Remote Sensing

18 pages, 5487 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Application of Google Earth Engine Cloud Computing Platform, Sentinel Imagery, and Neural Networks for Crop Mapping in Canada

by Meisam Amani, Mohammad Kakooei, Armin Moghimi, Arsalan Ghorbanian, Babak Ranjgar, Sahel Mahdavi, Andrew Davidson, Thierry Fisette, Patrick Rollin, Brian Brisco and Ali Mohammadzadeh

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(21), 3561; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12213561 - 30 Oct 2020

Cited by 79 | Viewed by 15594

Abstract

The ability of the Canadian agriculture sector to make better decisions and manage its operations more competitively in the long term is only as good as the information available to inform decision-making. At all levels of Government, a reliable flow of information between [...] Read more.

The ability of the Canadian agriculture sector to make better decisions and manage its operations more competitively in the long term is only as good as the information available to inform decision-making. At all levels of Government, a reliable flow of information between scientists, practitioners, policy-makers, and commodity groups is critical for developing and supporting agricultural policies and programs. Given the vastness and complexity of Canada’s agricultural regions, space-based remote sensing is one of the most reliable approaches to get detailed information describing the evolving state of the country’s environment. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)—the Canadian federal department responsible for agriculture—produces the Annual Space-Based Crop Inventory (ACI) maps for Canada. These maps are valuable operational space-based remote sensing products which cover the agricultural land use and non-agricultural land cover found within Canada’s agricultural extent. Developing and implementing novel methods for improving these products are an ongoing priority of AAFC. Consequently, it is beneficial to implement advanced machine learning and big data processing methods along with open-access satellite imagery to effectively produce accurate ACI maps. In this study, for the first time, the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud computing platform was used along with an Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) algorithm and Sentinel-1, -2 images to produce an object-based ACI map for 2018. Furthermore, different limitations of the proposed method were discussed, and several suggestions were provided for future studies. The Overall Accuracy (OA) and Kappa Coefficient (KC) of the final 2018 ACI map using the proposed GEE cloud method were 77% and 0.74, respectively. Moreover, the average Producer Accuracy (PA) and User Accuracy (UA) for the 17 cropland classes were 79% and 77%, respectively. Although these levels of accuracies were slightly lower than those of the AAFC’s ACI map, this study demonstrated that the proposed cloud computing method should be investigated further because it was more efficient in terms of cost, time, computation, and automation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Google Earth Engine: Cloud-Based Platform for Earth Observation Data and Analysis)

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26 pages, 6004 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

A Quantitative Framework for Analyzing Spatial Dynamics of Flood Events: A Case Study of Super Cyclone Amphan

by Mohammad Mehedy Hassan, Kevin Ash, Joynal Abedin, Bimal Kanti Paul and Jane Southworth

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(20), 3454; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12203454 - 21 Oct 2020

Cited by 34 | Viewed by 7911

Abstract

Identifying the flooding risk hotspot is crucial for aiding a rapid response and prioritizes mitigation efforts over large disaster impacted regions. While climate change is increasing the risk of floods in many vulnerable regions of the world, the commonly used crisis map is [...] Read more.

Identifying the flooding risk hotspot is crucial for aiding a rapid response and prioritizes mitigation efforts over large disaster impacted regions. While climate change is increasing the risk of floods in many vulnerable regions of the world, the commonly used crisis map is inefficient and cannot rapidly determine the spatial variation and intensity of flooding extension across the affected areas. In such cases, the Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) statistic can detect heterogeneity or the flooding hotspot at a local spatial scale beyond routine mapping. This area, however, has not yet been studied in the context of the magnitude of the floods. The present study incorporates the LISA methodology including Moran’s I and Getis–Ord Gi* to identify the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of the occurrence of flooding from super cyclone Amphan across 16 coastal districts of Bangladesh. Using the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from Sentinel-1 and a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification, “water” and “land” were classified for the pre-event (16 May 2020) and post-events (22 May, 28 May, and 7 June 2020) of the area under study. A Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI), and visual comparison were used to evaluate the flood maps. A compelling agreement was accomplished between the observed and predicted flood maps, with an overall precision of above 95% for all SAR classified images. As per this study, 2233 km² (8%) of the region is estimated to have been inundated on 22 May. After this point, the intensity and aerial expansion of flood decreased to 1490 km² by 28 May before it increased slightly to 1520 km² (2.1% of the study area) on 7 June. The results from LISA indicated that the main flooding hotspots were located in the central part, particularly in the region off the north-east of the mangrove forest. A total of 238 Unions (smallest administrative units) were identified as high flooding hotspots (p < 0.05) on 22 May, but the number of flooding hotspots dropped to 166 in the second week (28 May) after Amphan subsided before it increased to a further 208 hotspots (p < 0.05) on 7 June due to incessant rainfall and riverbank failure in the south-west part of the study area. As such, an appropriate, timely, and cost-effective strategy would be to assess existing flooding management policies through the identified flooding hotspot regions. This identification would then allow for the creation of an improved policy to help curtail the destructive effects of flooding in the future. Full article

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23 pages, 13141 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Evidence That Reduced Air and Road Traffic Decreased Artificial Night-Time Skyglow during COVID-19 Lockdown in Berlin, Germany

by Andreas Jechow and Franz Hölker

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(20), 3412; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12203412 - 17 Oct 2020

Cited by 41 | Viewed by 8760

Abstract

Artificial skyglow, the brightening of the night sky by artificial light at night that is scattered back to Earth within the atmosphere, is detrimental to astronomical observations and has an impact on ecosystems as a form of light pollution. In this work, we [...] Read more.

Artificial skyglow, the brightening of the night sky by artificial light at night that is scattered back to Earth within the atmosphere, is detrimental to astronomical observations and has an impact on ecosystems as a form of light pollution. In this work, we investigated the impact of the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on the urban skyglow of Berlin, Germany. We compared night sky brightness and correlated color temperature (CCT) measurements obtained with all-sky cameras during the COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020 with data from March 2017. Under normal conditions, we expected an increase in night sky brightness (or skyglow, respectively) and CCT because of the transition to LED. This is supported by a measured CCT shift to slightly higher values and a time series analysis of night-time light satellite data showing an increase in artificial light emission in Berlin. However, contrary to this observation, we measured a decrease in artificial skyglow at zenith by 20% at the city center and by more than 50% at 58 km distance from the center during the lockdown. We assume that the main cause for the reduction of artificial skyglow originates from improved air quality due to less air and road traffic, which is supported by statistical data and satellite image analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first reported impact of COVID-19 on artificial skyglow and we conclude that air pollution should shift more into the focus of light pollution research. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Light Pollution Monitoring Using Remote Sensing Data)

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31 pages, 10416 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

UAV Framework for Autonomous Onboard Navigation and People/Object Detection in Cluttered Indoor Environments

by Juan Sandino, Fernando Vanegas, Frederic Maire, Peter Caccetta, Conrad Sanderson and Felipe Gonzalez

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(20), 3386; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12203386 - 16 Oct 2020

Cited by 77 | Viewed by 11792

Abstract

Response efforts in emergency applications such as border protection, humanitarian relief and disaster monitoring have improved with the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), which provide a flexibly deployed eye in the sky. These efforts have been further improved with advances in autonomous [...] Read more.

Response efforts in emergency applications such as border protection, humanitarian relief and disaster monitoring have improved with the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), which provide a flexibly deployed eye in the sky. These efforts have been further improved with advances in autonomous behaviours such as obstacle avoidance, take-off, landing, hovering and waypoint flight modes. However, most UAVs lack autonomous decision making for navigating in complex environments. This limitation creates a reliance on ground control stations to UAVs and, therefore, on their communication systems. The challenge is even more complex in indoor flight operations, where the strength of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals is absent or weak and compromises aircraft behaviour. This paper proposes a UAV framework for autonomous navigation to address uncertainty and partial observability from imperfect sensor readings in cluttered indoor scenarios. The framework design allocates the computing processes onboard the flight controller and companion computer of the UAV, allowing it to explore dangerous indoor areas without the supervision and physical presence of the human operator. The system is illustrated under a Search and Rescue (SAR) scenario to detect and locate victims inside a simulated office building. The navigation problem is modelled as a Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) and solved in real time through the Augmented Belief Trees (ABT) algorithm. Data is collected using Hardware in the Loop (HIL) simulations and real flight tests. Experimental results show the robustness of the proposed framework to detect victims at various levels of location uncertainty. The proposed system ensures personal safety by letting the UAV to explore dangerous environments without the intervention of the human operator. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Remote Sensing for Disaster Research: Methodologies and Applications)

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25 pages, 5488 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Magnetospheric–Ionospheric–Lithospheric Coupling Model. 1: Observations during the 5 August 2018 Bayan Earthquake

by Mirko Piersanti, Massimo Materassi, Roberto Battiston, Vincenzo Carbone, Antonio Cicone, Giulia D’Angelo, Piero Diego and Pietro Ubertini

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(20), 3299; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12203299 - 11 Oct 2020

Cited by 62 | Viewed by 5469

Abstract

The short-term prediction of earthquakes is an essential issue connected with human life protection and related social and economic matters. Recent papers have provided some evidence of the link between the lithosphere, lower atmosphere, and ionosphere, even though with marginal statistical evidence. The [...] Read more.

The short-term prediction of earthquakes is an essential issue connected with human life protection and related social and economic matters. Recent papers have provided some evidence of the link between the lithosphere, lower atmosphere, and ionosphere, even though with marginal statistical evidence. The basic coupling is hypothesized as being via the atmospheric gravity wave (AGW)/acoustic wave (AW) channel. In this paper we analyze a scenario of the low latitude earthquake (Mw = 6.9) which occurred in Indonesia on 5 August 2018, through a multi-instrumental approach, using ground and satellites high quality data. As a result, we derive a new analytical lithospheric–atmospheric–ionospheric–magnetospheric coupling model with the aim to provide quantitative indicators to interpret the observations around 6 h before and at the moment of the earthquake occurrence. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space-Borne Earth Observation Data for Monitoring Natural and Anthropogenic Phenomena)

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Graphical abstract

32 pages, 11808 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Wide-Area Near-Real-Time Monitoring of Tropical Forest Degradation and Deforestation Using Sentinel-1

by Dirk Hoekman, Boris Kooij, Marcela Quiñones, Sam Vellekoop, Ita Carolita, Syarif Budhiman, Rahmat Arief and Orbita Roswintiarti

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(19), 3263; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12193263 - 8 Oct 2020

Cited by 48 | Viewed by 10020

Abstract

The use of Sentinel-1 (S1) radar for wide-area, near-real-time (NRT) tropical-forest-change monitoring is discussed, with particular attention to forest degradation and deforestation. Since forest change can relate to processes ranging from high-impact, large-scale conversion to low-impact, selective logging, and can occur in sites [...] Read more.

The use of Sentinel-1 (S1) radar for wide-area, near-real-time (NRT) tropical-forest-change monitoring is discussed, with particular attention to forest degradation and deforestation. Since forest change can relate to processes ranging from high-impact, large-scale conversion to low-impact, selective logging, and can occur in sites having variable topographic and environmental properties such as mountain slopes and wetlands, a single approach is insufficient. The system introduced here combines time-series analysis of small objects identified in S1 data, i.e., segments containing linear features and apparent small-scale disturbances. A physical model is introduced for quantifying the size of small (upper-) canopy gaps. Deforestation detection was evaluated for several forest landscapes in the Amazon and Borneo. Using the default system settings, the false alarm rate (FAR) is very low (less than 1%), and the missed detection rate (MDR) varies between 1.9% ± 1.1% and 18.6% ± 1.0% (90% confidence level). For peatland landscapes, short radar detection delays up to several weeks due to high levels of soil moisture may occur, while, in comparison, for optical systems, detection delays up to 10 months were found due to cloud cover. In peat swamp forests, narrow linear canopy gaps (road and canal systems) could be detected with an overall accuracy of 85.5%, including many gaps barely visible on hi-res SPOT-6/7 images, which were used for validation. Compared to optical data, subtle degradation signals are easier to detect and are not quickly lost over time due to fast re-vegetation. Although it is possible to estimate an effective forest-cover loss, for example, due to selective logging, and results are spatiotemporally consistent with Sentinel-2 and TerraSAR-X reference data, quantitative validation without extensive field data and/or large hi-res radar datasets, such as TerraSAR-X, remains a challenge. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Remote Sensing for Global Forest Monitoring)

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22 pages, 7381 KB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceArticle

A Google Earth Engine Tool to Investigate, Map and Monitor Volcanic Thermal Anomalies at Global Scale by Means of Mid-High Spatial Resolution Satellite Data

by Nicola Genzano, Nicola Pergola and Francesco Marchese

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(19), 3232; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12193232 - 4 Oct 2020

Cited by 53 | Viewed by 10360

Abstract

Several satellite-based systems have been developed over the years to study and monitor thermal volcanic activity. Most of them use high temporal resolution satellite data, provided by sensors like the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) that if on the one hand guarantee a [...] Read more.

Several satellite-based systems have been developed over the years to study and monitor thermal volcanic activity. Most of them use high temporal resolution satellite data, provided by sensors like the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) that if on the one hand guarantee a continuous monitoring of active volcanic areas on the other hand are less suited to map thermal anomalies, and to provide accurate information about their features. The Multispectral Instrument (MSI) and the Operational Land Imager (OLI), respectively, onboard the Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 satellites, providing Short-Wave Infrared (SWIR) data at 20 m (MSI) and 30 m (OLI) spatial resolution, may make an important contribution in this area. In this work, we present the first Google Earth Engine (GEE) App to investigate, map and monitor volcanic thermal anomalies at global scale, integrating Landsat-8 OLI and Sentinel-2 MSI observations. This open tool, which implements the Normalized Hot spot Indices (NHI) algorithm, enables the analysis of more than 1400 active volcanoes, with very low processing times, thanks to the high GEE computational resources. Performance and limitations of the tool, such as its next upgrades, aiming at increasing the user-friendly experience and extending the temporal range of data analyses, are analyzed and discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Collection Feature Papers for Section Environmental Remote Sensing)

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32 pages, 1792 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

Applications of Remote Sensing in Precision Agriculture: A Review

by Rajendra P. Sishodia, Ram L. Ray and Sudhir K. Singh

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(19), 3136; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12193136 - 24 Sep 2020

Cited by 946 | Viewed by 100263

Abstract

Agriculture provides for the most basic needs of humankind: food and fiber. The introduction of new farming techniques in the past century (e.g., during the Green Revolution) has helped agriculture keep pace with growing demands for food and other agricultural products. However, further [...] Read more.

Agriculture provides for the most basic needs of humankind: food and fiber. The introduction of new farming techniques in the past century (e.g., during the Green Revolution) has helped agriculture keep pace with growing demands for food and other agricultural products. However, further increases in food demand, a growing population, and rising income levels are likely to put additional strain on natural resources. With growing recognition of the negative impacts of agriculture on the environment, new techniques and approaches should be able to meet future food demands while maintaining or reducing the environmental footprint of agriculture. Emerging technologies, such as geospatial technologies, Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data analysis, and artificial intelligence (AI), could be utilized to make informed management decisions aimed to increase crop production. Precision agriculture (PA) entails the application of a suite of such technologies to optimize agricultural inputs to increase agricultural production and reduce input losses. Use of remote sensing technologies for PA has increased rapidly during the past few decades. The unprecedented availability of high resolution (spatial, spectral and temporal) satellite images has promoted the use of remote sensing in many PA applications, including crop monitoring, irrigation management, nutrient application, disease and pest management, and yield prediction. In this paper, we provide an overview of remote sensing systems, techniques, and vegetation indices along with their recent (2015–2020) applications in PA. Remote-sensing-based PA technologies such as variable fertilizer rate application technology in Green Seeker and Crop Circle have already been incorporated in commercial agriculture. Use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has increased tremendously during the last decade due to their cost-effectiveness and flexibility in obtaining the high-resolution (cm-scale) images needed for PA applications. At the same time, the availability of a large amount of satellite data has prompted researchers to explore advanced data storage and processing techniques such as cloud computing and machine learning. Given the complexity of image processing and the amount of technical knowledge and expertise needed, it is critical to explore and develop a simple yet reliable workflow for the real-time application of remote sensing in PA. Development of accurate yet easy to use, user-friendly systems is likely to result in broader adoption of remote sensing technologies in commercial and non-commercial PA applications. Full article

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32 pages, 34169 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Quality Assessment of Photogrammetric Models for Façade and Building Reconstruction Using DJI Phantom 4 RTK

by Yuri Taddia, Laura González-García, Elena Zambello and Alberto Pellegrinelli

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(19), 3144; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12193144 - 24 Sep 2020

Cited by 43 | Viewed by 8867

Abstract

Aerial photogrammetry by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is a widespread method to perform mapping tasks with high-resolution to reconstruct three-dimensional (3D) building and façade models. However, the survey of Ground Control Points (GCPs) represents a time-consuming task, while the use of Real-Time Kinematic [...] Read more.

Aerial photogrammetry by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is a widespread method to perform mapping tasks with high-resolution to reconstruct three-dimensional (3D) building and façade models. However, the survey of Ground Control Points (GCPs) represents a time-consuming task, while the use of Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) drones allows for one to collect camera locations with an accuracy of a few centimeters. DJI Phantom 4 RTK (DJI-P4RTK) combines this with the possibility to acquire oblique images in stationary conditions and it currently represents a versatile drone widely used from professional users together with commercial Structure-from-Motion software, such as Agisoft Metashape. In this work, we analyze the architectural application of this drone to the photogrammetric modeling of a building with particular regard to metric survey specifications for cultural heritage for 1:20, 1:50, 1:100, and 1:200 scales. In particular, we designed an accuracy assessment test signalizing 109 points, surveying them with total station and adjusting the measurements through a network approach in order to achieve millimeter-level accuracy. Image datasets with a designed Ground Sample Distance (GSD) of 2 mm were acquired in Network RTK (NRTK) and RTK modes in manual piloting and processed both as single façades (S–F) and as an overall block (4–F). Subsequently, we compared the results of photogrammetric models generated in Agisoft Metashape to the Signalized Point (SP) coordinates. The results highlight the importance of processing an overall photogrammetric block, especially whenever part of camera locations exhibited a poorer accuracy due to multipath effects. No significant differences were found between the results of network real-time kinematic (NRTK) and real-time kinematic (RTK) datasets. Horizontal residuals were generally comparable to GNSS accuracy in NRTK/RTK mode, while vertical residuals were found to be affected by an offset of about 5 cm. We introduced an external GCP or used one SP per façade as GCP, assuming a poorer camera location accuracy at the same time, in order to fix this issue and comply with metric survey specifications for the widest architectural scale range. Finally, both S–F and 4–F projects satisfied the metric survey requirements of a scale of 1:50 in at least one of the approaches tested. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue RTK Positioning for UAV Remote Sensing)

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23 pages, 9001 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Investigating the Impact of Digital Elevation Models on Sentinel-1 Backscatter and Coherence Observations

by Ignacio Borlaf-Mena, Maurizio Santoro, Ludovic Villard, Ovidiu Badea and Mihai Andrei Tanase

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(18), 3016; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12183016 - 16 Sep 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 6004

Abstract

Spaceborne remote sensing can track ecosystems changes thanks to continuous and systematic coverage at short revisit intervals. Active remote sensing from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors allows day and night imaging as they are not affected by cloud cover and solar illumination and [...] Read more.

Spaceborne remote sensing can track ecosystems changes thanks to continuous and systematic coverage at short revisit intervals. Active remote sensing from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors allows day and night imaging as they are not affected by cloud cover and solar illumination and can capture unique information about its targets. However, SAR observations are affected by the coupled effect of viewing geometry and terrain topography. The study aims to assess the impact of global digital elevation models (DEMs) on the normalization of Sentinel-1 backscattered intensity and interferometric coherence. For each DEM, we analyzed the difference between orbit tracks, the difference with results obtained with a high-resolution local DEM, and the impact on land cover classification. Tests were carried out at two sites located in mountainous regions in Romania and Spain using the SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, 30 m), AW3D (ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite) World 3D, 30 m), TanDEM-X (12.5, 30, 90 m), and Spain national ALS (aerial laser scanning) based DEM (5 m resolution). The TanDEM-X DEM was the global DEM most suitable for topographic normalization, since it provided the smallest differences between orbital tracks, up to 3.5 dB smaller than with other DEMs for peak landform, and 1.4–1.9 dB for pit and valley landforms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue SAR for Forest Mapping)

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17 pages, 3567 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

The Effect of Climatological Variables on Future UAS-Based Atmospheric Profiling in the Lower Atmosphere

by Ariel M. Jacobs, Tyler M. Bell, Brian R. Greene and Phillip B. Chilson

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(18), 2947; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12182947 - 11 Sep 2020

Viewed by 4010

Abstract

Vertical profiles of wind, temperature, and moisture are essential to capture the kinematic and thermodynamic structure of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). Our goal is to use weather observing unmanned aircraft systems (WxUAS) to perform the vertical profiles by taking measurements while ascending [...] Read more.

Vertical profiles of wind, temperature, and moisture are essential to capture the kinematic and thermodynamic structure of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). Our goal is to use weather observing unmanned aircraft systems (WxUAS) to perform the vertical profiles by taking measurements while ascending through the ABL and subsequently descending to the Earth’s surface. Before establishing routine profiles using a network of WxUAS stations, the climatologies of the flight locations must be studied. This was done using data from the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) model. To begin, NARR data accuracy was verified against radiosondes. While the results showed variability in individual profiles, the detailed statistical analyses of the aggregated data suggested that the NARR model is a viable option for the study. Based on these findings, we used NARR data to determine fractions of successful hypothetical flights of vertical profiles across the state of Oklahoma given thresholds of visibility, cloud base level (CBL) height, and wind speed. CBL height is an important parameter because the WxUAS must stay below clouds for the flight restrictions being considered. For the purpose of this study, a hypothetical WxUAS flight is considered successful if the vehicle is able to reach an altitude corresponding to a pressure level of 600 hPa. Our analysis indicated the CBL height parameter hindered the fractions of successful hypothetical flights the most and the wind speed tolerance limited the fractions of successful hypothetical flights most strongly in the winter months. Northwest Oklahoma had the highest fractions of successful hypothetical flights, and the southeastern corner performs the worst in every season except spring, when the northeastern corner performed the worst. Future work will study the potential effect of topology and additional variables, such as amount of rainfall and temperature, on fractions of successful hypothetical flights by region of the state. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue UAV-Based Environmental Monitoring)

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25 pages, 14567 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Hyperspectral Image Classification Using Feature Relations Map Learning

by Peng Dou and Chao Zeng

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(18), 2956; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12182956 - 11 Sep 2020

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 7558

Abstract

Recently, deep learning has been reported to be an effective method for improving hyperspectral image classification and convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are, in particular, gaining more and more attention in this field. CNNs provide automatic approaches that can learn more abstract features of [...] Read more.

Recently, deep learning has been reported to be an effective method for improving hyperspectral image classification and convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are, in particular, gaining more and more attention in this field. CNNs provide automatic approaches that can learn more abstract features of hyperspectral images from spectral, spatial, or spectral-spatial domains. However, CNN applications are focused on learning features directly from image data—while the intrinsic relations between original features, which may provide more information for classification, are not fully considered. In order to make full use of the relations between hyperspectral features and to explore more objective features for improving classification accuracy, we proposed feature relations map learning (FRML) in this paper. FRML can automatically enhance the separability of different objects in an image, using a segmented feature relations map (SFRM) that reflects the relations between spectral features through a normalized difference index (NDI), and it can then learn new features from SFRM using a CNN-based feature extractor. Finally, based on these features, a classifier was designed for the classification. With FRML, our experimental results from four popular hyperspectral datasets indicate that the proposed method can achieve more representative and objective features to improve classification accuracy, outperforming classifications using the comparative methods. Full article

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23 pages, 14037 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Modality-Free Feature Detector and Descriptor for Multimodal Remote Sensing Image Registration

by Song Cui, Miaozhong Xu, Ailong Ma and Yanfei Zhong

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(18), 2937; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12182937 - 10 Sep 2020

Cited by 25 | Viewed by 5460

Abstract

The nonlinear radiation distortions (NRD) among multimodal remote sensing images bring enormous challenges to image registration. The traditional feature-based registration methods commonly use the image intensity or gradient information to detect and describe the features that are sensitive to NRD. However, the nonlinear [...] Read more.

The nonlinear radiation distortions (NRD) among multimodal remote sensing images bring enormous challenges to image registration. The traditional feature-based registration methods commonly use the image intensity or gradient information to detect and describe the features that are sensitive to NRD. However, the nonlinear mapping of the corresponding features of the multimodal images often results in failure of the feature matching, as well as the image registration. In this paper, a modality-free multimodal remote sensing image registration method (SRIFT) is proposed for the registration of multimodal remote sensing images, which is invariant to scale, radiation, and rotation. In SRIFT, the nonlinear diffusion scale (NDS) space is first established to construct a multi-scale space. A local orientation and scale phase congruency (LOSPC) algorithm are then used so that the features of the images with NRD are mapped to establish a one-to-one correspondence, to obtain sufficiently stable key points. In the feature description stage, a rotation-invariant coordinate (RIC) system is adopted to build a descriptor, without requiring estimation of the main direction. The experiments undertaken in this study included one set of simulated data experiments and nine groups of experiments with different types of real multimodal remote sensing images with rotation and scale differences (including synthetic aperture radar (SAR)/optical, digital surface model (DSM)/optical, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) intensity/optical, near-infrared (NIR)/optical, short-wave infrared (SWIR)/optical, classification/optical, and map/optical image pairs), to test the proposed algorithm from both quantitative and qualitative aspects. The experimental results showed that the proposed method has strong robustness to NRD, being invariant to scale, radiation, and rotation, and the achieved registration precision was better than that of the state-of-the-art methods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Sensor Systems and Data Fusion in Remote Sensing)

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16 pages, 8926 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

The Dimming of Lights in China during the COVID-19 Pandemic

by Christopher D. Elvidge, Tilottama Ghosh, Feng-Chi Hsu, Mikhail Zhizhin and Morgan Bazilian

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(17), 2851; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12172851 - 2 Sep 2020

Cited by 82 | Viewed by 11146

Abstract

A satellite survey of the cumulative radiant emissions from electric lighting across China reveals a large radiance decline in lighting from December 2019 to February 2020—the peak of the lockdown established to suppress the spread of COVID-19 infections. To illustrate the changes, an [...] Read more.

A satellite survey of the cumulative radiant emissions from electric lighting across China reveals a large radiance decline in lighting from December 2019 to February 2020—the peak of the lockdown established to suppress the spread of COVID-19 infections. To illustrate the changes, an analysis was also conducted on a reference set from a year prior to the pandemic. In the reference period, the majority (62%) of China’s population lived in administrative units that became brighter in March 2019 relative to December 2018. The situation reversed in February 2020, when 82% of the population lived in administrative units where lighting dimmed as a result of the pandemic. The dimming has also been demonstrated with difference images for the reference and pandemic image pairs, scattergrams, and a nightly temporal profile. The results indicate that it should be feasible to monitor declines and recovery in economic activity levels using nighttime lighting as a proxy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Night-Time Light)

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24 pages, 10697 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

A Novel Deep Forest-Based Active Transfer Learning Method for PolSAR Images

by Xingli Qin, Jie Yang, Lingli Zhao, Pingxiang Li and Kaimin Sun

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(17), 2755; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12172755 - 25 Aug 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3444

Abstract

The information extraction of polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) images typically requires a great number of training samples; however, the training samples from historical images are less reusable due to the distribution differences. Consequently, there is a significant manual cost to collecting training [...] Read more.

The information extraction of polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) images typically requires a great number of training samples; however, the training samples from historical images are less reusable due to the distribution differences. Consequently, there is a significant manual cost to collecting training samples when processing new images. In this paper, to address this problem, we propose a novel active transfer learning method, which combines active learning and the deep forest model to perform transfer learning. The main idea of the proposed method is to gradually improve the performance of the model in target domain tasks with the increase of the levels of the cascade structure. More specifically, in the growing stage, a new active learning strategy is used to iteratively add the most informative target domain samples to the training set, and the augmented features generated by the representation learning capability of the deep forest model are used to improve the cross-domain representational capabilities of the feature space. In the filtering stage, an effective stopping criterion is used to adaptively control the complexity of the model, and two filtering strategies are used to accelerate the convergence of the model. We conducted experiments using three sets of PolSAR images, and the results were compared with those of four existing transfer learning algorithms. Overall, the experimental results fully demonstrated the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Remote Sensing Image Processing)

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24 pages, 8764 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Multi-Hazard Exposure Mapping Using Machine Learning for the State of Salzburg, Austria

by Thimmaiah Gudiyangada Nachappa, Omid Ghorbanzadeh, Khalil Gholamnia and Thomas Blaschke

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(17), 2757; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12172757 - 25 Aug 2020

Cited by 73 | Viewed by 9486

Abstract

We live in a sphere that has unpredictable and multifaceted landscapes that make the risk arising from several incidences that are omnipresent. Floods and landslides are widespread and recurring hazards occurring at an alarming rate in recent years. The importance of this study [...] Read more.

We live in a sphere that has unpredictable and multifaceted landscapes that make the risk arising from several incidences that are omnipresent. Floods and landslides are widespread and recurring hazards occurring at an alarming rate in recent years. The importance of this study is to produce multi-hazard exposure maps for flooding and landslides for the federal State of Salzburg, Austria, using the selected machine learning (ML) approach of support vector machine (SVM) and random forest (RF). Multi-hazard exposure maps were established on thirteen influencing factors for flood and landslides such as elevation, slope, aspect, topographic wetness index (TWI), stream power index (SPI), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), geology, lithology, rainfall, land cover, distance to roads, distance to faults, and distance to drainage. We classified the inventory data for flood and landslide into training and validation with the widely used splitting ratio, where 70% of the locations are used for training, and 30% are used for validation. The accuracy assessment of the exposure maps was derived through ROC (receiver operating curve) and R-Index (relative density). RF yielded better results for both flood and landslide exposure with 0.87 for flood and 0.90 for landslides compared to 0.87 for flood and 0.89 for landslides using SVM. However, the multi-hazard exposure map for the State of Salzburg derived through RF and SVM provides the planners and managers to plan better for risk regions affected by both floods and landslides. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue GeoAI: Integration of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Deep Learning with Remote Sensing)

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23 pages, 12681 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Application of Convolutional Neural Network for Spatiotemporal Bias Correction of Daily Satellite-Based Precipitation

by Xuan-Hien Le, Giha Lee, Kwansue Jung, Hyun-uk An, Seungsoo Lee and Younghun Jung

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(17), 2731; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12172731 - 24 Aug 2020

Cited by 53 | Viewed by 7733

Abstract

Spatiotemporal precipitation data is one of the essential components in modeling hydrological problems. Although the estimation of these data has achieved remarkable accuracy owning to the recent advances in remote-sensing technology, gaps remain between satellite-based precipitation and observed data due to the dependence [...] Read more.

Spatiotemporal precipitation data is one of the essential components in modeling hydrological problems. Although the estimation of these data has achieved remarkable accuracy owning to the recent advances in remote-sensing technology, gaps remain between satellite-based precipitation and observed data due to the dependence of precipitation on the spatiotemporal distribution and the specific characteristics of the area. This paper presents an efficient approach based on a combination of the convolutional neural network and the autoencoder architecture, called the convolutional autoencoder (ConvAE) neural network, to correct the pixel-by-pixel bias for satellite-based products. The two daily gridded precipitation datasets with a spatial resolution of 0.25° employed are Asian Precipitation-Highly Resolved Observational Data Integration towards Evaluation (APHRODITE) as the observed data and Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks-Climate Data Record (PERSIANN-CDR) as the satellite-based data. Furthermore, the Mekong River basin was selected as a case study, because it is one of the largest river basins, spanning six countries, most of which are developing countries. In addition to the ConvAE model, another bias correction method based on the standard deviation method was also introduced. The performance of the bias correction methods was evaluated in terms of the probability distribution, temporal correlation, and spatial correlation of precipitation. Compared with the standard deviation method, the ConvAE model demonstrated superior and stable performance in most comparisons conducted. Additionally, the ConvAE model also exhibited impressive performance in capturing extreme rainfall events, distribution trends, and described spatial relationships between adjacent grid cells well. The findings of this study highlight the potential of the ConvAE model to resolve the precipitation bias correction problem. Thus, the ConvAE model could be applied to other satellite-based products, higher-resolution precipitation data, or other issues related to gridded data. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Machine and Deep Learning for Earth Observation Data Analysis)

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40 pages, 3131 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

Recent Advances of Hyperspectral Imaging Technology and Applications in Agriculture

by Bing Lu, Phuong D. Dao, Jiangui Liu, Yuhong He and Jiali Shang

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(16), 2659; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12162659 - 18 Aug 2020

Cited by 886 | Viewed by 54268

Abstract

Remote sensing is a useful tool for monitoring spatio-temporal variations of crop morphological and physiological status and supporting practices in precision farming. In comparison with multispectral imaging, hyperspectral imaging is a more advanced technique that is capable of acquiring a detailed spectral response [...] Read more.

Remote sensing is a useful tool for monitoring spatio-temporal variations of crop morphological and physiological status and supporting practices in precision farming. In comparison with multispectral imaging, hyperspectral imaging is a more advanced technique that is capable of acquiring a detailed spectral response of target features. Due to limited accessibility outside of the scientific community, hyperspectral images have not been widely used in precision agriculture. In recent years, different mini-sized and low-cost airborne hyperspectral sensors (e.g., Headwall Micro-Hyperspec, Cubert UHD 185-Firefly) have been developed, and advanced spaceborne hyperspectral sensors have also been or will be launched (e.g., PRISMA, DESIS, EnMAP, HyspIRI). Hyperspectral imaging is becoming more widely available to agricultural applications. Meanwhile, the acquisition, processing, and analysis of hyperspectral imagery still remain a challenging research topic (e.g., large data volume, high data dimensionality, and complex information analysis). It is hence beneficial to conduct a thorough and in-depth review of the hyperspectral imaging technology (e.g., different platforms and sensors), methods available for processing and analyzing hyperspectral information, and recent advances of hyperspectral imaging in agricultural applications. Publications over the past 30 years in hyperspectral imaging technology and applications in agriculture were thus reviewed. The imaging platforms and sensors, together with analytic methods used in the literature, were discussed. Performances of hyperspectral imaging for different applications (e.g., crop biophysical and biochemical properties’ mapping, soil characteristics, and crop classification) were also evaluated. This review is intended to assist agricultural researchers and practitioners to better understand the strengths and limitations of hyperspectral imaging to agricultural applications and promote the adoption of this valuable technology. Recommendations for future hyperspectral imaging research for precision agriculture are also presented. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hyperspectral Remote Sensing of Agriculture and Vegetation)

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39 pages, 17832 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

The ESA Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration: Monitoring Performance of Radar Altimeters for Sentinel-3A, Sentinel-3B and Jason-3 Using Transponder and Sea-Surface Calibrations with FRM Standards

by Stelios Mertikas, Achilleas Tripolitsiotis, Craig Donlon, Constantin Mavrocordatos, Pierre Féménias, Franck Borde, Xenophon Frantzis, Costas Kokolakis, Thierry Guinle, George Vergos, Ilias N. Tziavos and Robert Cullen

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(16), 2642; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12162642 - 16 Aug 2020

Cited by 24 | Viewed by 6056

Abstract

This work presents the latest calibration results for the Copernicus Sentinel-3A and -3B and the Jason-3 radar altimeters as determined by the Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration (PFAC) in west Crete, Greece. Radar altimeters are used to provide operational measurements for sea surface [...] Read more.

This work presents the latest calibration results for the Copernicus Sentinel-3A and -3B and the Jason-3 radar altimeters as determined by the Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration (PFAC) in west Crete, Greece. Radar altimeters are used to provide operational measurements for sea surface height, significant wave height and wind speed over oceans. To maintain Fiducial Reference Measurement (FRM) status, the stability and quality of altimetry products need to be continuously monitored throughout the operational phase of each altimeter. External and independent calibration and validation facilities provide an objective assessment of the altimeter’s performance by comparing satellite observations with ground-truth and in-situ measurements and infrastructures. Three independent methods are employed in the PFAC: Range calibration using a transponder, sea-surface calibration relying upon sea-surface Cal/Val sites, and crossover analysis. Procedures to determine FRM uncertainties for Cal/Val results have been demonstrated for each calibration. Biases for Sentinel-3A Passes No. 14, 278 and 335, Sentinel-3B Passes No. 14, 71 and 335, as well as for Jason-3 Passes No. 18 and No. 109 are given. Diverse calibration results by various techniques, infrastructure and settings are presented. Finally, upgrades to the PFAC in support of the Copernicus Sentinel-6 ‘Michael Freilich’, due to launch in November 2020, are summarized. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Calibration and Validation of Satellite Altimetry)

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21 pages, 1969 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Neural Network Training for the Detection and Classification of Oceanic Mesoscale Eddies

by Oliverio J. Santana, Daniel Hernández-Sosa, Jeffrey Martz and Ryan N. Smith

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(16), 2625; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12162625 - 14 Aug 2020

Cited by 28 | Viewed by 5286

Abstract

Recent advances in deep learning have made it possible to use neural networks for the detection and classification of oceanic mesoscale eddies from satellite altimetry data. Various neural network models have been proposed in recent years to address this challenge, but they have [...] Read more.

Recent advances in deep learning have made it possible to use neural networks for the detection and classification of oceanic mesoscale eddies from satellite altimetry data. Various neural network models have been proposed in recent years to address this challenge, but they have been trained using different types of input data and evaluated using different performance metrics, making a comparison between them impossible. In this article, we examine the most common dataset and metric choices, by analyzing the reasons for the divergences between them and pointing out the most appropriate choice to obtain a fair evaluation in this scenario. Based on this comparative study, we have developed several neural network models to detect and classify oceanic eddies from satellite images, showing that our most advanced models perform better than the models previously proposed in the literature. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Computer Vision and Deep Learning for Remote Sensing Applications)

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17 pages, 2809 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Variations of Mass Balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet from 2002 to 2019

by Yaqiong Mu, Yanqiang Wei, Jinkui Wu, Yongjian Ding, Donghui Shangguan and Di Zeng

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(16), 2609; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12162609 - 13 Aug 2020

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 5351

Abstract

The melting of the polar ice caps is considered to be an essential factor for global sea-level rise and has received significant attention. Quantitative research on ice cap mass changes is critical in global climate change. In this study, GRACE JPL RL06 data [...] Read more.

The melting of the polar ice caps is considered to be an essential factor for global sea-level rise and has received significant attention. Quantitative research on ice cap mass changes is critical in global climate change. In this study, GRACE JPL RL06 data under the Mascon scheme based on the dynamic method were used. Greenland, which is highly sensitive to climate change, was selected as the study area. Greenland was divided into six sub-research regions, according to its watersheds. The spatial–temporal mass changes were compared to corresponding temperature and precipitation statistics to analyze the relationship between changes in ice sheet mass and climate change. The results show that: (i) From February 2002 to September 2019, the rate of change in the Greenland Ice Sheet mass was about −263 ± 13 Gt yr⁻¹ and the areas with the most substantial ice sheet loss and climate changes were concentrated in the western and southern parts of Greenland. (ii) The mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet during the study period was at a loss, and this was closely related to increasing trends in temperature and precipitation. (iii) In the coastal areas of western and southern Greenland, the rate of mass change has accelerated significantly, mainly because of climate change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Environmental Remote Sensing)

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28 pages, 6137 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Analyzing Spatio-Temporal Factors to Estimate the Response Time between SMOS and In-Situ Soil Moisture at Different Depths

by Christoph Herbert, Miriam Pablos, Mercè Vall-llossera, Adriano Camps and José Martínez-Fernández

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(16), 2614; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12162614 - 13 Aug 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3902

Abstract

A comprehensive understanding of temporal variability of subsurface soil moisture (SM) is paramount in hydrological and agricultural applications such as rainfed farming and irrigation. Since the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) mission was launched in 2009, globally available satellite SM retrievals have [...] Read more.

A comprehensive understanding of temporal variability of subsurface soil moisture (SM) is paramount in hydrological and agricultural applications such as rainfed farming and irrigation. Since the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) mission was launched in 2009, globally available satellite SM retrievals have been used to investigate SM dynamics, based on the fact that useful information about subsurface SM is contained in their time series. SM along the depth profile is influenced by atmospheric forcing and local SM properties. Until now, subsurface SM was estimated by weighting preceding information of remotely sensed surface SM time series according to an optimized depth-specific characteristic time length. However, especially in regions with extreme SM conditions, the response time is supposed to be seasonally variable and depends on related processes occurring at different timescales. Aim of this study was to quantify the response time by means of the time lag between the trend series of satellite and in-situ SM observations using a Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) technique. DTW was applied to the SMOS satellite SM L4 product at 1 km resolution developed by the Barcelona Expert Center (BEC), and in-situ near-surface and root-zone SM of four representative stations at multiple depths, located in the Soil Moisture Measurements Station Network of the University of Salamanca (REMEDHUS) in Western Spain. DTW was customized to control the rate of accumulation and reduction of time lag during wetting and drying conditions and to consider the onset dates of pronounced precipitation events to increase sensitivity to prominent features of the input series. The temporal variability of climate factors in combination with crop growing seasons were used to indicate prevailing SM-related processes. Hereby, a comparison of long-term precipitation recordings and estimations of potential evapotranspiration (PET) allowed us to estimate SM seasons. The spatial heterogeneity of land use was analyzed by means of high-resolution images of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from Sentinel-2 to provide information about the level of spatial representativeness of SMOS observations to each in-situ station. Results of the spatio-temporal analysis of the study were then evaluated to understand seasonally and spatially changing patterns in time lag. The time lag evolution describes a variable characteristic time length by considering the relevant processes which link SMOS and in-situ SM observation, which is an important step to accurately infer subsurface SM from satellite time series. At a further stage, the approach needs to be applied to different SM networks to understand the seasonal, climate- and site-specific characteristic behaviour of time lag and to decide, whether general conclusions can be drawn. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Outstanding Results over Land from the SMOS Mission)

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28 pages, 1457 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

Land Surface Temperature Retrieval from Passive Microwave Satellite Observations: State-of-the-Art and Future Directions

by Si-Bo Duan, Xiao-Jing Han, Cheng Huang, Zhao-Liang Li, Hua Wu, Yonggang Qian, Maofang Gao and Pei Leng

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(16), 2573; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12162573 - 10 Aug 2020

Cited by 78 | Viewed by 10088

Abstract

Land surface temperature (LST) is an important variable in the physics of land–surface processes controlling the heat and water fluxes over the interface between the Earth’s surface and the atmosphere. Space-borne remote sensing provides the only feasible way for acquiring high-precision LST at [...] Read more.

Land surface temperature (LST) is an important variable in the physics of land–surface processes controlling the heat and water fluxes over the interface between the Earth’s surface and the atmosphere. Space-borne remote sensing provides the only feasible way for acquiring high-precision LST at temporal and spatial domain over the entire globe. Passive microwave (PMW) satellite observations have the capability to penetrate through clouds and can provide data under both clear and cloud conditions. Nonetheless, compared with thermal infrared data, PMW data suffer from lower spatial resolution and LST retrieval accuracy. Various methods for estimating LST from PMW satellite observations were proposed in the past few decades. This paper provides an extensive overview of these methods. We first present the theoretical basis for retrieving LST from PMW observations and then review the existing LST retrieval methods. These methods are mainly categorized into four types, i.e., empirical methods, semi-empirical methods, physically-based methods, and neural network methods. Advantages, limitations, and assumptions associated with each method are discussed. Prospects for future development to improve the performance of LST retrieval methods from PMW satellite observations are also recommended. Full article

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15 pages, 3897 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceLetter

Adjusting for Desert-Dust-Related Biases in a Climate Data Record of Sea Surface Temperature

by Christopher J. Merchant and Owen Embury

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(16), 2554; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12162554 - 8 Aug 2020

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 6345

Abstract

Atmospheric desert-dust aerosol, primarily from north Africa, causes negative biases in remotely sensed climate data records of sea surface temperature (SST). Here, large-scale bias adjustments are deduced and applied to the v2 climate data record of SST from the European Space Agency Climate [...] Read more.

Atmospheric desert-dust aerosol, primarily from north Africa, causes negative biases in remotely sensed climate data records of sea surface temperature (SST). Here, large-scale bias adjustments are deduced and applied to the v2 climate data record of SST from the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative (CCI). Unlike SST from infrared sensors, SST measured in situ is not prone to desert-dust bias. An in-situ-based SST analysis is combined with column dust mass from the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 to deduce a monthly, large-scale adjustment to CCI analysis SSTs. Having reduced the dust-related biases, a further correction for some periods of anomalous satellite calibration is also derived. The corrections will increase the usability of the v2 CCI SST record for oceanographic and climate applications, such as understanding the role of Arabian Sea SSTs in the Indian monsoon. The corrections will also pave the way for a v3 climate data record with improved error characteristics with respect to atmospheric dust aerosol. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sea Surface Temperature Retrievals from Remote Sensing)

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20 pages, 6809 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Multi-Year Comparison of CO₂ Concentration from NOAA Carbon Tracker Reanalysis Model with Data from GOSAT and OCO-2 over Asia

by Farhan Mustafa, Lingbing Bu, Qin Wang, Md. Arfan Ali, Muhammad Bilal, Muhammad Shahzaman and Zhongfeng Qiu

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(15), 2498; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12152498 - 4 Aug 2020

Cited by 46 | Viewed by 8861

Abstract

Accurate knowledge of the carbon budget on global and regional scales is critically important to design mitigation strategies aimed at stabilizing the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. For a better understanding of CO₂ variation trends over Asia, in this study, [...] Read more.

Accurate knowledge of the carbon budget on global and regional scales is critically important to design mitigation strategies aimed at stabilizing the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. For a better understanding of CO₂ variation trends over Asia, in this study, the column-averaged CO₂ dry air mole fraction (XCO₂) derived from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) CarbonTracker (CT) was compared with that of Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) from September 2009 to August 2019 and with Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2) from September 2014 until August 2019. Moreover, monthly averaged time-series and seasonal climatology comparisons were also performed separately over the five regions of Asia; i.e., Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Western Asia. The results show that XCO₂ from GOSAT is higher than the XCO₂ simulated by CT by an amount of 0.61 ppm, whereas, OCO-2 XCO₂ is lower than CT by 0.31 ppm on average, over Asia. The mean spatial correlations of 0.93 and 0.89 and average Root Mean Square Deviations (RMSDs) of 2.61 and 2.16 ppm were found between the CT and GOSAT, and CT and OCO-2, respectively, implying the existence of a good agreement between the CT and the other two satellites datasets. The spatial distribution of the datasets shows that the larger uncertainties exist over the southwest part of China. Over Asia, NOAA CT shows a good agreement with GOSAT and OCO-2 in terms of spatial distribution, monthly averaged time series, and seasonal climatology with small biases. These results suggest that CO₂ can be used from either of the datasets to understand its role in the carbon budget, climate change, and air quality at regional to global scales. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Greenhouse Gases and Air Pollution)

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23 pages, 8483 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Vegetation Detection Using Deep Learning and Conventional Methods

by Bulent Ayhan, Chiman Kwan, Bence Budavari, Liyun Kwan, Yan Lu, Daniel Perez, Jiang Li, Dimitrios Skarlatos and Marinos Vlachos

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(15), 2502; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12152502 - 4 Aug 2020

Cited by 86 | Viewed by 17442

Abstract

Land cover classification with the focus on chlorophyll-rich vegetation detection plays an important role in urban growth monitoring and planning, autonomous navigation, drone mapping, biodiversity conservation, etc. Conventional approaches usually apply the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) for vegetation detection. In this paper, [...] Read more.

Land cover classification with the focus on chlorophyll-rich vegetation detection plays an important role in urban growth monitoring and planning, autonomous navigation, drone mapping, biodiversity conservation, etc. Conventional approaches usually apply the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) for vegetation detection. In this paper, we investigate the performance of deep learning and conventional methods for vegetation detection. Two deep learning methods, DeepLabV3+ and our customized convolutional neural network (CNN) were evaluated with respect to their detection performance when training and testing datasets originated from different geographical sites with different image resolutions. A novel object-based vegetation detection approach, which utilizes NDVI, computer vision, and machine learning (ML) techniques, is also proposed. The vegetation detection methods were applied to high-resolution airborne color images which consist of RGB and near-infrared (NIR) bands. RGB color images alone were also used with the two deep learning methods to examine their detection performances without the NIR band. The detection performances of the deep learning methods with respect to the object-based detection approach are discussed and sample images from the datasets are used for demonstrations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Land Cover Classification and Change Detection in 2D and 3D)

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29 pages, 22416 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Classification of Urban Area Using Multispectral Indices for Urban Planning

by Philip Lynch, Leonhard Blesius and Ellen Hines

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(15), 2503; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12152503 - 4 Aug 2020

Cited by 38 | Viewed by 14883

Abstract

An accelerating trend of global urbanization accompanying population growth makes frequently updated land use and land cover (LULC) maps critical. LULC maps have been widely created through the classification of remotely sensed imagery. Maps of urban areas have been both dichotomous (urban or [...] Read more.

An accelerating trend of global urbanization accompanying population growth makes frequently updated land use and land cover (LULC) maps critical. LULC maps have been widely created through the classification of remotely sensed imagery. Maps of urban areas have been both dichotomous (urban or non-urban) and entailing of discrete urban types. This study incorporated multispectral built-up indices, designed to enhance satellite imagery, for introducing new urban classification schemes. The indices examined are the new built-up index (NBI), the built-up area extraction index (BAEI), and the normalized difference concrete condition index (NDCCI). Landsat Level-2 data covering the city of Miami, FL, USA was leveraged with geographic data from the Florida Geospatial Data Library and Florida Department of Environmental Protection to develop and validate new methods of supervised and unsupervised classification of urban area. NBI was used to extract discrete urban features through object-oriented image analysis. BAEI was found to possess properties for visualizing and tracking urban development as a low-high gradient. NDCCI was composited with NBI and BAEI as the basis for a robust urban intensity classification scheme superior to that of the United States Geological Survey National Land Cover Database 2016. BAEI, implemented as a shadow index, was incorporated in a novel infill geosimulation of high-rise construction. The findings suggest that the proposed classification schemes are advantageous to the process of creating more detailed cartography in response to the increasing global demand. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing-Based Urban Planning Indicators)

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22 pages, 27296 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Assessment of Tree Detection Methods in Multispectral Aerial Images

by Dagoberto Pulido, Joaquín Salas, Matthias Rös, Klaus Puettmann and Sertac Karaman

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(15), 2379; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12152379 - 24 Jul 2020

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 6863

Abstract

Detecting individual trees and quantifying their biomass is crucial for carbon accounting procedures at the stand, landscape, and national levels. A significant challenge for many organizations is the amount of effort necessary to document carbon storage levels, especially in terms of human labor. [...] Read more.

Detecting individual trees and quantifying their biomass is crucial for carbon accounting procedures at the stand, landscape, and national levels. A significant challenge for many organizations is the amount of effort necessary to document carbon storage levels, especially in terms of human labor. To advance towards the goal of efficiently assessing the carbon content of forest, we evaluate methods to detect trees from high-resolution images taken from unoccupied aerial systems (UAS). In the process, we introduce the Digital Elevated Vegetation Model (DEVM), a representation that combines multispectral images, digital surface models, and digital terrain models. We show that the DEVM facilitates the development of refined synthetic data to detect individual trees using deep learning-based approaches. We carried out experiments in two tree fields located in different countries. Simultaneously, we perform comparisons among an array of classical and deep learning-based methods highlighting the precision and reliability of the DEVM. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Individual Tree Detection and Characterisation from UAV Data)

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24 pages, 5019 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Estimating River Sediment Discharge in the Upper Mississippi River Using Landsat Imagery

by Jonathan A. Flores, Joan Q. Wu, Claudio O. Stöckle, Robert P. Ewing and Xiao Yang

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(15), 2370; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12152370 - 23 Jul 2020

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 6044

Abstract

With the decline of operational river gauges monitoring sediments, a viable means of quantifying sediment transport is needed. In this study, we address this issue by applying relationships between hydraulic geometry of river channels, water discharge, water-leaving surface reflectance (SR), and suspended sediment [...] Read more.

With the decline of operational river gauges monitoring sediments, a viable means of quantifying sediment transport is needed. In this study, we address this issue by applying relationships between hydraulic geometry of river channels, water discharge, water-leaving surface reflectance (SR), and suspended sediment concentration (SSC) to quantify sediment discharge with the aid of space-based observations. We examined 5490 Landsat scenes to estimate water discharge, SSC, and sediment discharge for the period from 1984 to 2017 at nine gauging sites along the Upper Mississippi River. We used recent advances in remote sensing of fluvial systems, such as automated river width extraction, Bayesian discharge inference with at-many-stations hydraulic geometry (AMHG), and SSC-SR regression models. With 621 Landsat scenes available from all the gauging sites, the results showed that the water discharge and SSC retrieval from Landsat imagery can yield reasonable sediment discharge estimates along the Upper Mississippi River. An overall relative bias of −25.4, mean absolute error (MAE) of 6.24 × 10⁴ tonne/day, relative root mean square error (RRMSE) of 1.21, and Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) of 0.49 were obtained for the sediment discharge estimation. Based on these statistical metrics, we identified three of the nine gauging sites (St. Louis, MO; Chester, IL; and Thebes, IL), which were in the downstream portion of the river, to be the best locations for estimating water and sediment discharge using Landsat imagery. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Remote Sensing in Geology, Geomorphology and Hydrology)

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47 pages, 1418 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Contribution of Remote Sensing Technologies to a Holistic Coastal and Marine Environmental Management Framework: A Review

by Badr El Mahrad, Alice Newton, John D. Icely, Ilias Kacimi, Samuel Abalansa and Maria Snoussi

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(14), 2313; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12142313 - 18 Jul 2020

Cited by 134 | Viewed by 22497

Abstract

Coastal and marine management require the evaluation of multiple environmental threats and issues. However, there are gaps in the necessary data and poor access or dissemination of existing data in many countries around the world. This research identifies how remote sensing can contribute [...] Read more.

Coastal and marine management require the evaluation of multiple environmental threats and issues. However, there are gaps in the necessary data and poor access or dissemination of existing data in many countries around the world. This research identifies how remote sensing can contribute to filling these gaps so that environmental agencies, such as the United Nations Environmental Programme, European Environmental Agency, and International Union for Conservation of Nature, can better implement environmental directives in a cost-effective manner. Remote sensing (RS) techniques generally allow for uniform data collection, with common acquisition and reporting methods, across large areas. Furthermore, these datasets are sometimes open-source, mainly when governments finance satellite missions. Some of these data can be used in holistic, coastal and marine environmental management frameworks, such as the DAPSI(W)R(M) framework (Drivers–Activities–Pressures–State changes–Impacts (on Welfare)–Responses (as Measures), an updated version of Drivers–Pressures–State–Impact–Responses. The framework is a useful and holistic problem-structuring framework that can be used to assess the causes, consequences, and responses to change in the marine environment. Six broad classifications of remote data collection technologies are reviewed for their potential contribution to integrated marine management, including Satellite-based Remote Sensing, Aerial Remote Sensing, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Unmanned Surface Vehicles, Unmanned Underwater Vehicles, and Static Sensors. A significant outcome of this study is practical inputs into each component of the DAPSI(W)R(M) framework. The RS applications are not expected to be all-inclusive; rather, they provide insight into the current use of the framework as a foundation for developing further holistic resource technologies for management strategies in the future. A significant outcome of this research will deliver practical insights for integrated coastal and marine management and demonstrate the usefulness of RS to support the implementation of environmental goals, descriptors, targets, and policies, such as the Water Framework Directive, Marine Strategy Framework Directive, Ocean Health Index, and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Additionally, the opportunities and challenges of these technologies are discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Observation and Sustainable Development in Marine and Freshwater Systems)

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36 pages, 2187 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

Sentinel-2 Data for Land Cover/Use Mapping: A Review

by Darius Phiri, Matamyo Simwanda, Serajis Salekin, Vincent R. Nyirenda, Yuji Murayama and Manjula Ranagalage

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(14), 2291; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12142291 - 16 Jul 2020

Cited by 609 | Viewed by 56088

Abstract

The advancement in satellite remote sensing technology has revolutionised the approaches to monitoring the Earth’s surface. The development of the Copernicus Programme by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Union (EU) has contributed to the effective monitoring of the Earth’s surface [...] Read more.

The advancement in satellite remote sensing technology has revolutionised the approaches to monitoring the Earth’s surface. The development of the Copernicus Programme by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Union (EU) has contributed to the effective monitoring of the Earth’s surface by producing the Sentinel-2 multispectral products. Sentinel-2 satellites are the second constellation of the ESA Sentinel missions and carry onboard multispectral scanners. The primary objective of the Sentinel-2 mission is to provide high resolution satellite data for land cover/use monitoring, climate change and disaster monitoring, as well as complementing the other satellite missions such as Landsat. Since the launch of Sentinel-2 multispectral instruments in 2015, there have been many studies on land cover/use classification which use Sentinel-2 images. However, no review studies have been dedicated to the application of ESA Sentinel-2 land cover/use monitoring. Therefore, this review focuses on two aspects: (1) assessing the contribution of ESA Sentinel-2 to land cover/use classification, and (2) exploring the performance of Sentinel-2 data in different applications (e.g., forest, urban area and natural hazard monitoring). The present review shows that Sentinel-2 has a positive impact on land cover/use monitoring, specifically in monitoring of crop, forests, urban areas, and water resources. The contemporary high adoption and application of Sentinel-2 can be attributed to the higher spatial resolution (10 m) than other medium spatial resolution images, the high temporal resolution of 5 days and the availability of the red-edge bands with multiple applications. The ability to integrate Sentinel-2 data with other remotely sensed data, as part of data analysis, improves the overall accuracy (OA) when working with Sentinel-2 images. The free access policy drives the increasing use of Sentinel-2 data, especially in developing countries where financial resources for the acquisition of remotely sensed data are limited. The literature also shows that the use of Sentinel-2 data produces high accuracies (>80%) with machine-learning classifiers such as support vector machine (SVM) and Random forest (RF). However, other classifiers such as maximum likelihood analysis are also common. Although Sentinel-2 offers many opportunities for land cover/use classification, there are challenges which include mismatching with Landsat OLI-8 data, a lack of thermal bands, and the differences in spatial resolution among the bands of Sentinel-2. Sentinel-2 data show promise and have the potential to contribute significantly towards land cover/use monitoring. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Urban Remote Sensing)

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19 pages, 4918 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Carbon Dioxide Retrieval from TanSat Observations and Validation with TCCON Measurements

by Shupeng Wang, Ronald J. van der A, Piet Stammes, Weihe Wang, Peng Zhang, Naimeng Lu, Xingying Zhang, Yanmeng Bi, Ping Wang and Li Fang

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(14), 2204; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12142204 - 10 Jul 2020

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 5323

Abstract

In this study we present the retrieval of the column-averaged dry air mole fraction of carbon dioxide (XCO₂) from the TanSat observations using the ACOS (Atmospheric CO₂ Observations from Space) algorithm. The XCO₂ product has been validated with [...] Read more.

In this study we present the retrieval of the column-averaged dry air mole fraction of carbon dioxide (XCO₂) from the TanSat observations using the ACOS (Atmospheric CO₂ Observations from Space) algorithm. The XCO₂ product has been validated with collocated ground-based measurements from the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) for 2 years of TanSat data from 2017 to 2018. Based on the correlation of the XCO₂ error over land with goodness of fit in three spectral bands at 0.76, 1.61 and 2.06 μm, we applied an a posteriori bias correction to TanSat retrievals. For overpass averaged results, XCO₂ retrievals show a standard deviation (SD) of ~2.45 ppm and a positive bias of ~0.27 ppm compared to collocated TCCON sites. The validation also shows a relatively higher positive bias and variance against TCCON over high-latitude regions. Three cases to evaluate TanSat target mode retrievals are investigated, including one field campaign at Dunhuang with measurements by a greenhouse gas analyzer deployed on an unmanned aerial vehicle and two cases with measurements by a ground-based Fourier-transform spectrometer in Beijing. The results show the retrievals of all footprints, except footprint-6, have relatively low bias (within ~2 ppm). In addition, the orbital XCO₂ distributions over Australia and Northeast China between TanSat and the second Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) on 20 April 2017 are compared. It shows that the mean XCO₂ from TanSat is slightly lower than that of OCO-2 with an average difference of ~0.85 ppm. A reasonable agreement in XCO₂ distribution is found over Australia and Northeast China between TanSat and OCO-2. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Air Pollutants and Carbon Emissions in Megacities)

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17 pages, 4778 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Development of the Chinese Space-Based Radiometric Benchmark Mission LIBRA

by Peng Zhang, Naimeng Lu, Chuanrong Li, Lei Ding, Xiaobing Zheng, Xuejun Zhang, Xiuqing Hu, Xin Ye, Lingling Ma, Na Xu, Lin Chen and Johannes Schmetz

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(14), 2179; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12142179 - 8 Jul 2020

Cited by 35 | Viewed by 5562

Abstract

Climate observations and their applications require measurements with high stability and low uncertainty in order to detect and assess climate variability and trends. The difficulty with space-based observations is that it is generally not possible to trace them to standard calibration references when [...] Read more.

Climate observations and their applications require measurements with high stability and low uncertainty in order to detect and assess climate variability and trends. The difficulty with space-based observations is that it is generally not possible to trace them to standard calibration references when in orbit. In order to overcome this problem, it has been proposed to deploy space-based radiometric reference systems which intercalibrate measurements from multiple satellite platforms. Such reference systems have been strongly recommended by international expert teams. This paper describes the Chinese Space-based Radiometric Benchmark (CSRB) project which has been under development since 2014. The goal of CSRB is to launch a reference-type satellite named LIBRA in around 2025. We present the roadmap for CSRB as well as requirements and specifications for LIBRA. Key technologies of the system include miniature phase-change cells providing fixed-temperature points, a cryogenic absolute radiometer, and a spontaneous parametric down-conversion detector. LIBRA will offer measurements with SI traceability for the outgoing radiation from the Earth and the incoming radiation from the Sun with high spectral resolution. The system will be realized with four payloads, i.e., the Infrared Spectrometer (IRS), the Earth-Moon Imaging Spectrometer (EMIS), the Total Solar Irradiance (TSI), and the Solar spectral Irradiance Traceable to Quantum benchmark (SITQ). An on-orbit mode for radiometric calibration traceability and a balloon-based demonstration system for LIBRA are introduced as well in the last part of this paper. As a complementary project to the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) and the Traceable Radiometry Underpinning Terrestrial- and Helio- Studies (TRUTHS), LIBRA is expected to join the Earth observation satellite constellation and intends to contribute to space-based climate studies via publicly available data. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Needs and Path Toward an SI-Traceable Space-based Climate Observing System)

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24 pages, 12842 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Gas Emission Craters and Mound-Predecessors in the North of West Siberia, Similarities and Differences

by Alexander Kizyakov, Marina Leibman, Mikhail Zimin, Anton Sonyushkin, Yury Dvornikov, Artem Khomutov, Damien Dhont, Eric Cauquil, Vladimir Pushkarev and Yulia Stanilovskaya

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(14), 2182; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12142182 - 8 Jul 2020

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 8332

Abstract

Detailed analysis of five gas emission craters (GEC) found in the north of West Siberia is presented. Remote sensing data used in the study is verified by field surveys. Previous studies show that all of the GECs were preceded by mounds 2 to [...] Read more.

Detailed analysis of five gas emission craters (GEC) found in the north of West Siberia is presented. Remote sensing data used in the study is verified by field surveys. Previous studies show that all of the GECs were preceded by mounds 2 to 6 m high and 20 to 55 m in diameter. GECs initially were 20–25 m in diameter, which increased in the first years of their existence. GECs are found in various environmental (shrublands or moss-grass tundra) and geomorphic (river valley, terrace, slopes) conditions. The objective of the paper is to identify common and differing geomorphologic and environmental characteristics of all the five GEC, and their mound-predecessors. The study is based on a compilation of DSMs before and after the GEC formation using very high-resolution satellite imagery stereo pairs compared to ArcticDEM project data. Diversity of terrain and environmental settings along with rather a narrow range of GEC and mound-predecessor morphometric parameters allows concluding that the mechanism of GEC formation is most likely similar for all the GEC and is controlled rather by internal geologic and cryolithologic structure than by any surface properties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Remote Sensing in Geology, Geomorphology and Hydrology)

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18 pages, 4749 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

EANet: Edge-Aware Network for the Extraction of Buildings from Aerial Images

by Guang Yang, Qian Zhang and Guixu Zhang

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(13), 2161; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12132161 - 6 Jul 2020

Cited by 70 | Viewed by 7306

Abstract

Deep learning methods have been used to extract buildings from remote sensing images and have achieved state-of-the-art performance. Most previous work has emphasized the multi-scale fusion of features or the enhancement of more receptive fields to achieve global features rather than focusing on [...] Read more.

Deep learning methods have been used to extract buildings from remote sensing images and have achieved state-of-the-art performance. Most previous work has emphasized the multi-scale fusion of features or the enhancement of more receptive fields to achieve global features rather than focusing on low-level details such as the edges. In this work, we propose a novel end-to-end edge-aware network, the EANet, and an edge-aware loss for getting accurate buildings from aerial images. Specifically, the architecture is composed of image segmentation networks and edge perception networks that, respectively, take charge of building prediction and edge investigation. The International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) Potsdam segmentation benchmark and the Wuhan University (WHU) building benchmark were used to evaluate our approach, which, respectively, was found to achieve 90.19% and 93.33% intersection-over-union and top performance without using additional datasets, data augmentation, and post-processing. The EANet is effective in extracting buildings from aerial images, which shows that the quality of image segmentation can be improved by focusing on edge details. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Land Use Mapping and Analysis in the Big Data Era)

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18 pages, 17303 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Identification of Short-Rotation Eucalyptus Plantation at Large Scale Using Multi-Satellite Imageries and Cloud Computing Platform

by Xinping Deng, Shanxin Guo, Luyi Sun and Jinsong Chen

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(13), 2153; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12132153 - 5 Jul 2020

Cited by 30 | Viewed by 6390

Abstract

A new method to identify short-rotation eucalyptus plantations by exploring both the changing pattern of vegetation indices due to tree crop rotation and spectral characteristics of eucalyptus in the red-edge region is presented. It can be adopted to produce eucalyptus maps of high [...] Read more.

A new method to identify short-rotation eucalyptus plantations by exploring both the changing pattern of vegetation indices due to tree crop rotation and spectral characteristics of eucalyptus in the red-edge region is presented. It can be adopted to produce eucalyptus maps of high spatial resolution (30 m) at large scales, with the use of open remote sensing images from Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and Sentinel-2 MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI), as well as a free cloud computing platform, Google Earth Engine (GEE). The method is composed of three main steps. First, a time series of Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) is constructed from Landsat data for each pixel, and a statistical hypothesis testing is followed to determine whether the pixel belongs to a tree plantation or not based on the idea that tree crops should be harvested in a specific period. Then, a broadleaf/needleleaf classification is applied to distinguish eucalyptus from coniferous trees such as pine and fir using the red-edge bands of Sentinel-2 data. Refinements based on superpixel are performed at last to remove the salt-and-pepper effects resulted from per-pixel detection. The proposed method allows gaps in the time series that are very common in tropical and subtropical regions by employing time series segmentation and statistical hypothesis testing, and could capture forest disturbances such as conversion of natural forest or agricultural lands to eucalyptus plantations emerged in recent years by using a short observing time. The experiment in Guangxi province of China demonstrated that the method had an overall accuracy of 87.97%, with producer’s accuracy of 63.85% and user’s accuracy of 66.89% for eucalyptus plantations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Remote Sensing in Agroforestry)

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16 pages, 7439 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Sea Level Variability in the Red Sea: A Persistent East–West Pattern

by Cheriyeri P. Abdulla and Abdullah M. Al-Subhi

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(13), 2090; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12132090 - 30 Jun 2020

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3450

Abstract

Based on 26 years of satellite altimetry, this study reveals the presence of a persistent east–west pattern in the sea level of the Red Sea, which is visible throughout the years when considering the east–west difference in sea level. This eastern–western (EW) difference [...] Read more.

Based on 26 years of satellite altimetry, this study reveals the presence of a persistent east–west pattern in the sea level of the Red Sea, which is visible throughout the years when considering the east–west difference in sea level. This eastern–western (EW) difference is positive during winter when a higher sea level is observed at the eastern coast of the Red Sea and the opposite occurs during summer. May and October are transition months that show a mixed pattern in the sea level difference. The EW difference in the southern Red Sea has a slightly higher range compared to that of the northern region during summer, by an average of 0.2 cm. Wavelet analysis shows a significant annual cycle along with other signals of lower magnitude for both the northern and southern Red Sea. Removing the annual cycle reveals two energy peaks with periodicities of <12 months and 3–7 years, representing the intraseasonal and El Nino—Southern Oscillation (ENSO) signals, respectively. Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis shows that EOF1 corresponds to 98% of total variability, EOF2 to 1.3%, and EOF3 to 0.4%. The remote response of ENSO is evident in the variability in the atmospheric bridge, while that of the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is weak. Three physical mechanisms are responsible for the occurrence of this EW difference phenomenon, namely wind, buoyancy, and the polarity of eddies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Biogeosciences Remote Sensing)

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20 pages, 21626 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Satellite-Based Drought Impact Assessment on Rice Yield in Thailand with SIMRIW−RS

by Mongkol Raksapatcharawong, Watcharee Veerakachen, Koki Homma, Masayasu Maki and Kazuo Oki

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(13), 2099; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12132099 - 30 Jun 2020

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 6213

Abstract

Advances in remote sensing technologies have enabled effective drought monitoring globally, even in data-limited areas. However, the negative impact of drought on crop yields still necessitates stakeholders to make informed decisions according to its severity. This research proposes an algorithm to combine a [...] Read more.

Advances in remote sensing technologies have enabled effective drought monitoring globally, even in data-limited areas. However, the negative impact of drought on crop yields still necessitates stakeholders to make informed decisions according to its severity. This research proposes an algorithm to combine a drought monitoring model, based on rainfall, land surface temperature (LST), and normalized difference vegetation index/leaf area index (NDVI/LAI) satellite products, with a crop simulation model to assess drought impact on rice yields in Thailand. Typical crop simulation models can provide yield information, but the requirement for a complicated set of inputs prohibits their potential due to insufficient data. This work utilizes a rice crop simulation model called the Simulation Model for Use with Remote Sensing (SIMRIW–RS), whose inputs can mostly be satisfied by such satellite products. Based on experimental data collected during the 2018/19 crop seasons, this approach can successfully provide a drought monitoring function as well as effectively estimate the rice yield with mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) around 5%. In addition, we show that SIMRIW–RS can reasonably predict the rice yield when historical weather data is available. In effect, this research contributes a methodology to assess the drought impact on rice yields on a farm to regional scale, relevant to crop insurance and adaptation schemes to mitigate climate change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances of Remote Sensing in Monitoring Agro-Meteorological Disasters )

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26 pages, 20028 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Analysis and Assessment of BDS-2 and BDS-3 Broadcast Ephemeris: Accuracy, the Datum of Broadcast Clocks and Its Impact on Single Point Positioning

by Guoqiang Jiao, Shuli Song, Yangyang Liu, Ke Su, Na Cheng and Shengli Wang

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(13), 2081; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12132081 - 29 Jun 2020

Cited by 25 | Viewed by 4388

Abstract

For the global ordinary users, the broadcast ephemeris plays important roles in positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services. With the construction of a new generation of the BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS), the development of BDS has entered the era of globalization. It [...] Read more.

For the global ordinary users, the broadcast ephemeris plays important roles in positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services. With the construction of a new generation of the BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS), the development of BDS has entered the era of globalization. It is meaningful for global users to analyze and assess the BDS-2 and BDS-3 broadcast ephemeris. Therefore, the satellite orbits and clock offsets calculated by broadcast ephemeris are compared with the precise orbit and clock offset products provided by three analysis centers (i.e., Helmholtz Centre Potsdam German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ), Wuhan University (WHU) and Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHA)), and the corresponding signal-in-space range error (SISRE) and the orbit-only SISRE are analyzed to assess the accuracy of BDS broadcast ephemeris. Due to the upgrade of BDS-3 satellite hardware technology and inter-satellite links payload and the development of satellite orbit determination algorithm, the accuracy of broadcast orbit and clock offsets has been greatly improved. The root mean square (RMS) of BDS-3 broadcast orbit errors is improved by 86.30%, 89.47% and 76.86%, and the standard deviation (STD) is improved by 79.41%, 77.00% and 76.78% compared with BDS-2 in the radial, along-track and cross-track directions. The corresponding RMS and STD of all BDS-3 satellite clock offsets are improved by 40.34% and 52.49% than that of BDS-2, respectively. Meanwhile, the mean RMS and STD are 1.78 m and 0.40 m for BDS-2 SISRE, 1.72 m and 0.34 m for BDS-2 orbit-only SISRE, 0.50 m and 0.14 m for BDS-3 SISRE, and 0.17 m and 0.04 m for BDS-3 orbit-only SISRE. It is noteworthy that the average broadcast-minus-precise (BMP) clock values of BDS-2 and BDS-3 are inconsistent, which can indirectly prove that the datum of broadcast clock offsets for BDS-2 and BDS-3 are inconsistent. The inconsistency of the datum of satellite clock offsets and receiver hardware delay bias between BDS-2 and BDS-3 will result in the inter-system bias (ISB) on the receiver segment. For JAVAD TRE_3 receivers, the ISB is relatively small and thus can be ignored. However, for the TRIMBLE ALLOY, SEPT POLARX5, CETC-54-GMR-4016, CETC-54-GMR-4011, GNSS-GGR and UB4B0-13478 receivers, estimating ISB can improve the positioning accuracy of single point positioning (SPP) by 20.15%, 19.81% and 12.76% in north, east and up directions, respectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Real-time GNSS Precise Positioning Service and its Augmentation Technology)

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23 pages, 6685 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

From Monitoring to Forecasting Land Surface Conditions Using a Land Data Assimilation System: Application over the Contiguous United States

by Anthony Mucia, Bertrand Bonan, Yongjun Zheng, Clément Albergel and Jean-Christophe Calvet

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(12), 2020; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12122020 - 24 Jun 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4049

Abstract

LDAS-Monde is a global land data assimilation system (LDAS) developed by Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques (CNRM) to monitor land surface variables (LSV) at various scales, from regional to global. With LDAS-Monde, it is possible to jointly assimilate satellite-derived observations of surface soil [...] Read more.

LDAS-Monde is a global land data assimilation system (LDAS) developed by Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques (CNRM) to monitor land surface variables (LSV) at various scales, from regional to global. With LDAS-Monde, it is possible to jointly assimilate satellite-derived observations of surface soil moisture (SSM) and leaf area index (LAI) into the interactions between soil biosphere and atmosphere (ISBA) land surface model (LSM) in order to analyze the soil moisture profile together with vegetation biomass. In this study, we investigate LDAS-Monde’s ability to predict LSV states up to two weeks in the future using atmospheric forecasts. In particular, the impact of the initialization, and the evolution of the forecasted variables in the LSM are addressed. LDAS-Monde is an offline system normally driven by atmospheric reanalysis, but in this study is forced by atmospheric forecasts from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) for the 2017–2018 period over the contiguous United States (CONUS) at a 0.2° × 0.2° spatial resolution. These LSV forecasts are initialized either by the model alone (LDAS-Monde open-loop, without assimilation) or by the analysis (assimilation of SSM and LAI). These two forecasts are then evaluated using satellite-derived observations of SSM and LAI, evapotranspiration (ET) estimates, as well as in situ measurements of soil moisture from the U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN). Results indicate that for the three evaluation variables (SSM, LAI, and ET), LDAS-Monde provides reasonably accurate and consistent predictions two weeks in advance. Additionally, the initial conditions after assimilation are shown to make a positive impact with respect to LAI and ET. This impact persists in time for these two vegetation-related variables. Many model variables, such as SSM, root zone soil moisture (RZSM), LAI, ET, and drainage, remain relatively consistent as the forecast lead time increases, while runoff is highly variable. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Land Surface and Earth System Modelling)

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6 pages, 2659 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceLetter

Surface Temperature of the Planet Earth from Satellite Data over the Period 2003–2019

by José Antonio Sobrino, Susana García-Monteiro and Yves Julien

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(12), 2036; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12122036 - 24 Jun 2020

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4468

Abstract

This is an update of Sobrino et al.’s paper, published in January 2020, which extends the calculation of the Earth’s surface temperature to the period 2003–2019 and uses the new version 2019.0 for the sea surface temperature product MODIS, which is available from [...] Read more.

This is an update of Sobrino et al.’s paper, published in January 2020, which extends the calculation of the Earth’s surface temperature to the period 2003–2019 and uses the new version 2019.0 for the sea surface temperature product MODIS, which is available from 15 January 2020 and replaces version 2014.0. The land surface temperature was estimated from the MCD11C1 product for the same period. The results corroborate the temperature anomalies retrieved from climate models and improve the comparison with global annual air temperatures estimated by the NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NOAA-NCDC), with a correlation coefficient of 0.96. In addition, a trend of 0.021 ± 0.001 °C/year increase was found for the Earth’s surface temperature in this 17-year period. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Remote Sensing Communications)

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25 pages, 6592 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

An Estimation of Top-Down NO_x Emissions from OMI Sensor Over East Asia

by Kyung M. Han, Hyun S. Kim and Chul H. Song

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(12), 2004; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12122004 - 22 Jun 2020

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4336

Abstract

This study focuses on the estimation of top-down NO_x emissions over East Asia, integrating information on the levels of NO₂ and NO, wind vector, and geolocation from Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) observations and Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF)-Community Multiscale Air Quality [...] Read more.

This study focuses on the estimation of top-down NO_x emissions over East Asia, integrating information on the levels of NO₂ and NO, wind vector, and geolocation from Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) observations and Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF)-Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model simulations. An algorithm was developed based on mass conservation to estimate the 30 km × 30 km resolved top-down NO_x emissions over East Asia. In particular, the algorithm developed in this study considered two main atmospheric factors—(i) NO_x transport from/to adjacent cells and (ii) calculations of the lifetimes of column NO_x (τ). In the sensitivity test, the analysis showed the improvements in the top-down NO_x estimation via filtering the data (τ ≤ 2 h). The best top-down NO_x emissions were inferred after the sixth iterations. Those emissions were 11.76 Tg N yr⁻¹ over China, 0.13 Tg N yr⁻¹ over North Korea, 0.46 Tg N yr⁻¹ over South Korea, and 0.68 Tg N yr⁻¹ over Japan. These values are 34%, 62%, 60%, and 47% larger than the current bottom-up NO_x emissions over these countries, respectively. A comparison between the CMAQ-estimated and OMI-retrieved NO₂ columns was made to confirm the accuracy of the newly estimated NO_x emission. The comparison confirmed that the estimated top-down NO_x emissions showed better agreements with observations (R² = 0.88 for January and 0.81 for July). Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Atmospheric Remote Sensing)

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22 pages, 8535 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Evaluating the Performance of Sentinel-3A OLCI Land Products for Gross Primary Productivity Estimation Using AmeriFlux Data

by Zhijiang Zhang, Lin Zhao and Aiwen Lin

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(12), 1927; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12121927 - 14 Jun 2020

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4640

Abstract

Accurate and reliable estimation of gross primary productivity (GPP) is of great significance in monitoring global carbon cycles. The fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FAPAR) and vegetation index products of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are currently the most widely used [...] Read more.

Accurate and reliable estimation of gross primary productivity (GPP) is of great significance in monitoring global carbon cycles. The fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FAPAR) and vegetation index products of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are currently the most widely used data in evaluating GPP. The launch of the Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) onboard the Sentinel-3 satellite provides the FAPAR and the OLCI Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index (OTCI) products with higher temporal resolution and smoother spatial distribution than MODIS, having the potential to monitor terrain GPP. OTCI is one of the red-edge indices and is particularly sensitive to canopy chlorophyll content related to GPP. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the performance of OLCI FAPAR and OTCI for the estimation of GPP across seven biomes in 2017–2018. To this end, OLCI FAPAR and OTCI products in combination with insitu meteorological data were first integrated into the MODIS GPP algorithm and in three OTCI-driven models to simulate GPP. The modeled GPP (GPP_OLCI-FAPAR and GPP_OTCI) were then compared with flux tower GPP (GPP_EC) for each site. Furthermore, the GPP_OLCI-FAPAR and GPP derived from the MODIS FAPAR (GPP_MODIS-FAPAR) were compared. Results showed that the performance of GPP_OLCI-FAPAR was varied in different sites, with the highest R² of 0.76 and lowest R² of 0.45. The OTCI-driven models that include APAR data exhibited a significant relationship with GPP_EC for all sites, and models using only OTCI provided the most varied performance, with the relationship between GPP_OTCI and GPP_EC from strong to nonsignificant. Moreover, GPP_OLCI-FAPAR (R² = 0.55) performed better than GPP_MODIS-FAPAR (R² = 0.44) across all biomes. These results demonstrate the potential of OLCI FAPAR and OTCI products in GPP estimation, and they also provide the basis for their combination with the soon-to-launch Fluorescence Explorer satellite and their integration with the Sentinel-3 land surface temperature product into light use models for GPP monitoring at regional and global scales. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Atmosphere and Underlying Surface Using OLCI and SLSTR on Board Sentinel-3: Calibration, Algorithms, Geophysical Products and Validation)

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18 pages, 331 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

Remote Sensing Support for the Gain-Loss Approach for Greenhouse Gas Inventories

by Ronald E. McRoberts, Erik Næsset, Christophe Sannier, Stephen V. Stehman and Erkki O. Tomppo

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(11), 1891; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12111891 - 11 Jun 2020

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4761

Abstract

For tropical countries that do not have extensive ground sampling programs such as national forest inventories, the gain-loss approach for greenhouse gas inventories is often used. With the gain-loss approach, emissions and removals are estimated as the product of activity data defined as [...] Read more.

For tropical countries that do not have extensive ground sampling programs such as national forest inventories, the gain-loss approach for greenhouse gas inventories is often used. With the gain-loss approach, emissions and removals are estimated as the product of activity data defined as the areas of human-caused emissions and removals and emissions factors defined as the per unit area responses of carbon stocks for those activities. Remotely sensed imagery and remote sensing-based land use and land use change maps have emerged as crucial information sources for facilitating the statistically rigorous estimation of activity data. Similarly, remote sensing-based biomass maps have been used as sources of auxiliary data for enhancing estimates of emissions and removals factors and as sources of biomass data for remote and inaccessible regions. The current status of statistically rigorous methods for combining ground and remotely sensed data that comply with the good practice guidelines for greenhouse gas inventories of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is reviewed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Remote Sensing for Global Forest Monitoring)

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25 pages, 1764 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Adaptive Modeling of the Global Ionosphere Vertical Total Electron Content

by Eren Erdogan, Michael Schmidt, Andreas Goss, Barbara Görres and Florian Seitz

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(11), 1822; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12111822 - 4 Jun 2020

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4459

Abstract

The Kalman filter (KF) is widely applied in (ultra) rapid and (near) real-time ionosphere modeling to meet the demand on ionosphere products required in many applications extending from navigation and positioning to monitoring space weather events and naturals disasters. The requirement of a [...] Read more.

The Kalman filter (KF) is widely applied in (ultra) rapid and (near) real-time ionosphere modeling to meet the demand on ionosphere products required in many applications extending from navigation and positioning to monitoring space weather events and naturals disasters. The requirement of a prior definition of the stochastic models attached to the measurements and the dynamic models of the KF is a drawback associated with its standard implementation since model uncertainties can exhibit temporal variations or the time span of a given test data set would not be large enough. Adaptive methods can mitigate these problems by tuning the stochastic model parameters during the filter run-time. Accordingly, one of the primary objectives of our study is to apply an adaptive KF based on variance component estimation to compute the global Vertical Total Electron Content (VTEC) of the ionosphere by assimilating different ionospheric GNSS measurements. Secondly, the derived VTEC representation is based on a series expansion in terms of compactly supported B-spline functions. We highlight the morphological similarity of the spatial distributions and the magnitudes between VTEC values and the corresponding estimated B-spline coefficients. This similarity allows for deducing physical interpretations from the coefficients. In this context, an empirical adaptive model to account for the dynamic model uncertainties, representing the temporal variations of VTEC errors, is developed in this work according to the structure of B-spline coefficients. For the validation, the differential slant total electron content (dSTEC) analysis and a comparison with Jason-2/3 altimetry data are performed. Assessments show that the quality of the VTEC products derived by the presented algorithm is in good agreement, or even more accurate, with the products provided by IGS ionosphere analysis centers within the selected periods in 2015 and 2017. Furthermore, we show that the presented approach can be applied to different ionosphere conditions ranging from very high to low solar activity without concerning time-variable model uncertainties, including measurement error and process noise of the KF because the associated covariance matrices are computed in a self-adaptive manner during run-time. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Observing and Modelling Ionosphere and Thermosphere Using In Situ and Remote Sensing Techniques)

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19 pages, 8070 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Aboveground Biomass Estimation in Amazonian Tropical Forests: a Comparison of Aircraft- and GatorEye UAV-borne LiDAR Data in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve in Acre, Brazil

by Marcus V. N. d’Oliveira, Eben N. Broadbent, Luis C. Oliveira, Danilo R. A. Almeida, Daniel A. Papa, Manuel E. Ferreira, Angelica M. Almeyda Zambrano, Carlos A. Silva, Felipe S. Avino, Gabriel A. Prata, Ricardo A. Mello, Evandro O. Figueiredo, Lúcio A. de Castro Jorge, Leomar Junior, Rafael W. Albuquerque, Pedro H. S. Brancalion, Ben Wilkinson and Marcelo Oliveira-da-Costa

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(11), 1754; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12111754 - 29 May 2020

Cited by 36 | Viewed by 8351

Abstract

Tropical forests are often located in difficult-to-access areas, which make high-quality forest structure information difficult and expensive to obtain by traditional field-based approaches. LiDAR (acronym for Light Detection And Ranging) data have been used throughout the world to produce time-efficient and wall-to-wall structural [...] Read more.

Tropical forests are often located in difficult-to-access areas, which make high-quality forest structure information difficult and expensive to obtain by traditional field-based approaches. LiDAR (acronym for Light Detection And Ranging) data have been used throughout the world to produce time-efficient and wall-to-wall structural parameter estimates for monitoring in native and commercial forests. In this study, we compare products and aboveground biomass (AGB) estimations from LiDAR data acquired using an aircraft-borne system in 2015 and data collected by the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based GatorEye Unmanned Flying Laboratory in 2017 for ten forest inventory plots located in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve in Acre state, southwestern Brazilian Amazon. The LiDAR products were similar and comparable among the two platforms and sensors. Principal differences between derived products resulted from the GatorEye system flying lower and slower and having increased returns per second than the aircraft, resulting in a much higher point density overall (11.3 ± 1.8 vs. 381.2 ± 58 pts/m²). Differences in ground point density, however, were much smaller among the systems, due to the larger pulse area and increased number of returns per pulse of the aircraft system, with the GatorEye showing an approximately 50% higher ground point density (0.27 ± 0.09 vs. 0.42 ± 0.09). The LiDAR models produced by both sensors presented similar results for digital elevation models and estimated AGB. Our results validate the ability for UAV-borne LiDAR sensors to accurately quantify AGB in dense high-leaf-area tropical forests in the Amazon. We also highlight new possibilities using the dense point clouds of UAV-borne systems for analyses of detailed crown structure and leaf area density distribution of the forest interior. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drones for Ecology and Conservation)

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43 pages, 10907 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

Object Detection and Image Segmentation with Deep Learning on Earth Observation Data: A Review-Part I: Evolution and Recent Trends

by Thorsten Hoeser and Claudia Kuenzer

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(10), 1667; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12101667 - 22 May 2020

Cited by 309 | Viewed by 55655

Abstract

Deep learning (DL) has great influence on large parts of science and increasingly established itself as an adaptive method for new challenges in the field of Earth observation (EO). Nevertheless, the entry barriers for EO researchers are high due to the dense and [...] Read more.

Deep learning (DL) has great influence on large parts of science and increasingly established itself as an adaptive method for new challenges in the field of Earth observation (EO). Nevertheless, the entry barriers for EO researchers are high due to the dense and rapidly developing field mainly driven by advances in computer vision (CV). To lower the barriers for researchers in EO, this review gives an overview of the evolution of DL with a focus on image segmentation and object detection in convolutional neural networks (CNN). The survey starts in 2012, when a CNN set new standards in image recognition, and lasts until late 2019. Thereby, we highlight the connections between the most important CNN architectures and cornerstones coming from CV in order to alleviate the evaluation of modern DL models. Furthermore, we briefly outline the evolution of the most popular DL frameworks and provide a summary of datasets in EO. By discussing well performing DL architectures on these datasets as well as reflecting on advances made in CV and their impact on future research in EO, we narrow the gap between the reviewed, theoretical concepts from CV and practical application in EO. Full article

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21 pages, 9693 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Enhancing Methods for Under-Canopy Unmanned Aircraft System Based Photogrammetry in Complex Forests for Tree Diameter Measurement

by Sean Krisanski, Mohammad Sadegh Taskhiri and Paul Turner

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(10), 1652; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12101652 - 21 May 2020

Cited by 47 | Viewed by 8169

Abstract

The application of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) beneath the forest canopy provides a potentially valuable alternative to ground-based measurement techniques in areas of dense canopy cover and undergrowth. This research presents results from a study of a consumer-grade UAS flown under the forest [...] Read more.

The application of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) beneath the forest canopy provides a potentially valuable alternative to ground-based measurement techniques in areas of dense canopy cover and undergrowth. This research presents results from a study of a consumer-grade UAS flown under the forest canopy in challenging forest and terrain conditions. This UAS was deployed to assess under-canopy UAS photogrammetry as an alternative to field measurements for obtaining stem diameters as well as ultra-high-resolution (~400,000 points/m²) 3D models of forest study sites. There were 378 tape-based diameter measurements collected from 99 stems in a native, unmanaged eucalyptus pulchella forest with mixed understory conditions and steep terrain. These measurements were used as a baseline to evaluate the accuracy of diameter measurements from under-canopy UAS-based photogrammetric point clouds. The diameter measurement accuracy was evaluated without the influence of a digital terrain model using an innovative tape-based method. A practical and detailed methodology is presented for the creation of these point clouds. Lastly, a metric called the Circumferential Completeness Index (CCI) was defined to address the absence of a clearly defined measure of point coverage when measuring stem diameters from forest point clouds. The measurement of the mean CCI is suggested for use in future studies to enable a consistent comparison of the coverage of forest point clouds using different sensors, point densities, trajectories, and methodologies. It was found that root-mean-squared-errors of diameter measurements were 0.011 m in Site 1 and 0.021 m in the more challenging Site 2. The point clouds in this study had a mean validated CCI of 0.78 for Site 1 and 0.7 for Site 2, with a mean unvalidated CCI of 0.86 for Site 1 and 0.89 for Site 2. The results in this study demonstrate that under-canopy UAS photogrammetry shows promise in becoming a practical alternative to traditional field measurements, however, these results are currently reliant upon the operator’s knowledge of photogrammetry and his/her ability to fly manually in object-rich environments. Future work should pursue solutions to autonomous operation, more complete point clouds, and a method for providing scale to point clouds when global navigation satellite systems are unavailable. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Individual Tree Detection and Characterisation from UAV Data)

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19 pages, 5722 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

60 Years of Glacier Elevation and Mass Changes in the Maipo River Basin, Central Andes of Chile

by David Farías-Barahona, Álvaro Ayala, Claudio Bravo, Sebastián Vivero, Thorsten Seehaus, Saurabh Vijay, Marius Schaefer, Franco Buglio, Gino Casassa and Matthias H. Braun

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(10), 1658; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12101658 - 21 May 2020

Cited by 29 | Viewed by 8294

Abstract

Glaciers in the central Andes of Chile are fundamental freshwater sources for ecosystems and communities. Overall, glaciers in this region have shown continuous recession and down-wasting, but long-term glacier mass balance studies providing precise estimates of these changes are scarce. Here, we present [...] Read more.

Glaciers in the central Andes of Chile are fundamental freshwater sources for ecosystems and communities. Overall, glaciers in this region have shown continuous recession and down-wasting, but long-term glacier mass balance studies providing precise estimates of these changes are scarce. Here, we present the first long-term (1955–2013/2015), region-specific glacier elevation and mass change estimates for the Maipo River Basin, from which the densely populated metropolitan region of Chile obtains most of its freshwater supply. We calculated glacier elevation and mass changes using historical topographic maps, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), TerraSAR-X add-on for Digital Elevation Measurements (TanDEM-X), and airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) digital elevation models. The results indicated a mean regional glacier mass balance of −0.12 ± 0.06 m w.e.a⁻¹, with a total mass loss of 2.43 ± 0.26 Gt for the Maipo River Basin between 1955–2013. The most negative glacier mass balance was the Olivares sub-basin, with a mean value of −0.29 ± 0.07 m w.e.a⁻¹. We observed spatially heterogeneous glacier elevation and mass changes between 1955 and 2000, and more negative values between 2000 and 2013, with an acceleration in ice thinning rates starting in 2010, which coincides with the severe drought. Our results provide key information to improve glaciological and hydrological projections in a region where water resources are under pressure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cryospheric Remote Sensing III)

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20 pages, 8316 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

LiDAR-Based Estimates of Canopy Base Height for a Dense Uneven-Aged Structured Forest

by Alexandra Stefanidou, Ioannis Z. Gitas, Lauri Korhonen, Dimitris Stavrakoudis and Nikos Georgopoulos

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(10), 1565; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12101565 - 14 May 2020

Cited by 24 | Viewed by 6998

Abstract

Accurate canopy base height (CBH) information is essential for forest and fire managers since it constitutes a key indicator of seedling growth, wood quality and forest health as well as a necessary input in fire behavior prediction systems such as FARSITE, FlamMap and [...] Read more.

Accurate canopy base height (CBH) information is essential for forest and fire managers since it constitutes a key indicator of seedling growth, wood quality and forest health as well as a necessary input in fire behavior prediction systems such as FARSITE, FlamMap and BEHAVE. The present study focused on the potential of airborne LiDAR data analysis to estimate plot-level CBH in a dense uneven-aged structured forest on complex terrain. A comparative study of two widely employed methods was performed, namely the voxel-based approach and regression analysis, which revealed a clear outperformance of the latter. More specifically, the voxel-based CBH estimates were found to lack correlation with the reference data (

R^{2} = 0.15

,

r R M S E = 42.36 %

) while most CBH values were overestimated resulting in an

r b i a s

of

- 17.52 %

. On the contrary, cross-validation of the developed regression model showcased an

R^{2}

,

r R M S E

and

r b i a s

of

0.61

,

18.19 %

and

- 0.09 %

respectively. Overall analysis of the results proved the voxel-based approach incapable of accurately estimating plot-level CBH due to vegetation and topographic heterogeneity of the forest environment, which however didn’t affect the regression analysis performance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Forest Remote Sensing)

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