Integration of Landsat-8 Thermal and Visible-Short Wave Infrared Data for Improving Prediction Accuracy of Forest Leaf Area Index

Detection of Yunnan Pine Shoot Beetle Stress Using UAV-Based Thermal Imagery and LiDAR

Infestations of Tomicus spp. have caused the deaths of millions of Yunnan pine forests in Southwest China; consequently, accurate monitoring methods are required to assess the damage caused by these pest insects at an early stage. Considering the limited sensitivity of optical reflectance on the early stage of beetle stress, the potential of thermal infrared (TIR) can be exploited for monitoring forest health on the basis of the change of canopy surface temperature (CST). However, few studies have investigated the impact of the leaf area index (LAI) on the accuracy of TIR data-based SDR assessments. Therefore, the current study used unmanned airborne vehicle (UAV)-based TIR and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data to assess the capacity of determining the potential for using TIR data for determining SDR under different LAI conditions. The feasibility of using TIR for monitoring SDRs at the tree level and plot scales were analyzed using the relationship between SDR and canopy temperature. Results revealed that: (1) prediction accuracy of SDR from CST is promising at high LAI values and decreases quickly with LAI, and is higher at the single tree scale (R2 = 0.7890) than at the plot scale (R2 = 0.5532); (2) at either single tree or plot scale, a significant negative correlation can be found between CST and LAI (−0.9121 at tree scale and −0.5902 at plot scale); (3) LAI affects the transmission paths of sunlight and sensor, which mainly disturbs the relationship between CST and SDR. This article evaluated the high possibility of using TIR data to monitor SDRs at both tree and plot levels and assessed the negative impact of a low LAI (<1) on the relationship between temperature and SDR. Accordingly, when measuring forest health using TIR data, additional data sources are required to eliminate the negative impact of low LAIs and to improve the monitoring accuracy.

Estimating the aboveground biomass of coniferous forest in Northeast China using spectral variables, land surface temperature and soil moisture

As a crucial indicator of forest growth and quality, estimating aboveground biomass (AGB) plays a key role in monitoring the global carbon cycle and forest health assessments. Novel methods and applications in remote sensing technology can greatly reduce the investigation time and cost and therefore have the potential to efficiently estimate AGB. Random forest (RF), combined with remote sensing images, is a popular machine learning method that has been widely used for AGB estimation. However, the accuracy of the ordinary linear variable selection method in the AGB estimation of coniferous forests is challenging due to the complexity of these forest biomes. In this study, spectral variables (spectral reflectance and vegetation index), land surface temperature (LST) and soil moisture were extracted from the operational land imager (OLI) and thermal infrared sensor (TIRS) of Landsat 8, and optimized RF regressions were established to estimate the AGB of coniferous forests in the Wangyedian forest farm, Inner Mongolia, Northeast China. We applied one linear (Pearson correlation coefficient (PC)) and four nonlinear (Kendall's τ coefficient (KC), Spearman coefficient (SC), distance correlation coefficient (DC) and the importance index) indices to select variables and establish optimized RF regressions for AGB estimation. The results showed that all the nonlinear indices provided significantly lower estimation errors than the linear index, in which the minimum root mean square error (RMSE) of 40.92 Mg/ha was obtained by the importance index in the nonlinear indices. In addition, the inclusion of LST and soil moisture significantly improved AGB estimation. The RMSE of the models constructed through the five indices decreased by 12.93%, 7.31%, 8.33%, 6.28% and 10.78%, respectively, following the application of the LST variable. In particular, when LST and soil moisture were both added into the model, the RMSE decreased by 31.47%. This study demonstrates that combining the nonlinear variable selection method with optimized RF regression can improve the efficiency of AGB estimation to support regional forest resource management and monitoring.

Earth Observation Based Monitoring of Forests in Germany: A Review

Forests in Germany cover around 11.4 million hectares and, thus, a share of 32% of Germany’s surface area. Therefore, forests shape the character of the country’s cultural landscape. Germany’s forests fulfil a variety of functions for nature and society, and also play an important role in the context of climate levelling. Climate change, manifested via rising temperatures and current weather extremes, has a negative impact on the health and development of forests. Within the last five years, severe storms, extreme drought, and heat waves, and the subsequent mass reproduction of bark beetles have all seriously affected Germany’s forests. Facing the current dramatic extent of forest damage and the emerging long-term consequences, the effort to preserve forests in Germany, along with their diversity and productivity, is an indispensable task for the government. Several German ministries have and plan to initiate measures supporting forest health. Quantitative data is one means for sound decision-making to ensure the monitoring of the forest and to improve the monitoring of forest damage. In addition to existing forest monitoring systems, such as the federal forest inventory, the national crown condition survey, and the national forest soil inventory, systematic surveys of forest condition and vulnerability at the national scale can be expanded with the help of a satellite-based earth observation. In this review, we analysed and categorized all research studies published in the last 20 years that focus on the remote sensing of forests in Germany. For this study, 166 citation indexed research publications have been thoroughly analysed with respect to publication frequency, location of studies undertaken, spatial and temporal scale, coverage of the studies, satellite sensors employed, thematic foci of the studies, and overall outcomes, allowing us to identify major research and geoinformation product gaps.

Forest and Crop Leaf Area Index Estimation Using Remote Sensing: Research Trends and Future Directions

Leaf area index (LAI) is an important vegetation leaf structure parameter in forest and agricultural ecosystems. Remote sensing techniques can provide an effective alternative to field-based observation of LAI. Differences in canopy structure result in different sensor types (active or passive), platforms (terrestrial, airborne, or satellite), and models being appropriate for the LAI estimation of forest and agricultural systems. This study reviews the application of remote sensing-based approaches across different system configurations (passive, active, and multisource sensors on different collection platforms) that are used to estimate forest and crop LAI and explores uncertainty analysis in LAI estimation. A comparison of the difference in LAI estimation for forest and agricultural applications given the different structure of these ecosystems is presented, particularly as this relates to spatial scale. The ease of use of empirical models supports these as the preferred choice for forest and crop LAI estimation. However, performance variation among different empirical models for forest and crop LAI estimation limits the broad application of specific models. The development of models that facilitate the strategic incorporation of local physiology and biochemistry parameters for specific forests and crop growth stages from various temperature zones could improve the accuracy of LAI estimation models and help develop models that can be applied more broadly. In terms of scale issues, both spectral and spatial scales impact the estimation of LAI. Exploration of the quantitative relationship between scales of data from different sensors could help forest and crop managers more appropriately and effectively apply different data sources. Uncertainty coming from various sources results in reduced accuracy in estimating LAI. While Bayesian approaches have proven effective to quantify LAI estimation uncertainty based on the uncertainty of model inputs, there is still a need to quantify uncertainty from remote sensing data source, ground measurements and related environmental factors to mitigate the impacts of model uncertainty and improve LAI estimation.

A Modified KNN Method for Mapping the Leaf Area Index in Arid and Semi-Arid Areas of China

As an important vegetation canopy parameter, the leaf area index (LAI) plays a critical role in forest growth modeling and vegetation health assessment. Estimating LAI is helpful for understanding vegetation growth and global ecological processes. Machine learning methods such as k-nearest neighbors (kNN) and random forest (RF) with remote sensing images have been widely used for mapping LAI. However, the accuracy of mapping LAI in arid and semi-arid areas using these methods is limited due to remote and large areas, the high cost of collecting field data, and the great spatial variability of the vegetation canopy. Here, a novel and modified kNN method was presented for mapping LAI in arid and semi-arid areas of China using Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 images with field data collected in Ganzhou and Kangbao of China. The modified kNN was developed by integrating the traditional kNN estimation and RF classification. The results were compared with those from kNN and RF regression alone using three sets of input predictors: (i) spectral reflectance bands (input 1); (ii) vegetation indices (input 2); and (iii) a combination of spectral reflectance bands and vegetation indices (input 3). Our analysis showed that in Ganzhou, the red-edge bands of the Sentinel-2 image had a high correlation with LAI. Using the red-edge band-derived vegetation indices increased the accuracy of mapping LAI compared with using other spectral variables. Among the three sets of input predictors, input 3 resulted in the highest prediction accuracy. Based on the combination, the values of RMSE obtained by the traditional kNN, RF, and modified kNN were 0.526, 0.523, and 0.372, respectively, and the modified kNN significantly improved the accuracy of LAI prediction by 29.3% and 28.9% compared with the kNN and RF alone, respectively. A similar improvement was achieved for input 1 and input 2. In Kangbao, the improvement of the prediction accuracy obtained by the modified kNN was 31.4% compared with both the kNN and RF. Therefore, this study implied that the modified kNN provided the potential to improve the accuracy of mapping LAI in arid and semi-arid regions using the images.