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At least 253 records · Page 14

Improvements to Lunar BRDF-Corrected Nighttime Satellite Imagery: Uses and Applications

Observations made by the VIIRS day/night band (DNB) provide daily, nighttime measurements to monitor Earth surface processes.However, these observations are impacted by variations in reflected solar radiation on the moon's surface. As the moon transitions from new to full phase, increasing radiance is reflected to the Earth's surface and contributes additional reflected moonlight from clouds and land surface, in addition to emissions from other light sources observed by the DNB. The introduction of a bi-directional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) algorithm serves to remove these lunar variations and normalize observed radiances. Provided by the Terrestrial Information Systems Laboratory at Goddard Space Flight Center, a 1 km gridded lunar BRDF-corrected DNB product and VIIRS cloud mask can be used for a multitude of nighttime applications without influence from the moon. Such applications include the detection of power outages following severe weather events using pre-and post-event DNB imagery, as well as the identification of boat features to curtail illegal fishing practices. This presentation will provide context on the importance of the lunar BRDF correction algorithm and explore the aforementioned uses of this improved DNB product for applied science applications.

NWS↗

Using High Spatial Resolution Satellite Imagery to Map Forest Burn Severity Across Spatial Scales in a Pine Barrens Ecosystem

As a primary disturbance agent, fire significantly influences local processes and services of forest ecosystems. Although a variety of remote sensing based approaches have been developed and applied to Landsat mission imagery to infer burn severity at 30 m spatial resolution, forest burn severity have still been seldom assessed at fine spatial scales (less than or equal to 5 m) from very-high-resolution (VHR) data. We assessed a 432 ha forest fire that occurred in April 2012 on Long Island, New York, within the Pine Barrens region, a unique but imperiled fire-dependent ecosystem in the northeastern United States. The mapping of forest burn severity was explored here at fine spatial scales, for the first time using remotely sensed spectral indices and a set of Multiple Endmember Spectral Mixture Analysis (MESMA) fraction images from bi-temporal - pre- and post-fire event - WorldView-2 (WV-2) imagery at 2 m spatial resolution. We first evaluated our approach using 1 m by 1 m validation points at the sub-crown scale per severity class (i.e. unburned, low, moderate, and high severity) from the post-fire 0.10 m color aerial ortho-photos; then, we validated the burn severity mapping of geo-referenced dominant tree crowns (crown scale) and 15 m by 15 m fixed-area plots (inter-crown scale) with the post-fire 0.10 m aerial ortho-photos and measured crown information of twenty forest inventory plots. Our approach can accurately assess forest burn severity at the sub-crown (overall accuracy is 84% with a Kappa value of 0.77), crown (overall accuracy is 82% with a Kappa value of 0.76), and inter-crown scales (89% of the variation in estimated burn severity ratings (i.e. Geo-Composite Burn Index (CBI)). This work highlights that forest burn severity mapping from VHR data can capture heterogeneous fire patterns at fine spatial scales over the large spatial extents. This is important since most ecological processes associated with fire effects vary at the less than 30 m scale and VHR approaches could significantly advance our ability to characterize fire effects on forest ecosystems.

Meng, Ran↗

Detection and Mapping of Sahara Mustard (Brassica tournefortii) in the Colorado Desert of Southern California using Landsat Satellite Imagery

Sahara mustard (Brassica tournefortii Gouan), a plant native to North Africa and the Middle East, has become a troublesome invasive pest in arid ecosystems of the Southwest United States, northern and central Mexico, and Australia. In the desert Southwest, B. tournefortii is commonly found in sandy washes, sand sheets, rocky hillsides, and other disturbed areas at elevations below 1000 m. The objective of this study was to evaluate the Landsat MTMF technique for detecting B. tournefortii presence and biomass density in the Colorado Desert region of California.

Sahara↗

Vegetation Classification of Coffea on Hawaii Island using Worldview-2 Satellite Imagery

Coffee is an important crop in tropical regions of the world; about 125 million people depend on coffee agriculture for their livelihoods. Understanding the spatial extent of coffee fields is useful for management and control of coffee pests such as Hypothenemus hampei and other pests that use coffee fruit as a host for immature stages such as the Mediterranean fruit fly, for economic planning, and for following changes in coffee agroecosystems over time. We present two methods for detecting Coffea arabica fields using remote sensing and geospatial technologies on WorldView-2 high-resolution spectral data of the Kona region of Hawaii Island. The first method, a pixel-based method using a maximum likelihood algorithm, attained 72% producer accuracy and 69% user accuracy (68% overall accuracy) based on analysis of 104 ground truth testing polygons. The second method, an object-based image analysis (OBIA) method, considered both spectral and textural information and improved accuracy, resulting in 76% producer accuracy and 94% user accuracy (81% overall accuracy) for the same testing areas. We conclude that the OBIA method is useful for detecting coffee fields grown in the open and use it to estimate the distribution of about 1050 hectares under coffee agriculture in the Kona region in 2012.

Gaertner, Julie↗

Characterizing spatiotemporal patterns of crop phenology across North America during 2000–2016 using satellite imagery and agricultural survey data

Crop phenology represents an integrative indicator of climate change and plays a vital role in terrestrial carbon dynamics and sustainable agricultural development. However, spatiotemporal variations of crop phenology remain unclear at large scales. This knowledge gap has hindered our ability to realistically quantify the biogeochemical dynamics in agroecosystems, predict future climate, and make informed decisions for climate change mitigation and adaptation. In this study, we improved an EVI-curve-based approach and used it to detect spatiotemporal patterns in cropping intensity and five major phenological stages over North America during 2000–2016 using vegetation index in combination with agricultural survey data and other ancillary maps. Our predicted crop phenological stages showed strong linear relationships with the survey-based datasets, with R(exp 2), RMSEs, and MAEs in the ranges of 0.35 –0.99, three to ten days, and two to eight days, respectively. During the study period, the planting dates were advanced by 0.60 days/year (p < 0.01), and harvesting dates were delayed by 0.78 days/year (p < 0.01) over North America. A minimum temperature increase by 1 °C caused a 4.26-day planting advance (r = −0.50, p < 0. 01) or a 0.66-day harvest delay (r = 0.10, p < 0.01). While, a higher maximum temperature resulted in a planting advance by 4.48 days/°C (r = −0.62, p < 0.01) or a harvest advance by 2.22 days/°C (r = −0.40, p < 0.01). Our analysis illustrated evident spatiotemporal variations in crop phenology in response to climate change and management practices. The derived crop phenological datasets and cropping intensity maps can be used in regional climate assessments and in developing adaptation strategies.

North America↗

Lower Illinois River Valley Ecological Forecasting: Inundation Mapping of the Lower Illinois River Valley Using Synthetic Aperture Radar and Optical Satellite Imagery for Wetland Conservation and Restoration Prioritization Efforts

The Lower Illinois River Valley (LIRV) is home to some of the richest agricultural lands in the United States and its wetlands provide key ecosystem services like clean water and flood reduction. It has also experienced extensive degradation due to development and urban pollution. The Great Rivers Land Trust (GRLT), the National Great Rivers Research & Education Center, Principia College, and the American Geophysical Union’s (AGU) Thriving Earth Exchange sought to incorporate inundation and surface water extent layers into their geodatabases to more accurately identify priority areas for wetland restoration. This project aimed to determine the feasibility of detecting inundation extent and duration along the valley using remotely sensed data. The team used Sentinel-1 C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data to classify open water and inundated vegetation within the study site. The open water classification was compared to Dynamic Surface Water Extent (DSWE) derived from Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager. The team successfully created layers of inundation minimum and maximum extent, as well as inundation duration across the study area for 2019 and 2020. The open water classification resulted in an overall accuracy of 86% when validated against DSWE classifications. These analyses will help end users to identify high priority areas along the LIRV best suited for land conversion projects in the future.

Vanessa Machuca↗