Development and analysis of a 12-year daily 1-km forest fire dataset across North America from NOAA/AVHRR data

Fires in boreal and temperate forests play a significant role in the global carbon cycle. While forest fires in North America (NA) have been surveyed extensively by U.S. and Canadian forest services, most fire records are limited to seasonal statistics without information on temporal evolution and spatial expansion. Such dynamic information is crucial for modeling fire emissions. Using the daily Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data archived from 1989 to 2000, an extensive and consistent fire product was developed across the entire NA forest regions on a daily basis at 1-km resolution. The product was generated following data calibration, geo-referencing, and the application of an active fire detection algorithm and a burned area mapping algorithm. The spatial-temporal variation of forest fire in NA is analyzed in terms of (1) annual and monthly patterns of fire occurrences in different eco-domains, (2) the influence of topographic factors (elevation zones, aspect classes, and slope classes), and (3) major forest types and eco-regions in NA. It was found that 1) among the 12 years analyzed, 1989 and 1995 were the most severe fire years in NA; 2) the majority of burning occurred during June-July and in low elevation zones (< 500 m) with gentle slopes (< 10°), except in the dry eco-domain where more fires occurred in higher elevation zones (> 2000 m); 3) most fires occurred in the polar eco-domain, sub-arctic eco-division, and in the taiga ( boreal forests), forest-tundras and open woodlands eco-provinces in the boreal forests of Canada. The tendency for multiple burns to occur increases with elevation and slope until about 2500 m elevation and 24° slope, and decreases therefore. In comparison with ground observations, the omission and commission errors are on the order of 20%.     

Evaluation of earth observation based long term vegetation trends — Intercomparing NDVI time series trend analysis consistency of Sahel from AVHRR GIMMS, Terra MODIS and SPOT VGT data

AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) GIMMS (Global Inventory Modelling and Mapping Studies) NDVI (Normalized Difference vegetation Index) data is available from 1981 to present time. The global coverage 8 km resolution 15-day composite data set has been used for numerous local to global scale vegetation time series studies during recent years. Several aspects however potentially introduce noise in the NDVI data set due to the AVHRR sensor design and data processing. More recent NDVI data sets from both Terra MODIS and SPOT VGT data are considered an improvement over AVHRR and these products in theory provide a possibility to evaluate the accuracy of GIMMS NDVI time series trend analysis for the overlapping period of available data. In this study the accuracy of the GIMMS NDVI time series trend analysis is evaluated by comparison with the 1 km resolution Terra MODIS (MOD13A2) 16-day composite NDVI data, the SPOT Vegetation (VGT) 10-day composite (S10) NDVI data and in situ measurements of a test site in Dahra, Senegal. Linear least squares regression trend analysis on eight years of GIMMS annual average NDVI (2000-2007) has been compared to Terra MODIS (1 km and 8 km resampled) and SPOT VGT NDVI data 1 km (2000-2007). The three data products do not exhibit identical patterns of NDVI trends. SPOT VGT NDVI data are characterised by higher positive regression slopes over the 8-year period as compared to Terra MODIS and AVHRR GIMMS NDVI data, possibly caused by a change in channels 1 and 2 spectral response functions from SPOT VGT1 to SPOT VGT2 in 2003. Trend analysis of AVHRR GIMMS NDVI exhibits a regression slope range in better agreement with Terra MODIS NDVI for semi-arid areas. However, GIMMS NDVI shows a tendency towards higher positive regression slope values than Terra MODIS in more humid areas. Validation of the different NDVI data products against continuous in situ NDVI measurements for the period 2002-2007 in the semi-arid Senegal revealed a good agreement between in situ measurements and all satellite based NDVI products. Using Terra MODIS NDVI as a reference, it is concluded that AVHRR GIMMS coarse resolution NDVI data set is well-suited for long term vegetation studies of the Sahel-Sudanian areas receiving < 1000 mm rainfall, whereas interpretation of GIMMS NDVI trends in more humid areas of the Sudanian-Guinean zones should be done with certain reservations.     

Dryland observation at local and regional scale — Comparison of Landsat TM/ETM+ and NOAA AVHRR time series

During the last few decades, many regions have experienced major land use transformations, often driven by human activities. Assessing and evaluating these changes requires consistent data over time at appropriate scales as provided by remote sensing imagery. Given the availability of small and large-scale observation systems that provide the required long-term records, it is important to understand the specific characteristics associated with both observation scales. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potentials and limits of remote sensing time series for change analysis of drylands. We focussed on the assessment and monitoring of land change processes using two scales of remote sensing data. Special interest was given to the influence of the spatial and temporal resolution of different sensors on the derivation of enhanced vegetation related variables, such as trends in time and the shift of phenological cycles. Time series of Landsat TM/ETM+ and NOAA AVHRR covering the overlapping time period from 1990 to 2000 were compared for a study area in the Mediterranean. The test site is located in Central Macedonia (Greece) and represents a typical heterogeneous Mediterranean landscape. It is undergoing extensification and intensification processes such as long-term, gradual processes driven by changing rangeland management and the extension of irrigated arable land. Time series analysis of NOAA AVHRRR and Landsat TM/ETM+ data showed that both sensors are able to detect this kind of land cover change in complementary ways. Thereby, the high temporal resolution of NOAA AVHRR data can partially compensate for the coarse spatial resolution because it allows enhanced time series methods like frequency analysis that provide complementary information. In contrast, the analysis of Landsat data was able to reveal changes at a fine spatial scale, which are associated with shifts in land management practice.     

Large area forest stem volume mapping in the boreal zone using synergy of ERS-1/2 tandem coherence and MODIS vegetation continuous fields

ERS-1/2 tandem coherence was reported to have high potential for the mapping of boreal forest stem volume (e.g. Santoro et al., 2002, 2007a; Wagner et al., 2003; Askne & Santoro, 2005). Large-scale application of the data for forest stem volume mapping, however, is hindered by the variability of coherence with meteorological and environmental acquisition conditions. The traditional way of stem volume retrieval is based on the training of models, relating coherence to stem volume, with the aid of forest inventory data which is generally available for a few small test sites but not for large areas. In this paper a new approach is presented that allows model training using the MODIS Vegetation Continuous Fields canopy cover product (Hansen et al., 2003) without further need for ground data. A comparison of the new approach with the traditional regression-based and ground-data dependent model training is presented in this paper for a multi-seasonal ERS-1/2 tandem dataset covering several well known Central Siberian forest sites. As a test scenario for large-area application, the approach was applied to a multi-seasonal ERS-1/2 tandem dataset of 223 ERS-1 and ERS-2 image pairs covering Northeast China (~ 1.5 million km²) to map four stem volume classes (0-20, 20-50, 50-80, and > 80 m³/ha).     

A curve fitting procedure to derive inter-annual phenologies from time series of noisy satellite NDVI data

Annual, inter-annual and long-term trends in time series derived from remote sensing can be used to distinguish between natural land cover variability and land cover change. However, the utility of using NDVI-derived phenology to detect change is often limited by poor quality data resulting from atmospheric and other effects. Here, we present a curve fitting methodology useful for time series of remotely sensed data that is minimally affected by atmospheric and sensor effects and requires neither spatial nor temporal averaging. A two-step technique is employed: first, a harmonic approach models the average annual phenology; second, a spline-based approach models inter-annual phenology. The principal attributes of the time series (e.g., amplitude, timing of onset of greenness, intrinsic smoothness or roughness) are captured while the effects of data drop-outs and gaps are minimized. A recursive, least squares approach captures the upper envelope of NDVI values by upweighting data values above an average annual curve. We test this methodology on several land cover types in the western U.S., and find that onset of greenness in an average year varied by less than 8 days within land cover types, indicating that the curve fit is consistent within similar systems. Between 1990 and 2002, temporal variability in onset of greenness was between 17 and 35 days depending on the land cover type, indicating that the inter-annual curve fit captures substantial inter-annual variability. Employing this curve fitting procedure enhances our ability to measure inter-annual phenology and could lead to better understanding of local and regional land cover trends.     

Using long time series of Landsat data to monitor fire events and post-fire dynamics and identify driving factors. A case study in the Ayora region (eastern Spain)

The Ayora region, situated about 60 km southwest of the city of Valencia/Spain, was chosen to demonstrate pathways of characterizing fire events and post-fire succession in Mediterranean ecosystems using multi-temporal satellite imagery. A corresponding time series of 6 Landsat MSS, 13 Landsat-5 TM and 1 Landsat-7 ETM + images, covering the period 1975—2000, was processed to account for geometric and radiometric distortions as well as sensor calibration. Spectral Mixture Analysis was applied to derive estimates of photosynthetic active green vegetation cover as a primary indicator.A combination of pixel-based linear trend analysis and diachronic thresholding was employed to procure a fire perimeter data base and characterize post-fire dynamics based on a temporally stratified trend analysis. The results were integrated with auxiliary information to evaluate driving factors and further interpreted in relation to field-based information on plant communities and post-fire succession patterns.Reflecting typical recovery phases with an initial establishment of grasses and herbaceous species, followed by a gradual development of a shrub layer and the subsequent colonization of tree individuals, temporal trajectories could be described by exponential functions and were related to plot-based botanical information.     

A scalable approach to mapping annual land cover at 250 m using MODIS time series data: A case study in the Dry Chaco ecoregion of South America

Land use and land cover (LULC) maps from remote sensing are vital for monitoring, understanding and predicting the effects of complex human-nature interactions that span local, regional and global scales. We present a method to map annual LULC at a regional spatial scale with source data and processing techniques that permit scaling to broader spatial and temporal scales, while maintaining a consistent classification scheme and accuracy. Using the Dry Chaco ecoregion in Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay as a test site, we derived a suite of predictor variables from 2001 to 2007 from the MODIS 250 m vegetation index product (MOD13Q1). These variables included: annual statistics of red, near infrared, and enhanced vegetation index (EVI), phenological metrics derived from EVI time series data, and slope and elevation. For reference data, we visually interpreted percent cover of eight classes at locations with high-resolution QuickBird imagery in Google Earth. An adjustable majority cover threshold was used to assign samples to a dominant class. When compared to field data, we found this imagery to have georeferencing error < 5% the length of a MODIS pixel, while most class interpretation error was related to confusion between agriculture and herbaceous vegetation. We used the Random Forests classifier to identify the best sets of predictor variables and percent cover thresholds for discriminating our LULC classes. The best variable set included all predictor variables and a cover threshold of 80%. This optimal Random Forests was used to map LULC for each year between 2001 and 2007, followed by a per-pixel, 3-year temporal filter to remove disallowed LULC transitions. Our sequence of maps had an overall accuracy of 79.3%, producer accuracy from 51.4% (plantation) to 95.8% (woody vegetation), and user accuracy from 58.9% (herbaceous vegetation) to 100.0% (water). We attributed map class confusion to limited spectral information, sub-pixel spectral mixing, georeferencing error and human error in interpreting reference samples. We used our maps to assess woody vegetation change in the Dry Chaco from 2002 to 2006, which was characterized by rapid deforestation related to soybean and planted pasture expansion. This method can be easily applied to other regions or continents to produce spatially and temporally consistent information on annual LULC.