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Remote Sens., Volume 10, Issue 3 (March 2018) – 134 articles

Cover Story (view full-size image): Remote and proximal hyperspectral sensing are increasingly applied in agricultural research for diverse applications. Site specific, canopy level, and hyperspectral data were obtained from a tractor-mounted dual field-of-view spectral system installed to detect sudden death syndrome soybean disease prior to visual symptoms being noticed. This system was almost simultaneously acquiring upwelling (radiance) and downwelling (irradiance) measurements to minimize variable atmospheric effects on the preprocessed data. This field-based spectroscopic proximal sensing system obtained data throughout the growing season. Analyses resulted in the ability to spectrally distinguish between inoculated and control plots prior to appearance of visual canopy symptoms. The classification ability was also supported by leaf level data. View this paper
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22 pages, 38594 KiB  
Article
Spatiotemporal Dynamics in Vegetation GPP over the Great Khingan Mountains Using GLASS Products from 1982 to 2015
by Ling Hu, Wenjie Fan, Huazhong Ren, Suhong Liu, Yaokui Cui and Peng Zhao
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 488; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030488 - 20 Mar 2018
Cited by 41 | Viewed by 6595
Abstract
Gross primary productivity (GPP) is an important parameter that represents the productivity of vegetation and responses to various ecological environments. The Greater Khingan Mountain (GKM) is one of the most important state-owned forest bases, and boreal forests, including the largest primeval cold-temperature bright [...] Read more.
Gross primary productivity (GPP) is an important parameter that represents the productivity of vegetation and responses to various ecological environments. The Greater Khingan Mountain (GKM) is one of the most important state-owned forest bases, and boreal forests, including the largest primeval cold-temperature bright coniferous forest in China, are widely distributed in the GKM. This study aimed to reveal spatiotemporal vegetation variations in the GKM on the basis of GPP products that were generated by the Global LAnd Surface Satellite (GLASS) program from 1982 to 2015. First, we explored the spatiotemporal distribution of vegetation across the GKM. Then we analyzed the relationships between GPP variation and driving factors, including meteorological elements, growing season length (GSL), and Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR), to investigate the dominant factor for GPP dynamics. Results demonstrated that (1) the spatial distribution of accumulated GPP (AG) in spring, summer, autumn, and the growing season varied due to three main reasons: understory vegetation, altitude, and land cover; (2) interannual AG in summer, autumn, and the growing season significantly increased at the regional scale during the past 34 years under climate warming and drying; (3) interannual changes of accumulated GPP in the growing season (AGG) at the pixel scale displayed a rapid expansion in areas with a significant increasing trend (p < 0.05) during the period of 1982–2015 and this trend was caused by the natural forest protection project launched in 1998; and finally, (4) an analysis of driving factors showed that daily sunshine duration in summer was the most important factor for GPP in the GKM and this is different from previous studies, which reported that the GSL plays a crucial role in other areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Quantitative Remote Sensing in China – In Memory of Prof. Xiaowen Li)
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21 pages, 3482 KiB  
Article
Using a Similarity Matrix Approach to Evaluate the Accuracy of Rescaled Maps
by Peijun Sun and Russell G. Congalton
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 487; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030487 - 20 Mar 2018
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4227
Abstract
Rescaled maps have been extensively utilized to provide data at the appropriate spatial resolution for use in various Earth science models. However, a simple and easy way to evaluate these rescaled maps has not been developed. We propose a similarity matrix approach using [...] Read more.
Rescaled maps have been extensively utilized to provide data at the appropriate spatial resolution for use in various Earth science models. However, a simple and easy way to evaluate these rescaled maps has not been developed. We propose a similarity matrix approach using a contingency table to compute three measures: overall similarity (OS), omission error (OE), and commission error (CE) to evaluate the rescaled maps. The Majority Rule Based aggregation (MRB) method was employed to produce the upscaled maps to demonstrate this approach. In addition, previously created, coarser resolution land cover maps from other research projects were also available for comparison. The question of which is better, a map initially produced at coarse resolution or a fine resolution map rescaled to a coarse resolution, has not been quantitatively investigated. To address these issues, we selected study sites at three different extent levels. First, we selected twelve regions covering the continental USA, then we selected nine states (from the whole continental USA), and finally we selected nine Agriculture Statistical Districts (ASDs) (from within the nine selected states) as study sites. Crop/non-crop maps derived from the USDA Crop Data Layer (CDL) at 30 m as base maps were used for the upscaling and existing maps at 250 m and 1 km were utilized for the comparison. The results showed that a similarity matrix can effectively provide the map user with the information needed to assess the rescaling. Additionally, the upscaled maps can provide higher accuracy and better represent landscape pattern compared to the existing coarser maps. Therefore, we strongly recommend that an evaluation of the upscaled map and the existing coarser resolution map using a similarity matrix should be conducted before deciding which dataset to use for the modelling. Overall, extending our understanding on how to perform an evaluation of the rescaled map and investigation of the applicability of the rescaled map compared to the existing land cover map is necessary for users to most effectively use these data in Earth science models. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Remote Sensing Image Processing)
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24 pages, 7335 KiB  
Article
On Signal Modeling of Moon-Based Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Imaging of Earth
by Zhen Xu and Kun-Shan Chen
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 486; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030486 - 20 Mar 2018
Cited by 41 | Viewed by 7492
Abstract
The Moon-based Synthetic Aperture Radar (Moon-Based SAR), using the Moon as a platform, has a great potential to offer global-scale coverage of the earth’s surface with a high revisit cycle and is able to meet the scientific requirements for climate change study. However, [...] Read more.
The Moon-based Synthetic Aperture Radar (Moon-Based SAR), using the Moon as a platform, has a great potential to offer global-scale coverage of the earth’s surface with a high revisit cycle and is able to meet the scientific requirements for climate change study. However, operating in the lunar orbit, Moon-Based SAR imaging is confined within a complex geometry of the Moon-Based SAR, Moon, and Earth, where both rotation and revolution have effects. The extremely long exposure time of Moon-Based SAR presents a curved moving trajectory and the protracted time-delay in propagation makes the “stop-and-go” assumption no longer valid. Consequently, the conventional SAR imaging technique is no longer valid for Moon-Based SAR. This paper develops a Moon-Based SAR theory in which a signal model is derived. The Doppler parameters in the context of lunar revolution with the removal of ‘stop-and-go’ assumption are first estimated, and then characteristics of Moon-Based SAR imaging’s azimuthal resolution are analyzed. In addition, a signal model of Moon-Based SAR and its two-dimensional (2-D) spectrum are further derived. Numerical simulation using point targets validates the signal model and enables Doppler parameter estimation for image focusing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Radar Imaging Theory, Techniques, and Applications)
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24 pages, 4908 KiB  
Article
Improving SMOS Sea Surface Salinity in the Western Mediterranean Sea through Multivariate and Multifractal Analysis
by Estrella Olmedo, Isabelle Taupier-Letage, Antonio Turiel and Aida Alvera-Azcárate
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 485; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030485 - 20 Mar 2018
Cited by 37 | Viewed by 8712
Abstract
A new methodology using a combination of debiased non-Bayesian retrieval, DINEOF (Data Interpolating Empirical Orthogonal Functions) and multifractal fusion has been used to obtain Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) fields over the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean [...] Read more.
A new methodology using a combination of debiased non-Bayesian retrieval, DINEOF (Data Interpolating Empirical Orthogonal Functions) and multifractal fusion has been used to obtain Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) fields over the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The debiased non-Bayesian retrieval mitigates the systematic errors produced by the contamination of the land over the sea. In addition, this retrieval improves the coverage by means of multiyear statistical filtering criteria. This methodology allows obtaining SMOS SSS fields in the Mediterranean Sea. However, the resulting SSS suffers from a seasonal (and other time-dependent) bias. This time-dependent bias has been characterized by means of specific Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOFs). Finally, high resolution Sea Surface Temperature (OSTIA SST) maps have been used for improving the spatial and temporal resolution of the SMOS SSS maps. The presented methodology practically reduces the error of the SMOS SSS in the Mediterranean Sea by half. As a result, the SSS dynamics described by the new SMOS maps in the Algerian Basin and the Balearic Front agrees with the one described by in situ SSS, and the mesoscale structures described by SMOS in the Alboran Sea and in the Gulf of Lion coincide with the ones described by the high resolution remotely-sensed SST images (AVHRR). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sea Surface Salinity Remote Sensing)
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29 pages, 25739 KiB  
Article
Independent Assessment of Sentinel-3A Wet Tropospheric Correction over the Open and Coastal Ocean
by Maria Joana Fernandes and Clara Lázaro
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 484; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030484 - 20 Mar 2018
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 5716
Abstract
Launched on 16 February 2016, Sentinel-3A (S3A) carries a two-band microwave radiometer (MWR) similar to that of Envisat, and is aimed at the precise retrieval of the wet tropospheric correction (WTC) through collocated measurements using the Synthetic Aperture Radar Altimeter (SRAL) instrument. This [...] Read more.
Launched on 16 February 2016, Sentinel-3A (S3A) carries a two-band microwave radiometer (MWR) similar to that of Envisat, and is aimed at the precise retrieval of the wet tropospheric correction (WTC) through collocated measurements using the Synthetic Aperture Radar Altimeter (SRAL) instrument. This study aims at presenting an independent assessment of the WTC derived from the S3A MWR over the open and coastal ocean. Comparisons with other four MWRs show Root Mean Square (RMS) differences (cm) of S3A with respect to these sensors of 1.0 (Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager, GMI), 1.2 (Jason-2), 1.3 (Jason-3), and 1.5 (Satellite with ARgos and ALtika (SARAL)). The linear fit with respect to these MWR shows scale factors close to 1 and small offsets, indicating a good agreement between all these sensors. In spite of the short analysis period of 10 months, a stable temporal evolution of the S3A WTC has been observed. In line with the similar two-band instruments aboard previous European Space Agency (ESA) altimetric missions, strong ice and land contamination can be observed, the latter mainly found up to 20–25 km from the coast. Comparisons with the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and an independent WTC derived only from third party data are also shown, indicating good overall performance. However, improvements in both the retrieval algorithm and screening of invalid MWR observations are desirable to achieve the quality of the equivalent WTC from Jason-3. The outcome of this study is a deeper knowledge of the measurement capabilities and limitations of the type of MWR aboard S3A and of the present WTC retrieval algorithms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Satellite Altimetry for Earth Sciences)
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26 pages, 17420 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Groundwater Storage Variations Estimated from GRACE Data Assimilation and State-of-the-Art Land Surface Models in Australia and the North China Plain
by Natthachet Tangdamrongsub, Shin-Chan Han, Siyuan Tian, Hannes Müller Schmied, Edwin H. Sutanudjaja, Jiangjun Ran and Wei Feng
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 483; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030483 - 20 Mar 2018
Cited by 52 | Viewed by 10449
Abstract
The accurate knowledge of the groundwater storage variation (ΔGWS) is essential for reliable water resource assessment, particularly in arid and semi-arid environments (e.g., Australia, the North China Plain (NCP)) where water storage is significantly affected by human activities and spatiotemporal climate variations. The [...] Read more.
The accurate knowledge of the groundwater storage variation (ΔGWS) is essential for reliable water resource assessment, particularly in arid and semi-arid environments (e.g., Australia, the North China Plain (NCP)) where water storage is significantly affected by human activities and spatiotemporal climate variations. The large-scale ΔGWS can be simulated from a land surface model (LSM), but the high model uncertainty is a major drawback that reduces the reliability of the estimates. The evaluation of the model estimate is then very important to assess its accuracy. To improve the model performance, the terrestrial water storage variation derived from the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission is commonly assimilated into LSMs to enhance the accuracy of the ΔGWS estimate. This study assimilates GRACE data into the PCRaster Global Water Balance (PCR-GLOBWB) model. The GRACE data assimilation (DA) is developed based on the three-dimensional ensemble Kalman smoother (EnKS 3D), which considers the statistical correlation of all extents (spatial, temporal, vertical) in the DA process. The ΔGWS estimates from GRACE DA and four LSM simulations (PCR-GLOBWB, the Community Atmosphere Biosphere Land Exchange (CABLE), the Water Global Assessment and Prognosis Global Hydrology Model (WGHM), and World-Wide Water (W3)) are validated against the in situ groundwater data. The evaluation is conducted in terms of temporal correlation, seasonality, long-term trend, and detection of groundwater depletion. The GRACE DA estimate shows a significant improvement in all measures, notably the correlation coefficients (respect to the in situ data) are always higher than the values obtained from model simulations alone (e.g., ~0.15 greater in Australia, and ~0.1 greater in the NCP). GRACE DA also improves the estimation of groundwater depletion that the models cannot accurately capture due to the incorrect information of the groundwater demand (in, e.g., PCR-GLOBWB, WGHM) or the unavailability of a groundwater consumption routine (in, e.g., CABLE, W3). In addition, this study conducts the inter-comparison between four model simulations and reveals that PCR-GLOBWB and CABLE provide a more accurate ΔGWS estimate in Australia (subject to the calibrated parameter) while PCR-GLOBWB and WGHM are more accurate in the NCP (subject to the inclusion of anthropogenic factors). The analysis can be used to declare the status of the ΔGWS estimate, as well as itemize the possible improvements of the future model development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Groundwater from River Basin to Global Scales)
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28 pages, 7048 KiB  
Article
Noise Reduction in Hyperspectral Imagery: Overview and Application
by Behnood Rasti, Paul Scheunders, Pedram Ghamisi, Giorgio Licciardi and Jocelyn Chanussot
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 482; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030482 - 20 Mar 2018
Cited by 238 | Viewed by 16238
Abstract
Hyperspectral remote sensing is based on measuring the scattered and reflected electromagnetic signals from the Earth’s surface emitted by the Sun. The received radiance at the sensor is usually degraded by atmospheric effects and instrumental (sensor) noises which include thermal (Johnson) noise, quantization [...] Read more.
Hyperspectral remote sensing is based on measuring the scattered and reflected electromagnetic signals from the Earth’s surface emitted by the Sun. The received radiance at the sensor is usually degraded by atmospheric effects and instrumental (sensor) noises which include thermal (Johnson) noise, quantization noise, and shot (photon) noise. Noise reduction is often considered as a preprocessing step for hyperspectral imagery. In the past decade, hyperspectral noise reduction techniques have evolved substantially from two dimensional bandwise techniques to three dimensional ones, and varieties of low-rank methods have been forwarded to improve the signal to noise ratio of the observed data. Despite all the developments and advances, there is a lack of a comprehensive overview of these techniques and their impact on hyperspectral imagery applications. In this paper, we address the following two main issues; (1) Providing an overview of the techniques developed in the past decade for hyperspectral image noise reduction; (2) Discussing the performance of these techniques by applying them as a preprocessing step to improve a hyperspectral image analysis task, i.e., classification. Additionally, this paper discusses about the hyperspectral image modeling and denoising challenges. Furthermore, different noise types that exist in hyperspectral images have been described. The denoising experiments have confirmed the advantages of the use of low-rank denoising techniques compared to the other denoising techniques in terms of signal to noise ratio and spectral angle distance. In the classification experiments, classification accuracies have improved when denoising techniques have been applied as a preprocessing step. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Restoration and Denoising of Remote Sensing Data)
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17 pages, 2640 KiB  
Article
Real-Time Tropospheric Delay Retrieval from Multi-GNSS PPP Ambiguity Resolution: Validation with Final Troposphere Products and a Numerical Weather Model
by Cuixian Lu, Xin Li, Junlong Cheng, Galina Dick, Maorong Ge, Jens Wickert and Harald Schuh
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 481; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030481 - 20 Mar 2018
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 5944
Abstract
The multiple global navigation satellite systems (multi-GNSS) bring great opportunity for the real-time retrieval of high-quality zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD), which is a critical quality for atmospheric science and geodetic applications. In this contribution, a multi-GNSS precise point positioning (PPP) ambiguity resolution (AR) [...] Read more.
The multiple global navigation satellite systems (multi-GNSS) bring great opportunity for the real-time retrieval of high-quality zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD), which is a critical quality for atmospheric science and geodetic applications. In this contribution, a multi-GNSS precise point positioning (PPP) ambiguity resolution (AR) analysis approach is developed for real-time tropospheric delay retrieval. To validate the proposed multi-GNSS ZTD estimates, we collected and processed data from 30 Multi-GNSS Experiment (MGEX) stations; the resulting real-time tropospheric products are evaluated by using standard post-processed troposphere products and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts analysis (ECMWF) data. An accuracy of 4.5 mm and 7.1 mm relative to the Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE) and U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO) products is achievable for real-time tropospheric delays from multi-GNSS PPP ambiguity resolution after an initialization process of approximately 5 min. Compared to Global Positioning System (GPS) results, the accuracy of retrieved zenith tropospheric delay from multi-GNSS PPP-AR is improved by 16.7% and 31.7% with respect to USNO and CODE final products. The GNSS-derived ZTD time-series exhibits a great agreement with the ECMWF data for a long period of 30 days. The average root mean square (RMS) of the real-time zenith tropospheric delay retrieved from multi-GNSS PPP-AR is 12.5 mm with respect to ECMWF data while the accuracy of GPS-only results is 13.3 mm. Significant improvement is also achieved in terms of the initialization time of the multi-GNSS tropospheric delays, with an improvement of 50.7% compared to GPS-only fixed solutions. All these improvements demonstrate the promising prospects of the multi-GNSS PPP-AR method for time-critical meteorological applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Atmospheric Remote Sensing)
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15 pages, 5987 KiB  
Article
Generating Continental Scale Pixel-Based Surface Reflectance Composites in Coastal Regions with the Use of a Multi-Resolution Tidal Model
by Stephen Sagar, Claire Phillips, Biswajit Bala, Dale Roberts and Leo Lymburner
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 480; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030480 - 20 Mar 2018
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 7691
Abstract
Generating continental-scale pixel composites in dynamic coastal and estuarine environments presents a unique challenge, as the application of a temporal or seasonal approach to composite generation is confounded by tidal influences. We demonstrate how this can be resolved using an approach to compositing [...] Read more.
Generating continental-scale pixel composites in dynamic coastal and estuarine environments presents a unique challenge, as the application of a temporal or seasonal approach to composite generation is confounded by tidal influences. We demonstrate how this can be resolved using an approach to compositing that provides robust composites of multi-type environments. In addition to the visual aesthetics of the images created, we demonstrate the utility of these composites for further interpretation and analysis. This is enabled by the manner in which our approach captures the spatial variation in tidal dynamics through the use of a Voronoi mesh, and preserves the band relationships within the modelled spectra at each pixel. Case studies are presented which include continental-scale mosaics of the Australian coastline at high and low tide, and tailored examples demonstrating the potential of the tidally constrained composites to address a range of coastal change detection and monitoring applications. We conclude with a discussion on the potential applications of the composite products and method in the coastal and marine environment, as well as further development directions for our tidal modelling framework. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Ocean Remote Sensing)
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20 pages, 5929 KiB  
Article
Combining Fractional Order Derivative and Spectral Variable Selection for Organic Matter Estimation of Homogeneous Soil Samples by VIS–NIR Spectroscopy
by Yongsheng Hong, Yiyun Chen, Lei Yu, Yanfang Liu, Yaolin Liu, Yong Zhang, Yi Liu and Hang Cheng
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 479; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030479 - 19 Mar 2018
Cited by 95 | Viewed by 7013
Abstract
Visible and near-infrared (VIS–NIR) spectroscopy has been extensively applied to estimate soil organic matter (SOM) in the laboratory. However, if field/moist VIS–NIR spectra can be directly applied to estimate SOM, then much of the time and labor would be avoided. Spectral derivative plays [...] Read more.
Visible and near-infrared (VIS–NIR) spectroscopy has been extensively applied to estimate soil organic matter (SOM) in the laboratory. However, if field/moist VIS–NIR spectra can be directly applied to estimate SOM, then much of the time and labor would be avoided. Spectral derivative plays an important role in eliminating unwanted interference and optimizing the estimation model. Nonetheless, the conventional integer order derivatives (i.e., the first and second derivatives) may neglect some detailed information related to SOM. Besides, the full-spectrum generally contains redundant spectral variables, which would affect the model accuracy. This study aimed to investigate different combinations of fractional order derivative (FOD) and spectral variable selection techniques (i.e., competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS), elastic net (ENET) and genetic algorithm (GA)) to optimize the VIS–NIR spectral model of moist soil. Ninety-one soil samples were collected from Central China, with their SOM contents and reflectance spectra measured. Support vector machine (SVM) was applied to estimate SOM. Results indicated that moist spectra differed greatly from dried ground spectra. With increasing order of derivative, the spectral resolution improved gradually, but the spectral strength decreased simultaneously. FOD could provide a better tool to counterbalance the contradiction between spectral resolution and spectral strength. In full-spectrum SVM models, the most accurate estimation was achieved by SVM model based on 1.5-order derivative spectra, with validation R2 = 0.79 and ratio of the performance to deviation (RPD) = 2.20. Of all models studied (different combinations of FOD and variable selection techniques), the highest validation model accuracy for SOM was achieved when applying 1.5 derivative spectra and GA method (validation R2 = 0.88 and RPD = 2.89). Among the three variable selection techniques, overall, the GA method yielded the optimal predictability. However, due to its long computation time, one alternative was to use CARS method. The results of this study confirm that a suitable combination of FOD and variable selection can effectively improve the model performance of SOM in moist soil. Full article
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14 pages, 4162 KiB  
Article
Calculating Viewing Angles Pixel by Pixel in Optical Remote Sensing Satellite Imagery Using the Rational Function Model
by Kai Xu, Guo Zhang, Qingjun Zhang and Deren Li
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 478; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030478 - 19 Mar 2018
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 7835
Abstract
In studies involving the extraction of surface physical parameters using optical remote sensing satellite imagery, sun-sensor geometry must be known, especially for sensor viewing angles. However, while pixel-by-pixel acquisitions of sensor viewing angles are of critical importance to many studies, currently available algorithms [...] Read more.
In studies involving the extraction of surface physical parameters using optical remote sensing satellite imagery, sun-sensor geometry must be known, especially for sensor viewing angles. However, while pixel-by-pixel acquisitions of sensor viewing angles are of critical importance to many studies, currently available algorithms for calculating sensor-viewing angles focus only on the center-point pixel or are complicated and are not well known. Thus, this study aims to provide a simple and general method to estimate the sensor viewing angles pixel by pixel. The Rational Function Model (RFM) is already widely used in high-resolution satellite imagery, and, thus, a method is proposed for calculating the sensor viewing angles based on the space-vector information for the observed light implied in the RFM. This method can calculate independently the sensor-viewing angles in a pixel-by-pixel fashion, regardless of the specific form of the geometric model, even for geometrically corrected imageries. The experiments reveal that the calculated values differ by approximately 10−40 for the Gaofen-1 (GF-1) Wide-Field-View-1 (WFV-1) sensor, and by ~10−70 for the Ziyuan-3 (ZY3-02) panchromatic nadir (NAD) sensor when compared to the values that are calculated using the Rigorous Sensor Model (RSM), and the discrepancy is analyzed. Generally, the viewing angles for each pixel in imagery are calculated accurately with the proposed method. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Remote Sensing Image Processing)
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20 pages, 2388 KiB  
Article
Climate Extremes and Their Impacts on Interannual Vegetation Variabilities: A Case Study in Hubei Province of Central China
by Weizhe Chen, Chunju Huang, Lunche Wang and Dongmei Li
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 477; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030477 - 19 Mar 2018
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 5839
Abstract
As the frequency and intensity of climate extremes are likely to be substantially modified in upcoming decades due to climate warming, an evaluation of the response of interannual vegetation variabilities to climate extremes is imperative. This study comprehensively analyzed the spatio-temporal variabilities of [...] Read more.
As the frequency and intensity of climate extremes are likely to be substantially modified in upcoming decades due to climate warming, an evaluation of the response of interannual vegetation variabilities to climate extremes is imperative. This study comprehensively analyzed the spatio-temporal variabilities of 21 temperature and precipitation indices across Hubei Province in Central China based on daily meteorological records for the period 1961–2015. To quantify the sensitivity of the vegetation to climate indices in the study area, we correlated climate indices with three vegetation indicators: leaf area index, normalized difference vegetation index, and gross primary productivity. The results indicated that warm-related indices exerted considerable increasing trends, especially for summer days at a rate of 0.35 days year−1 (p < 0.01). In addition, the trends of 18 indices during 1982–2015 were larger than those during 1961–2015, indicating accelerated climate changes in Hubei Province. Spatially, extreme precipitation showed increases in the eastern regions of the study area and decreases in the western regions. Correlation analyses revealed that warm anomalies of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation resulted in extreme warm conditions and extreme precipitation in the study area. Stepwise linear regression analyses identified three temperature indices and three precipitation indices, which were mostly correlated with the three ecosystem variables at the site scale. Further multiple regressions demonstrated the main negative impacts caused by frost days, warm spell duration, extremely heavy precipitation, and consecutive dry days on the terrestrial ecosystem in Hubei Province. Our study provides an improved understanding of the effects of climate extremes on terrestrial ecosystems and can also offer a basis for the management of mitigating damage from climate extremes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Remote Sensing in Agriculture and Vegetation)
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13 pages, 7457 KiB  
Article
IMF-Slices for GPR Data Processing Using Variational Mode Decomposition Method
by Xuebing Zhang, Enhedelihai Nilot, Xuan Feng, Qianci Ren and Zhijia Zhang
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 476; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030476 - 19 Mar 2018
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 4595
Abstract
Using traditional time-frequency analysis methods, it is possible to delineate the time-frequency structures of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data. A series of applications based on time-frequency analysis were proposed for the GPR data processing and imaging. With respect to signal processing, GPR data are [...] Read more.
Using traditional time-frequency analysis methods, it is possible to delineate the time-frequency structures of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data. A series of applications based on time-frequency analysis were proposed for the GPR data processing and imaging. With respect to signal processing, GPR data are typically non-stationary, which limits the applications of these methods moving forward. Empirical mode decomposition (EMD) provides alternative solutions with a fresh perspective. With EMD, GPR data are decomposed into a set of sub-components, i.e., the intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). However, the mode-mixing effect may also bring some negatives. To utilize the IMFs’ benefits, and avoid the negatives of the EMD, we introduce a new decomposition scheme termed variational mode decomposition (VMD) for GPR data processing for imaging. Based on the decomposition results of the VMD, we propose a new method which we refer as “the IMF-slice”. In the proposed method, the IMFs are generated by the VMD trace by trace, and then each IMF is sorted and recorded into different profiles (i.e., the IMF-slices) according to its center frequency. Using IMF-slices, the GPR data can be divided into several IMF-slices, each of which delineates a main vibration mode, and some subsurface layers and geophysical events can be identified more clearly. The effectiveness of the proposed method is tested using synthetic benchmark signals, laboratory data and the field dataset. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in GPR Imaging)
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17 pages, 2424 KiB  
Article
Global Validation of MODIS C6 and C6.1 Merged Aerosol Products over Diverse Vegetated Surfaces
by Muhammad Bilal, Majid Nazeer, Zhongfeng Qiu, Xiaoli Ding and Jing Wei
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 475; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030475 - 19 Mar 2018
Cited by 56 | Viewed by 5858
Abstract
In this study, the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Collections 6 and 6.1 merged Dark Target (DT) and Deep Blue (DB) aerosol products (DTBC6 and DTBC6.1) at 0.55 µm were validated from 2004–2014 against Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) Version 2 [...] Read more.
In this study, the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Collections 6 and 6.1 merged Dark Target (DT) and Deep Blue (DB) aerosol products (DTBC6 and DTBC6.1) at 0.55 µm were validated from 2004–2014 against Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) Version 2 Level 2.0 AOD obtained from 68 global sites located over diverse vegetated surfaces. These surfaces were categorized by static values of monthly Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) observations obtained for the same time period from the MODIS level-3 monthly NDVI product (MOD13A3), i.e., partially/non–vegetated (NDVIP ≤ 0.3), moderately–vegetated (0.3 < NDVIM ≤ 0.5) and densely–vegetated (NDVID > 0.5) surfaces. The DTBC6 and DTBC6.1 AOD products are accomplished by the NDVI criteria: (i) use the DT AOD retrievals for NDVI > 0.3, (ii) use the DB AOD retrievals for NDVI < 0.2, and (iii) use an average of the DT and DB AOD retrievals or the available one with highest quality assurance flag (DT: QAF = 3; DB: QAF ≥ 2) for 0.2 ≤ NDVI ≤ 0.3. For comparison purpose, the DTBSMS AOD retrievals were included which were accomplished using the Simplified Merge Scheme, i.e., use an average of the DTC6.1 and DBC6.1 AOD retrievals or the available one for all the NDVI values. For NDVIP surfaces, results showed that the DTBC6 and DTBC6.1 AOD retrievals performed poorly over North and South America in terms of the agreement with AERONET AOD, and over Asian region in terms of retrievals quality as the small percentage of AOD retrievals were within the expected error (EE = ± (0.05 + 0.15 × AOD). For NDVIM surfaces, retrieval errors and poor quality in DTBC6 and DTBC6.1 were observed for Asian, North American and South American sites, whereas good performance, was observed for European and African sites. For NDVID surfaces, DTBC6 does not perform well over the Asian and North American sites, although it contains retrievals only from the DT algorithm which was developed for dark surfaces. Overall, the performance of the DTBC6.1 AOD retrievals was significantly improved compared to the DTBC6, but still more improvements are required over NDVIP, NDVIM and NDVID surfaces of Asia, NDVIM and NDVID surfaces of North America, and NDVIM surfaces of South America. The performance of the DTBSMS retrievals was better than the DTBC6 and DTBC6.1 retrievals with 11–13% (31%) greater number of coincident observations, 6–9% (14–22%) greater percentage of retrievals within the EE, and 30–100% (46–100%) smaller relative mean bias compared to the DTBC6.1 (DTBC6) at a global scale. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Atmospheric Remote Sensing)
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19 pages, 4438 KiB  
Article
Evaluating Eight Global Reanalysis Products for Atmospheric Correction of Thermal Infrared Sensor—Application to Landsat 8 TIRS10 Data
by Xiangchen Meng and Jie Cheng
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 474; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030474 - 19 Mar 2018
Cited by 33 | Viewed by 6455
Abstract
Global reanalysis products have been widely used for correcting the atmospheric effects of thermal infrared data, but their performances have not been comprehensively evaluated. In this paper, we evaluate eight global reanalysis products (NCEP/FNL; NCEP/DOE Reanalysis2; MERRA-3; MERRA-6; MERRA2-3; MERRA2-6; JRA-55; and ERA-Interim) [...] Read more.
Global reanalysis products have been widely used for correcting the atmospheric effects of thermal infrared data, but their performances have not been comprehensively evaluated. In this paper, we evaluate eight global reanalysis products (NCEP/FNL; NCEP/DOE Reanalysis2; MERRA-3; MERRA-6; MERRA2-3; MERRA2-6; JRA-55; and ERA-Interim) commonly used in the atmospheric correction of Landsat 8 TIRS10 data by referencing global radiosonde observations collected from 163 stations. The atmospheric parameters (atmospheric transmittance, upward radiance, and downward radiance) simulated with MERRA-6 and ERA-Interim were accurate than those simulated with other reanalysis products for different water vapor contents and surface elevations. When global reanalysis products were applied to retrieve land surface temperature (LST) from simulated Landsat 8 TIRS10 data, ERA-Interim and MERRA-6 were accurate than other reanalysis products. The overall LST biases and RMSEs between the retrieved LSTs and LSTs that were used to generate the top-of-atmosphere radiances were less than 0.2 K and 1.09 K, respectively. When eight reanalysis products were used to estimate LSTs from thirty-two Landsat 8 TIRS10 images covering the Heihe River basin in China, the various reanalysis products showed similar validation accuracies for LSTs with low water vapor contents. The biases ranged from 0.07 K to 0.24 K, and the STDs (RMSEs) ranged from 1.93 K (1.93 K) to 2.02 K (2.04 K). Considering the above evaluation results, MERRA-6 and ERA-Interim are recommended for thermal infrared data atmospheric corrections. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Land Surface Temperature (LST) Estimation, Generation, and Analysis)
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21 pages, 3340 KiB  
Article
Urban Built-Up Area Boundary Extraction and Spatial-Temporal Characteristics Based on Land Surface Temperature Retrieval
by Lin Wang, Jianghong Zhu, Yanqing Xu and Zhanqi Wang
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 473; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030473 - 17 Mar 2018
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 6122
Abstract
The analysis of the spatial and temporal characteristics of urban built-up area is conducive to the rational formulation of urban land use strategy, scientific planning and rational distribution of modern urban development. Based on the remote sensing data in four separate years (1999, [...] Read more.
The analysis of the spatial and temporal characteristics of urban built-up area is conducive to the rational formulation of urban land use strategy, scientific planning and rational distribution of modern urban development. Based on the remote sensing data in four separate years (1999, 2004, 2010 and 2014), this research identified and inspected the urban built-up area boundary based on the temperature retrieval method. Combined with the second land investigation data and Google map data in Jingzhou, this paper used the qualitative and quantitative analysis methods to analyze the spatial-temporal characteristics of Jingzhou urban built-up area expansion over the past 15 years. The analysis shows that the entire spatial form of the urban built-up area has been evolving towards a compact and orderly state. On this basis, the urban area-population elasticity coefficient and algometric growth model were used to determine the reasonability of the urban sprawl. The results show that the expansion of built-up area in Jingzhou is not keeping up with the speed of population growth. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Remote Sensing Image Processing)
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19 pages, 6621 KiB  
Article
Post-Processing Approach for Refining Raw Land Cover Change Detection of Very High-Resolution Remote Sensing Images
by Zhiyong Lv, Tongfei Liu, Yiliang Wan, Jón Atli Benediktsson and Xiaokang Zhang
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 472; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030472 - 17 Mar 2018
Cited by 46 | Viewed by 8749
Abstract
In recent decades, land cover change detection (LCCD) using very high-spatial resolution (VHR) remote sensing images has been a major research topic. However, VHR remote sensing images usually lead to a large amount of noises in spectra, thereby reducing the reliability of the [...] Read more.
In recent decades, land cover change detection (LCCD) using very high-spatial resolution (VHR) remote sensing images has been a major research topic. However, VHR remote sensing images usually lead to a large amount of noises in spectra, thereby reducing the reliability of the detected results. To solve this problem, this study proposes an object-based expectation maximization (OBEM) post-processing approach for enhancing raw LCCD results. OBEM defines a refinement of the labeling in a detected map to enhance its raw detection accuracies. Current mainstream change detection (preprocessing) techniques concentrate on proposing a change magnitude measurement or considering image spatial features to obtain a change detection map. The proposed OBEM approach is a new solution to enhance change detection accuracy by refining the raw result. Post-processing approaches can achieve competitive accuracies to the preprocessing methods, but in a direct and succinct manner. The proposed OBEM post-processing method synthetically considers multi-scale segmentation and expectation maximum algorithms to refine the raw change detection result. Then, the influence of the scale of segmentation on the LCCD accuracy of the proposed OBEM is investigated. Four pairs of remote sensing images, one of two pairs (aerial image with 0.5 m/pixel resolution) which depict two landslide sites on Landtau Island, Hong Kong, China, are used in the experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. In addition, the proposed approach is applied, and validated by two case studies, LCCD in Tianjin City China (SPOT-5 satellite image with 2.5 m/pixel resolution) and Mexico forest fire case (Landsat TM images with 30 m/pixel resolution), respectively. Quantitative evaluations show that the proposed OBEM post-processing approach can achieve better performance and higher accuracies than several commonly used preprocessing methods. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this type of post-processing framework is first proposed here for the field of LCCD using VHR remote sensing images. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis of Multi-temporal Remote Sensing Images)
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23 pages, 4262 KiB  
Article
Long-Term Annual Mapping of Four Cities on Different Continents by Applying a Deep Information Learning Method to Landsat Data
by Haobo Lyu, Hui Lu, Lichao Mou, Wenyu Li, Jonathon Wright, Xuecao Li, Xinlu Li, Xiao Xiang Zhu, Jie Wang, Le Yu and Peng Gong
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 471; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030471 - 17 Mar 2018
Cited by 62 | Viewed by 8716
Abstract
Urbanization is a substantial contributor to anthropogenic environmental change, and often occurs at a rapid pace that demands frequent and accurate monitoring. Time series of satellite imagery collected at fine spatial resolution using stable spectral bands over decades are most desirable for this [...] Read more.
Urbanization is a substantial contributor to anthropogenic environmental change, and often occurs at a rapid pace that demands frequent and accurate monitoring. Time series of satellite imagery collected at fine spatial resolution using stable spectral bands over decades are most desirable for this purpose. In practice, however, temporal spectral variance arising from variations in atmospheric conditions, sensor calibration, cloud cover, and other factors complicates extraction of consistent information on changes in urban land cover. Moreover, the construction and application of effective training samples is time-consuming, especially at continental and global scales. Here, we propose a new framework for satellite-based mapping of urban areas based on transfer learning and deep learning techniques. We apply this method to Landsat observations collected during 1984–2016 and extract annual records of urban areas in four cities in the temperate zone (Beijing, New York, Melbourne, and Munich). The method is trained using observations of Beijing collected in 1999, and then used to map urban areas in all target cities for the entire 1984–2016 period. The method addresses two central challenges in long term detection of urban change: temporal spectral variance and a scarcity of training samples. First, we use a recurrent neural network to minimize seasonal urban spectral variance. Second, we introduce an automated transfer strategy to maximize information gain from limited training samples when applied to new target cities in similar climate zones. Compared with other state-of-the-art methods, our method achieved comparable or even better accuracy: the average change detection accuracy during 1984–2016 is 89% for Beijing, 94% for New York, 93% for Melbourne, and 89% for Munich, and the overall accuracy of single-year urban maps is approximately 96 ± 3% among the four target cities. The results demonstrate the practical potential and suitability of the proposed framework. The method is a promising tool for detecting urban change in massive remote sensing data sets with limited training data. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Deep Learning for Remote Sensing)
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16 pages, 2277 KiB  
Article
Sea Level Estimation Based on GNSS Dual-Frequency Carrier Phase Linear Combinations and SNR
by Nazi Wang, Tianhe Xu, Fan Gao and Guochang Xu
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 470; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030470 - 16 Mar 2018
Cited by 35 | Viewed by 7665
Abstract
Ground-based GNSS-R (global navigation satellite system reflectometry) can provide the absolute vertical distance from a GNSS antenna to the reflective surface of the ocean in a common height reference frame, given that vertical crustal motion at a GNSS station can be determined using [...] Read more.
Ground-based GNSS-R (global navigation satellite system reflectometry) can provide the absolute vertical distance from a GNSS antenna to the reflective surface of the ocean in a common height reference frame, given that vertical crustal motion at a GNSS station can be determined using direct GNSS signals. This technique offers the advantage of enabling ground-based sea level measurements to be more accurately determined compared with traditional tide gauges. Sea level changes can be retrieved from multipath effects on GNSS, which is caused by interference of the GNSS L-band microwave signals (directly from satellites) with reflections from the environment that occur before reaching the antenna. Most of the GNSS observation types, such as pseudo-range, carrier-phase and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), suffer from this multipath effect. In this paper, sea level altimetry determinations are presented for the first time based on geometry-free linear combinations of the carrier phase at low elevation angles from a fixed global positioning system (GPS) station. The precision of the altimetry solutions are similar to those derived from GNSS SNR data. There are different types of observation and reflector height retrieval methods used in the data processing, and to analyze the performance of the different methods, five sea level determination strategies are adopted. The solutions from the five strategies are compared with tide gauge measurements near the GPS station, and the results show that sea level changes determined from GPS SNR and carrier phase combinations for the five strategies show good agreement (correlation coefficient of 0.97–0.98 and root-mean-square error values of <0.2 m). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Constellation Global Navigation Satellite Systems: Methods and Applications)
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3 pages, 189 KiB  
Addendum
Addendum: Hochstaffl, P. et al. Validation of Carbon Monoxide Total Columns from SCIAMACHY with NDACC/TCCON Ground-Based Measurements. Remote Sens. 2018, 10, 223
by Philipp Hochstaffl, Franz Schreier, Günter Lichtenberg and Sebastian Gimeno García
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 469; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030469 - 16 Mar 2018
Viewed by 3437
Abstract
It was brought to our attention that, due to a recent change of the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) Data Use Policy, citation of the individual TCCON dataset references used in the publication published in Remote Sensing [1] is now mandatory.[...] Full article
18 pages, 4302 KiB  
Article
The Spatiotemporal Response of Soil Moisture to Precipitation and Temperature Changes in an Arid Region, China
by Yunqian Wang, Jing Yang, Yaning Chen, Anqian Wang and Philippe De Maeyer
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 468; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030468 - 16 Mar 2018
Cited by 62 | Viewed by 6907
Abstract
Soil moisture plays a crucial role in the hydrological cycle and climate system. The reliable estimation of soil moisture in space and time is important to monitor and even predict hydrological and meteorological disasters. Here we studied the spatiotemporal variations of soil moisture [...] Read more.
Soil moisture plays a crucial role in the hydrological cycle and climate system. The reliable estimation of soil moisture in space and time is important to monitor and even predict hydrological and meteorological disasters. Here we studied the spatiotemporal variations of soil moisture and explored the effects of precipitation and temperature on soil moisture in different land cover types within the Tarim River Basin from 2001 to 2015, based on high-spatial-resolution soil moisture data downscaled from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) soil moisture data. The results show that the spatial average soil moisture increased slightly from 2001 to 2015, and the soil moisture variation in summer contributed most to regional soil moisture change. For the land cover, the highest soil moisture occurred in the forest and the lowest value was found in bare land, and soil moisture showed significant increasing trends in grassland and bare land during 2001~2015. Both partial correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis demonstrate that in the study area precipitation had positive effects on soil moisture, while temperature had negative effects, and precipitation made greater contributions to soil moisture variations than temperature. The results of this study can be used for decision making for water management and allocation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Retrieval, Validation and Application of Satellite Soil Moisture Data)
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15 pages, 3238 KiB  
Article
Potential of Combining Optical and Dual Polarimetric SAR Data for Improving Mangrove Species Discrimination Using Rotation Forest
by Hongsheng Zhang, Ting Wang, Mingfeng Liu, Mingming Jia, Hui Lin, LM Chu and Adam Thomas Devlin
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 467; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030467 - 16 Mar 2018
Cited by 66 | Viewed by 7481
Abstract
Classification of mangrove species using satellite images is important for investigating the spatial distribution of mangroves at community and species levels on local, regional and global scales. Hence, studies of mangrove deforestation and reforestation are imperative to support the conservation of mangrove forests. [...] Read more.
Classification of mangrove species using satellite images is important for investigating the spatial distribution of mangroves at community and species levels on local, regional and global scales. Hence, studies of mangrove deforestation and reforestation are imperative to support the conservation of mangrove forests. However, accurate discrimination of mangrove species remains challenging due to many factors such as data resolution, species number and spectral confusion between species. In this study, three different combinations of datasets were designed from Worldview-3 and Radarsat-2 data to classify four mangrove species, Kandelia obovate (KO), Avicennia marina (AM), Acanthus ilicifolius (AI) and Aegiceras corniculatum (AC). Then, the Rotation Forest (RoF) method was employed to classify the four mangrove species. Results indicated the benefits of dual polarimetric SAR data with an improvement of accuracy by 2–3%, which can be useful for more accurate large-scale mapping of mangrove species. Moreover, the difficulty of classifying different mangrove species, in order of increasing difficulty, was identified as KO < AM < AI < AC. Dual polarimetric SAR data are recognized to improve the classification of AI and AC species. Although this improvement is not remarkable, it is consistent for all three methods. The improvement can be particularly important for large-scale mapping of mangrove forest at the species level. These findings also provide useful guidance for future studies using multi-source satellite data for mangrove monitoring and conservation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Forest Remote Sensing)
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24 pages, 5337 KiB  
Article
Coherent Focused Lidars for Doppler Sensing of Aerosols and Wind
by Chris Hill
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 466; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030466 - 16 Mar 2018
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 7245
Abstract
Many coherent lidars are used today with aerosol targets for detailed studies of e.g., local wind speed and turbulence. Fibre-optic lidars operating near 1.5 μm dominate the wind energy market, with hundreds now installed worldwide. Here, we review some of the beam/target physics [...] Read more.
Many coherent lidars are used today with aerosol targets for detailed studies of e.g., local wind speed and turbulence. Fibre-optic lidars operating near 1.5 μm dominate the wind energy market, with hundreds now installed worldwide. Here, we review some of the beam/target physics for these lidars and discuss practical problems. In a monostatic Doppler lidar with matched local oscillator and transmit beams, focusing of the beam gives rise to a spatial sensitivity along the beam direction that depends on the inverse of beam area; for Gaussian beams, this sensitivity follows a Lorentzian function. At short range, the associated probe volume can be extremely small and contain very few scatterers; we describe predictions and simulations for few-scatterer and multi-scatterer sensing. We review the single-particle mode (SPM) and volume mode (VM) modelling of Frehlich et al. and some numerical modelling of lidar detector time series and statistics. Interesting behaviour may be observed from a modern coherent lidar used at short ranges (e.g., in a wind tunnel) and/or with weak aerosol seeding. We also review some problems (and solutions) for Doppler-sign-insensitive lidars. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Conditions for Wind Energy Applications)
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14 pages, 30158 KiB  
Article
Delineating Spatial Patterns in Human Settlements Using VIIRS Nighttime Light Data: A Watershed-Based Partition Approach
by Ting Ma, Zhan Yin and Alicia Zhou
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 465; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030465 - 15 Mar 2018
Cited by 28 | Viewed by 6705
Abstract
As an informative proxy measure for a range of urbanization and socioeconomic variables, satellite-derived nighttime light data have been widely used to investigate diverse anthropogenic activities in human settlements over time and space from the regional to the national scale. With a higher [...] Read more.
As an informative proxy measure for a range of urbanization and socioeconomic variables, satellite-derived nighttime light data have been widely used to investigate diverse anthropogenic activities in human settlements over time and space from the regional to the national scale. With a higher spatial resolution and fewer over-glow and saturation effects, nighttime light data derived from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument with day/night band (DNB), which is on the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership satellite (Suomi-NPP), may further improve our understanding of spatiotemporal dynamics and socioeconomic activities, particularly at the local scale. Capturing and identifying spatial patterns in human settlements from VIIRS images, however, is still challenging due to the lack of spatially explicit texture characteristics, which are usually crucial for general image classification methods. In this study, we propose a watershed-based partition approach by combining a second order exponential decay model for the spatial delineation of human settlements with VIIRS-derived nighttime light images. Our method spatially partitions the human settlement into five different types of sub-regions: high, medium-high, medium, medium-low and low lighting areas with different degrees of human activity. This is primarily based on the local coverage of locally maximum radiance signals (watershed-based) and the rank and magnitude of the nocturnal radiance signal across the whole region, as well as remotely sensed building density data and social media-derived human activity information. The comparison results for the relationship between sub-regions with various density nighttime brightness levels and human activities, as well as the densities of different types of interest points (POIs), show that our method can distinctly identify various degrees of human activity based on artificial nighttime radiance and ancillary data. Furthermore, the analysis results across 99 cities in 10 urban agglomerations in China reveal inter-regional variations in partition thresholds and human settlement patterns related to the urban size and form. Our partition method and relative results can provide insight into the further application of VIIRS DNB nighttime light data in spatially delineated urbanization processes and socioeconomic activities in human settlements. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Night Lights – Beyond DMSP)
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23 pages, 14148 KiB  
Article
Unified Partial Configuration Model Framework for Fast Partially Occluded Object Detection in High-Resolution Remote Sensing Images
by Shaohua Qiu, Gongjian Wen, Jia Liu, Zhipeng Deng and Yaxiang Fan
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 464; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030464 - 15 Mar 2018
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 5066
Abstract
Partially occluded object detection (POOD) has been an important task for both civil and military applications that use high-resolution remote sensing images (HR-RSIs). This topic is very challenging due to the limited object evidence for detection. Recent partial configuration model (PCM) based methods [...] Read more.
Partially occluded object detection (POOD) has been an important task for both civil and military applications that use high-resolution remote sensing images (HR-RSIs). This topic is very challenging due to the limited object evidence for detection. Recent partial configuration model (PCM) based methods deal with occlusion yet suffer from the problems of massive manual annotation, separate parameter learning, and low training and detection efficiency. To tackle this, a unified PCM framework (UniPCM) is proposed in this paper. The proposed UniPCM adopts a part sharing mechanism which directly shares the root and part filters of a deformable part-based model (DPM) among different partial configurations. It largely reduces the convolution overhead during both training and detection. In UniPCM, a novel DPM deformation deviation method is proposed for spatial interrelationship estimation of PCM, and a unified weights learning method is presented to simultaneously obtain the weights of elements within each partial configuration and the weights between partial configurations. Experiments on three HR-RSI datasets show that the proposed UniPCM method achieves a much higher training and detection efficiency for POOD compared with state-of-the-art PCM-based methods, while maintaining a comparable detection accuracy. UniPCM obtains a training speedup of maximal 10× and 2.5× for airplane and ship, and a detection speedup of maximal 7.2×, 4.1× and 2.5× on three test sets, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis of Multi-temporal Remote Sensing Images)
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13 pages, 1038 KiB  
Technical Note
A New MODIS C6 Dark Target and Deep Blue Merged Aerosol Product on a 3 km Spatial Grid
by Muhammad Bilal, Zhongfeng Qiu, James R. Campbell, Scott N. Spak, Xiaojing Shen and Majid Nazeer
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 463; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030463 - 15 Mar 2018
Cited by 52 | Viewed by 7473
Abstract
In Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Collection (C6) aerosol products, the Dark Target (DT) and Deep Blue (DB) algorithms provide aerosol optical depth (AOD) observations at 3 km (DT3K) and 10 km (DT10K), and at 10 km resolution (DB [...] Read more.
In Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Collection (C6) aerosol products, the Dark Target (DT) and Deep Blue (DB) algorithms provide aerosol optical depth (AOD) observations at 3 km (DT3K) and 10 km (DT10K), and at 10 km resolution (DB10K), respectively. In this study, the DB10K is resampled to 3 km grid (DB3K) using the nearest neighbor interpolation technique and merged with DT3K to generate a new DT and DB merged aerosol product (DTB3K) on a 3 km grid using Simplified Merge Scheme (SMS). The goal is to supplement DB10K with high-resolution information over dense vegetation regions where DT3K is susceptible to error. SMS is defined as “an average of the DT3K and DB3K AOD retrievals or the available one with the highest quality flag”. The DT3K and DTB3K AOD retrievals are validated from 2008 to 2012 against cloud-screened and quality-assured AOD from 19 AERONET sites located in Europe. Results show that the percentage of DTB3K retrievals within the expected error (EE = ± (0.05 + 20%)) and data counts are increased by 40% and 11%, respectively, and the root mean square error and the mean bias are decreased by 26% and 54%, respectively, compared to the DT3K retrievals. These results suggest that the DTB3K product is a robust improvement over DT3K alone, and can be used operationally for air quality and climate-related studies as a high-resolution supplement to the current MODIS product suite. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Atmospheric Remote Sensing)
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21 pages, 38333 KiB  
Article
Ground Deformations around the Toktogul Reservoir, Kyrgyzstan, from Envisat ASAR and Sentinel-1 Data—A Case Study about the Impact of Atmospheric Corrections on InSAR Time Series
by Julia Neelmeijer, Tilo Schöne, Robert Dill, Volker Klemann and Mahdi Motagh
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 462; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030462 - 15 Mar 2018
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 7014
Abstract
We present ground deformations in response to water level variations at the Toktogul Reservoir, located in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia. Ground deformations were measured by Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) and Sentinel-1 Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) imagery covering the time periods [...] Read more.
We present ground deformations in response to water level variations at the Toktogul Reservoir, located in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia. Ground deformations were measured by Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) and Sentinel-1 Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) imagery covering the time periods 2004–2009 and 2014–2016, respectively. The net reservoir water level, as measured by satellite radar altimetry, decreased approximately 60 m (∼13.5 km3) from 2004–2009, whereas, for 2014–2016, the net water level increased by approximately 51 m (∼11.2 km3). The individual Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) interferograms were heavily influenced by atmospheric effects that needed to be minimized prior to the time-series analysis. We tested several approaches including corrections based on global numerical weather model data, such as the European Centre for Medium-RangeWeather Forecasts (ECMWF) operational forecast data, the ERA-5 reanalysis, and the ERA-Interim reanalysis, as well as phase-based methods, such as calculating a simple linear dependency on the elevation or the more sophisticated power-law approach. Our findings suggest that, for the high-mountain Toktogul area, the power-law correction performs the best. Envisat descending time series for the period of water recession reveal mean line-of-sight (LOS) uplift rates of 7.8 mm/yr on the northern shore of the Toktogul Reservoir close to the Toktogul city area. For the same area, Sentinel-1 ascending and descending time series consistently show a subsidence behaviour due to the replenishing of the water reservoir, which includes intra-annual LOS variations on the order of 30mm. A decomposition of the LOS deformation rates of both Sentinel-1 orbits revealed mean vertical subsidence rates of 25 mm/yr for the common time period of March 2015–November 2016, which is in very good agreement with the results derived from elastic modelling based on the TEA12 Earth model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in SAR: Sensors, Methodologies, and Applications)
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22 pages, 10384 KiB  
Article
Data Field-Based K-Means Clustering for Spatio-Temporal Seismicity Analysis and Hazard Assessment
by Xueyi Shang, Xibing Li, Antonio Morales-Esteban, Gualberto Asencio-Cortés and Zewei Wang
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 461; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030461 - 15 Mar 2018
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 7127
Abstract
Microseismic sensing taking advantage of sensors can remotely monitor seismic activities and evaluate seismic hazard. Compared with experts’ seismic event clusters, clustering algorithms are more objective, and they can handle many seismic events. Many methods have been proposed for seismic event clustering and [...] Read more.
Microseismic sensing taking advantage of sensors can remotely monitor seismic activities and evaluate seismic hazard. Compared with experts’ seismic event clusters, clustering algorithms are more objective, and they can handle many seismic events. Many methods have been proposed for seismic event clustering and the K-means clustering technique has become the most famous one. However, K-means can be affected by noise events (large location error events) and initial cluster centers. In this paper, a data field-based K-means clustering methodology is proposed for seismicity analysis. The application of synthetic data and real seismic data have shown its effectiveness in removing noise events as well as finding good initial cluster centers. Furthermore, we introduced the time parameter into the K-means clustering process and applied it to seismic events obtained from the Chinese Yongshaba mine. The results show that the time-event location distance and data field-based K-means clustering can divide seismic events by both space and time, which provides a new insight for seismicity analysis compared with event location distance and data field-based K-means clustering. The Krzanowski-Lai (KL) index obtains a maximum value when the number of clusters is five: the energy index (EI) shows that clusters C1, C3 and C5 have very critical periods. In conclusion, the time-event location distance, and the data field-based K-means clustering can provide an effective methodology for seismicity analysis and hazard assessment. In addition, further study can be done by considering time-event location-magnitude distances. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics in Remote Sensing for Natural Hazards Management)
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17 pages, 7066 KiB  
Article
Using Landsat Spectral Indices in Time-Series to Assess Wildfire Disturbance and Recovery
by Samuel Hislop, Simon Jones, Mariela Soto-Berelov, Andrew Skidmore, Andrew Haywood and Trung H. Nguyen
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 460; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030460 - 15 Mar 2018
Cited by 114 | Viewed by 12785
Abstract
Satellite earth observation is being increasingly used to monitor forests across the world. Freely available Landsat data stretching back four decades, coupled with advances in computer processing capabilities, has enabled new time-series techniques for analyzing forest change. Typically, these methods track individual pixel [...] Read more.
Satellite earth observation is being increasingly used to monitor forests across the world. Freely available Landsat data stretching back four decades, coupled with advances in computer processing capabilities, has enabled new time-series techniques for analyzing forest change. Typically, these methods track individual pixel values over time, through the use of various spectral indices. This study examines the utility of eight spectral indices for characterizing fire disturbance and recovery in sclerophyll forests, in order to determine their relative merits in the context of Landsat time-series. Although existing research into Landsat indices is comprehensive, this study presents a new approach, by comparing the distributions of pre and post-fire pixels using Glass’s delta, for evaluating indices without the need of detailed field information. Our results show that in the sclerophyll forests of southeast Australia, common indices, such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR), both accurately capture wildfire disturbance in a pixel-based time-series approach, especially if images from soon after the disturbance are available. However, for tracking forest regrowth and recovery, indices, such as NDVI, which typically capture chlorophyll concentration or canopy ‘greenness’, are not as reliable, with values returning to pre-fire levels in 3–5 years. In comparison, indices that are more sensitive to forest moisture and structure, such as NBR, indicate much longer (8–10 years) recovery timeframes. This finding is consistent with studies that were conducted in other forest types. We also demonstrate that additional information regarding forest condition, particularly in relation to recovery, can be extracted from less well known indices, such as NBR2, as well as textural indices incorporating spatial variance. With Landsat time-series gaining in popularity in recent years, it is critical to understand the advantages and limitations of the various indices that these methods rely on. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Forest Remote Sensing)
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16 pages, 8570 KiB  
Article
Proof of Feasibility of the Sea State Monitoring from Data Collected in Medium Pulse Mode by a X-Band Wave Radar System
by Giovanni Ludeno, Francesco Raffa, Francesco Soldovieri and Francesco Serafino
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 459; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030459 - 15 Mar 2018
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4057
Abstract
X-band marine radars can be exploited to estimate the sea state parameters and surface current. However, to pursue this aim, they are set in such a way as to radiate a very short pulse to exploit the maximum spatial resolution. However, this condition [...] Read more.
X-band marine radars can be exploited to estimate the sea state parameters and surface current. However, to pursue this aim, they are set in such a way as to radiate a very short pulse to exploit the maximum spatial resolution. However, this condition strongly limits the use of radar as an anti-collision system during navigation. Consequently, a continuous change of radar scale is needed to perform both the operations of waves and current estimations and target tracking activities. The goal of this manuscript is to investigate the possibility of using marine radar working in a medium pulse mode to estimate the sea state parameters and surface current, while assuring suitable anti-collision performance. Specifically, we compare the capabilities of the X-band radar for sea state monitoring when it works in short and medium pulse modes and we present the results of a comparison based on data collected during two experimental campaigns. The provided results show that there is good agreement about the estimation of wave parameters and the surface current field that make us hopeful that, in principle, it is possible to use the medium pulse mode to achieve information about sea state with a reasonable degradation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ocean Surface Currents: Progress in Remote Sensing and Validation)
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