evaporation followed by rainfalls, especially during the summer months are more susceptible to S. noctilio infestations.     

Modelling the current and future spatial distribution of NPP in a Mediterranean watershed

The aim of this study is to use full spatial resolution Envisat MERIS data to drive an ecosystem productivity model for pine forests along the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. The Carnegie, Ames, Stanford Approach (CASA) terrestrial biogeochemical model, designed to simulate the terrestrial carbon cycle using satellite sensor and meteorological data, was used to estimate annual regional fluxes in terrestrial net primary productivity (NPP). At its core this model is based on light-use efficiency, influenced by temperature, rainfall and solar radiation. Present climate data was generated from 50 climate stations within the watershed using co-kriging. Regional scale pseudo-warming data for year 2070 were derived using a Regional Climate Model (RCM) these data were used to downscale the GCM General Circulation Model for the research area as part of an international research project called Impact of Climate Changes on Agricultural Production Systems in Arid Areas (ICCAP). Outputs of climate data can be moderated using the four variables of percent tree cover, land cover, soil texture and NDVI. This study employed 47 MERIS images recorded between March 2003 and September 2005 to derive percent tree cover, land cover and NDVI. Envisat MERIS data hold great potential for estimating NPP with the CASA model because of the appropriateness of both its spatial and its spectral resolution.     

A systems approach to assess climate change mitigation options in landscapes of the United States forest sector

Background

United States forests can contribute to national strategies for greenhouse gas reductions. The objective of this work was to evaluate forest sector climate change mitigation scenarios from 2018 to 2050 by applying a systems-based approach that accounts for net emissions across four interdependent components: (1) forest ecosystem, (2) land-use change, (3) harvested wood products, and (4) substitution benefits from using wood products and bioenergy. We assessed a range of land management and harvested wood product scenarios for two case studies in the U.S: coastal South Carolina and Northern Wisconsin. We integrated forest inventory and remotely-sensed disturbance data within a modelling framework consisting of a growth-and-yield driven ecosystem carbon model; a harvested wood products model that estimates emissions from commodity production, use and post-consumer treatment; and displacement factors to estimate avoided fossil fuel emissions. We estimated biophysical mitigation potential by comparing net emissions from land management and harvested wood products scenarios with a baseline (‘business as usual’) scenario.

Results

Baseline scenario results showed that the strength of the ecosystem carbon sink has been decreasing in the two sites due to age-related productivity declines and deforestation. Mitigation activities have the potential to lessen or delay the further reduction in the carbon sink. Results of the mitigation analysis indicated that scenarios reducing net forest area loss were most effective in South Carolina, while extending harvest rotations and increasing longer-lived wood products were most effective in Wisconsin. Scenarios aimed at increasing bioenergy use either increased or reduced net emissions within the 32-year analysis timeframe.

Conclusions

It is critical to apply a systems approach to comprehensively assess net emissions from forest sector climate change mitigation scenarios. Although some scenarios produced a benefit by displacing emissions from fossil fuel energy or by substituting wood products for other materials, these benefits can be outweighed by increased carbon emissions in the forest or product systems. Maintaining forests as forests, extending rotations, and shifting commodities to longer-lived products had the strongest mitigation benefits over several decades. Carbon cycle impacts of bioenergy depend on timeframe, feedstocks, and alternative uses of biomass, and cannot be assumed carbon neutral.

     

Carbon fluxes in ecosystems of Yellowstone National Park predicted from remote sensing data and simulation modeling

Background

A simulation model based on remote sensing data for spatial vegetation properties has been used to estimate ecosystem carbon fluxes across Yellowstone National Park (YNP). The CASA (Carnegie Ames Stanford Approach) model was applied at a regional scale to estimate seasonal and annual carbon fluxes as net primary production (NPP) and soil respiration components. Predicted net ecosystem production (NEP) flux of CO₂ is estimated from the model for carbon sinks and sources over multi-year periods that varied in climate and (wildfire) disturbance histories. Monthly Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) image coverages from the NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument (from 2000 to 2006) were direct inputs to the model. New map products have been added to CASA from airborne remote sensing of coarse woody debris (CWD) in areas burned by wildfires over the past two decades.

Results

Model results indicated that relatively cooler and wetter summer growing seasons were the most favorable for annual plant production and net ecosystem carbon gains in representative landscapes of YNP. When summed across vegetation class areas, the predominance of evergreen forest and shrubland (sagebrush) cover was evident, with these two classes together accounting for 88% of the total annual NPP flux of 2.5 Tg C yr^-1 (1 Tg = 10¹² g) for the entire Yellowstone study area from 2000-2006. Most vegetation classes were estimated as net ecosystem sinks of atmospheric CO₂ on annual basis, making the entire study area a moderate net sink of about +0.13 Tg C yr^-1. This average sink value for forested lands nonetheless masks the contribution of areas burned during the 1988 wildfires, which were estimated as net sources of CO₂ to the atmosphere, totaling to a NEP flux of -0.04 Tg C yr^-1 for the entire burned area. Several areas burned in the 1988 wildfires were estimated to be among the lowest in overall yearly NPP, namely the Hellroaring Fire, Mink Fire, and Falls Fire areas.

Conclusions

Rates of recovery for burned forest areas to pre-1988 biomass levels were estimated from a unique combination of remote sensing and CASA model predictions. Ecosystem production and carbon fluxes in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) result from complex interactions between climate, forest age structure, and disturbance-recovery patterns of the landscape.     

Using Low‐Resolution Satellite Data to Quantify Terrestrial Carbon in Tropical Areas

Abstract

The ability to map and monitor terrestrial carbon is important in tropical regions where land conversion is intense and tropical moist forests store much of Earth's terrestrial carbon. The release of terrestrial carbon in the form of carbon dioxide could alter local, regional, and global weather, and enhance the greenhouse effect. This study analyzed the ability of coarse‐resolution Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) remote sensor data to quantify carbon stored in the Guaporé / Itenez River Basin in Bolivia and Brazil. This area was selected because of the amount of land conversion that has occurred there relative to other areas of the Amazon Basin. A supervised vegetation classification map was created with training sites acquired through fieldwork done in the area in summer 1998. Image pixels were classified as tropical moist forest, degraded tropical moist forest, cerrado, grasslands, degraded savanna, or bare ground. Estimated above and below‐ground carbon values of the different land cover types were applied to each class to calculate total carbon values. It was concluded that data such as AVHRR may be used to calculate the amount of carbon in terrestrial ecosystems in regional scale areas.     

Modeling the spatial distribution of above-ground carbon in Mexican coniferous forests using remote sensing and a geostatistical approach

Forest conservation is considered an option for mitigating the effect of greenhouse gases on global climate, hence monitoring forest carbon pools at global and local levels is important. The present study explores the capability of remote-sensing variables (vegetation indices and textures derived from SPOT-5; backscattering coefficient and interferometric coherence of ALOS PALSAR images) for modeling the spatial distribution of above-ground biomass in the Environmental Conservation Zone of Mexico City. Correlation and spatial autocorrelation coefficients were used to select significant explanatory variables in fir and pine forests. The correlation for interferometric coherence in HV polarization was negative, with correlations coefficients r = −0.83 for the fir and r = −0.75 for the pine forests. Regression-kriging showed the least root mean square error among the spatial interpolation methods used, with 37.75 tC/ha for fir forests and 29.15 tC/ha for pine forests. The results showed that a hybrid geospatial method, based on interferometric coherence data and a regression-kriging interpolator, has good potential for estimating above-ground biomass carbon.     

高分二号异轨立体数据的森林高度提取

森林植被碳储量的空间分布格局及其动态变化是陆地生态系统碳收支核算的基础。作为森林地上生物量的重要指示因子,森林高度的精确估算是提高森林植被碳储量估算精度的关键。现有研究已证明,由专业星载摄影测量系统获取的立体观测数据可用于森林高度提取,但光学遥感数据最大的问题是受云雨等天气因素的影响严重。区域森林地上生物量产品的生产需要充分挖掘潜在数据源。国产高分二号卫星(GF-2)虽然不是为获取立体观测数据而设计的专业星载摄影测量系统,但其获取的图像空间分辨率可达0.8 m,且具备±35°的的侧摆能力,在重复观测区域可构成异轨立体观测。本文以分别获取于2015年6月20日和2016年7月19的GF-2数据作为立体像对,其标称轨道侧摆角分别为0.00118°和20.4984°,以激光雷达数据获取的林下地形(DEM)和森林高度(CHM)为参考,对利用GF-2立体观测数据进行森林高度提取进行了研究。通过对立体处理得到的摄影测量点云的栅格化得到DSM,以激光雷达数据提供的DEM作为林下地形,得到了GF-2的CHM。结果表明GF-2提取的CHM与激光雷达CHM空间分布格局较为一致,两者之间存在明显的相关性,像素对像素的线性相关性(R2)达到0.51,均方根误差(RMSE)为3.6 m。研究结果表明,在林下地形已知的情况下,GF-2立体观测数据可用于森林高度估算。     

利用遥感指数时间序列轨迹监测森林扰动

作为陆地生态系统的主体,森林的碳循环与碳蓄积对研究陆地生态系统起着重要作用,但目前森林扰动资料的缺乏在很大程度上影响着森林碳通量的估算精度。利用1986年-2011年共14期的Landsat TM/ ETM+影像,以江西武宁县为例,使用遥感指数时间序列轨迹分析方法,研究了适用于中国南方森林的扰动监测技术,该技术不仅可以识别森林的扰动变化,同时还可以监测植被的恢复信息。精度分析表明该方法得出的扰动产品的Kappa系数达到0.80,总体精度达到89.7%,表明该方法对武宁县森林扰动具有较好的监测能力。森林扰动特征分析表明武宁县森林在20世纪90年代受扰动最为剧烈,并且扰动主要发生在低海拔地区。