Remote Sensing

25 pages, 26481 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Potential Applications of CE-2 Microwave Radiometer Data in Understanding Basaltic Volcanism in Heavily Ejecta-Contaminated Mare Frigoris

by Jietao Lei, Zhiguo Meng, Yongzhi Wang, Shaopeng Huang, Jinsong Ping, Zhanchuan Cai and Yuanzhi Zhang

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2725; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112725 - 6 Jun 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2129

Abstract

Mare Frigoris is the fifth largest and almost northernmost mare located on the near side of the Moon. Mare Frigoris has an elongated shape, with a length of approximately 1500 km and a width of approximately 200 km, which makes it susceptible to [...] Read more.

Mare Frigoris is the fifth largest and almost northernmost mare located on the near side of the Moon. Mare Frigoris has an elongated shape, with a length of approximately 1500 km and a width of approximately 200 km, which makes it susceptible to becoming contaminated by the impact ejecta from the nearby highlands. Comparatively speaking, microwave radiometer (MRM) data have good penetration capabilities. Therefore, the MRM data from Chang’e-2 satellite were employed to study the volumetric thermal emission features of basaltic deposits in Mare Frigoris. Combining the MRM data with the basaltic units with FeO and TiO₂ abundances identified using the small crater rim and ejecta probing (SCREP) methodology and with the gravity from Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL), the four potential conclusions that were obtained are as follows: (1) The MRM data are strongly related to the (FeO + TiO₂) abundance of pristine basalts and are less influenced by ejecta contamination; (2) in every quadrant of Mare Frigoris, the (FeO + TiO₂) abundance of the basalt decreases with an increase in age; (3) at least in Mare Frigoris, the main influencing factor regarding the brightness temperature remains the (FeO + TiO₂) abundance of surface deposits; (4) a warm microwave anomaly was revealed in the western-central and eastern-central areas of Mare Frigoris which has a strong relationship with the positive Bouguer gravity anomaly derived from GRAIL data in terms of spatial distribution. The results are significant in the context of improving our understanding the basaltic igneous rock and thermal evolution of the Moon using MRM data. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Planetary Geologic Mapping and Remote Sensing)

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15 pages, 3821 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Triple Collocation Analysis of Satellite Precipitation Estimates over Australia

by Ashley Wild, Zhi-Weng Chua and Yuriy Kuleshov

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2724; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112724 - 6 Jun 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2561

Abstract

The validation of precipitation estimates is necessary for the selection of the most appropriate dataset, as well as for having confidence in its selection. Traditional validation against gauges or radars is much less effective when the quality of these references (which are considered [...] Read more.

The validation of precipitation estimates is necessary for the selection of the most appropriate dataset, as well as for having confidence in its selection. Traditional validation against gauges or radars is much less effective when the quality of these references (which are considered the ‘truth’) degrades, such as in areas of poor coverage. In scenarios like this where the ‘truth’ is unreliable or unknown, triple collocation analysis (TCA) facilitates a relative ranking of independent datasets based on their similarity to each other. TCA has been successfully employed for precipitation error estimation in earlier studies, but a thorough evaluation of its effectiveness over Australia has not been completed before. This study assesses the use of TCA for precipitation verification over Australia using satellite datasets in combination with reanalysis data (ERA5) and rain gauge data (AGCD) on a monthly timescale from 2001 to 2020. Both the additive and multiplicative models for TCA are evaluated. These results are compared against the traditional verification method using gauge data and Multi-Source Weighted-Ensemble Precipitation (MSWEP) as references. AGCD (KGE = 0.861), CMORPH-BLD (0.835), CHIRPS (0.743), and GSMaP (0.708) were respectively found to have the highest KGE when compared to MSWEP. The ranking of the datasets, as well as the relative difference in performance amongst the datasets as derived from TCA, can largely be reconciled with the traditional verification methods, illustrating that TCA is a valid verification method for precipitation over Australia. Additionally, the additive model was less prone to outliers and provided a spatial pattern that was more consistent with the traditional methods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Urban Remote Sensing)

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11 pages, 1828 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Evapotranspiration Retrieval Using S-SEBI Model with Landsat-8 Split-Window Land Surface Temperature Products over Two European Agricultural Crops

by Vicente Garcia-Santos, Raquel Niclòs and Enric Valor

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2723; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112723 - 6 Jun 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2229

Abstract

Crop evapotranspiration (ET) is a key variable within the global hydrological cycle to account for the irrigation scheduling, water budgeting, and planning of the water resources associated with irrigation in croplands. Remote sensing techniques provide geophysical information at a large spatial scale and [...] Read more.

Crop evapotranspiration (ET) is a key variable within the global hydrological cycle to account for the irrigation scheduling, water budgeting, and planning of the water resources associated with irrigation in croplands. Remote sensing techniques provide geophysical information at a large spatial scale and over a relatively long time series, and even make possible the retrieval of ET at high spatiotemporal resolutions. The present short study analyzed the daily ET maps generated with the S-SEBI model, adapted to Landsat-8 retrieved land surface temperatures and broadband albedos, at two different crop sites for two consecutive years (2017–2018). Maps of land surface temperatures were determined using Landsat-8 Collection 2 data, after applying the split-window (SW) algorithm proposed for the operational SW product, which will be implemented in the future Collection 3. Preliminary results showed a good agreement with ground reference data for the main surface energy balance fluxes R_n and LE, and for daily ET values, with RMSEs around 50 W/m² and 0.9 mm/d, respectively, and high correlation coefficient (R² = 0.72–0.91). The acceptable uncertainties observed when comparing with local ground data were reaffirmed after the regional (spatial resolution of 9 km) comparison with reanalysis data obtained from ERA5-Land model, showing a StDev of 0.9 mm/d, RMSE = 1.1 mm/d, MAE = 0.9 mm/d, and MBE = −0.3 mm/d. This short communication tries to show some preliminary findings in the framework of the ongoing Tool4Extreme research project, in which one of the main objectives is the understanding and characterization of the hydrological cycle in the Mediterranean region, since it is key to improve the management of water resources in the context of climate change effects. Full article

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21 pages, 7852 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Research on Service Value and Adaptability Zoning of Grassland Ecosystem in Ethiopia

by Xiwang Zhang, Weiwei Zhu, Nana Yan, Panpan Wei, Yifan Zhao, Hao Zhao and Liang Zhu

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2722; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112722 - 6 Jun 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2221

Abstract

The evaluation of the ecosystem service value (ESV) and its regionalization toward coordinating ecological protection and socioeconomic development is of great significance. In this study, we developed a classification method based on the Random Forest algorithm and a feature optimization method to identify [...] Read more.

The evaluation of the ecosystem service value (ESV) and its regionalization toward coordinating ecological protection and socioeconomic development is of great significance. In this study, we developed a classification method based on the Random Forest algorithm and a feature optimization method to identify grassland types. Then, we proposed an approach to quantitatively evaluate the ESV of the grassland ecosystem in Ethiopia, in which net primary production derived from remote sensing was used to evaluate organic matter production value (ESV1), promoting nutrient circulation value (ESV2), and gas regulation value (ESV3), the RUSLE model was used to evaluate soil conservation value (ESV4), and cumulative rainfall was used to calculate water conservation value (ESV5). By integrating the mean ESV under various influencing factors, the zoning map of grassland ecosystem service value was obtained. Our study found that more fine grassland types can be well classified with the overall accuracy of 86.52%. And the classification results are the basis of the ESV analysis. The total ESV of grassland ecosystems was found to be USD 105,221.72 million, of which ESV4 was the highest, accounting for 44.09% of the total ESV. The spatial analysis of ESV showed that the differences were due to the impacts of grassland types, elevation, slope, and rainfall. It was found that the grassland is suitable to grow in the elevation zone between approximately 1000 and 2000 m, and the larger the slope and rainfall are, the greater the mean ESV is. The zoning map was used to conclude that the areas from approximately the fourth to sixth level (only 34.78% of the total grassland area, but 65.94% of the total ESV) have better growth status and development potential. The results provide references and bases to support the local coordination and planning of various grassland resources and form reasonable resource utilization and protection measures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Crop Parameters Quantitative Retrieval and Monitoring with Remote Sensing)

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23 pages, 7411 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment of the Consistency and Stability of CrIS Infrared Observations Using COSMIC-2 Radio Occultation Data over Ocean

by Yong Chen, Changyong Cao, Xi Shao and Shu-Peng Ho

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2721; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112721 - 6 Jun 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2308

Abstract

The accuracy of brightness temperature (BT) from the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) satellite and NOAA-20 is estimated using the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate 2 (COSMIC-2) radio occultation (RO) wet retrievals (temperature and [...] Read more.

The accuracy of brightness temperature (BT) from the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) satellite and NOAA-20 is estimated using the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate 2 (COSMIC-2) radio occultation (RO) wet retrievals (temperature and water vapor profiles) as input to the Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM). The matchup criteria between RO and CrIS observations are time less than 30 min, a distance less than 50 km, and over oceans to reduce the collocation and simulation uncertainty. Based on the information provided in the CrIS and RO observations, only upper temperature sounding channels with weighting function peak height (WFPH) above 200 hPa (~12 km) from the CrIS longwave infrared (LWIR) and shortwave infrared (SWIR) bands and water vapor channels from the CrIS mid-wave infrared (MWIR) band with WFPH above 500 hPa (~6.3 km) are selected for comparison to minimize the impacts from the surface emission, cloud absorption/scattering, and atmospheric gaseous absorption. The absolute differences between CrIS observations and their CRTM simulations using RO data as input are less than 1.0 K for the majority of those selected channels. The double differences between CrIS observations on NOAA-20 and S-NPP using CRTM simulations as transfer references are very stable. They range from −0.05 K to 0.15 K for LWIR channels and −0.20 K to 0.10 K for SWIR channels during the two years from 1 October 2019 to 30 September 2021. For MWIR channels, the double differences range from −0.15 K to 0.25 K but have significant variations in both daily mean and monthly mean time series. The results provide ways to understand the qualities of RO retrieval and CrIS measurements: RO data can be used to assess the consistency and stability of CrIS observations quantitatively, and CrIS measurements have the quality to assess the quality and stability of RO retrievals. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Satellite Data Application, Validation, and Calibration for Atmospheric Observation II)

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5 pages, 201 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Editorial for the Special Issue: “Human-Environment Interactions Research Using Remote Sensing”

by Nina S.-N. Lam, Heng Cai and Lei Zou

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2720; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112720 - 6 Jun 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2643

Abstract

In the wake of increasingly frequent extreme weather events and population growth in hazard-prone areas worldwide, human communities are faced with growing threats from natural hazards [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human–Environment Interactions Research Using Remote Sensing)

22 pages, 7335 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Convolutional Neural Networks for Automated Built Infrastructure Detection in the Arctic Using Sub-Meter Spatial Resolution Satellite Imagery

by Elias Manos, Chandi Witharana, Mahendra Rajitha Udawalpola, Amit Hasan and Anna K. Liljedahl

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2719; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112719 - 6 Jun 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3510

Abstract

Rapid global warming is catalyzing widespread permafrost degradation in the Arctic, leading to destructive land-surface subsidence that destabilizes and deforms the ground. Consequently, human-built infrastructure constructed upon permafrost is currently at major risk of structural failure. Risk assessment frameworks that attempt to study [...] Read more.

Rapid global warming is catalyzing widespread permafrost degradation in the Arctic, leading to destructive land-surface subsidence that destabilizes and deforms the ground. Consequently, human-built infrastructure constructed upon permafrost is currently at major risk of structural failure. Risk assessment frameworks that attempt to study this issue assume that precise information on the location and extent of infrastructure is known. However, complete, high-quality, uniform geospatial datasets of built infrastructure that are readily available for such scientific studies are lacking. While imagery-enabled mapping can fill this knowledge gap, the small size of individual structures and vast geographical extent of the Arctic necessitate large volumes of very high spatial resolution remote sensing imagery. Transforming this ‘big’ imagery data into ‘science-ready’ information demands highly automated image analysis pipelines driven by advanced computer vision algorithms. Despite this, previous fine resolution studies have been limited to manual digitization of features on locally confined scales. Therefore, this exploratory study serves as the first investigation into fully automated analysis of sub-meter spatial resolution satellite imagery for automated detection of Arctic built infrastructure. We tasked the U-Net, a deep learning-based semantic segmentation model, with classifying different infrastructure types (residential, commercial, public, and industrial buildings, as well as roads) from commercial satellite imagery of Utqiagvik and Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. We also conducted a systematic experiment to understand how image augmentation can impact model performance when labeled training data is limited. When optimal augmentation methods were applied, the U-Net achieved an average F1 score of 0.83. Overall, our experimental findings show that the U-Net-based workflow is a promising method for automated Arctic built infrastructure detection that, combined with existing optimized workflows, such as MAPLE, could be expanded to map a multitude of infrastructure types spanning the pan-Arctic. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Polar Regions)

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10 pages, 1190 KiB

Open AccessTechnical Note

First Observations of Mars Atmosphere and Ionosphere with Tianwen-1 Radio-Occultation Technique on 5 August 2021

by Xiong Hu, Xiaocheng Wu, Shuli Song, Maoli Ma, Weili Zhou, Qingchen Xu, Lei Li, Cunying Xiao, Xie Li, Chi Wang, Qinghui Liu, Lue Chen, Guangming Chen, Jianfeng Cao, Mei Wang, Peijia Li, Zhanghu Chu, Bo Xia, Junfeng Yang, Cui Tu, Dan Liu, Simin Zhang, Quan Zhang and Zheng Li Show full author list Hide full author list

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2718; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112718 - 6 Jun 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2656

Abstract

The radio-occultation technique can provide vertical profiles of planetary ionospheric and atmospheric parameters, which merit the planetary-climate and space-weather scientific research so far. The Tianwen-1 one-way single-frequency radio-occultation technique was developed to retrieve Mars ionospheric and atmospheric parameters. The first radio-occultation event observation [...] Read more.

The radio-occultation technique can provide vertical profiles of planetary ionospheric and atmospheric parameters, which merit the planetary-climate and space-weather scientific research so far. The Tianwen-1 one-way single-frequency radio-occultation technique was developed to retrieve Mars ionospheric and atmospheric parameters. The first radio-occultation event observation experiment was conducted on 5 August 2021. The retrieved excess Doppler frequency, bending angle, refractivity, electron density, neutral mass density, pressure and temperature profiles are presented. The Mars ionosphere M1 (M2) layer peak height is at 140 km (105 km) with a peak density of about 3.7 × 10¹⁰ el/m³ (5.3 × 10¹⁰ el/m³) in the retrieved electron-density profile. A planetary boundary layer (−2.35 km~5 km), a troposphere (temperature decreases with height) and a stratosphere (24 km–40 km) clearly appear in the retrieved temperature profile below 50 km. Results show that Tianwen-1 radio occultation data are scientifically reliable and useful for further Mars climate and space-weather studies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Planetary Remote Sensing: Chang’E-4/5 and Mars Applications)

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28 pages, 8374 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation and Prediction of Landslide Susceptibility in Yichang Section of Yangtze River Basin Based on Integrated Deep Learning Algorithm

by Lili Chang, Rui Zhang and Chunsheng Wang

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2717; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112717 - 6 Jun 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2947

Abstract

Landslide susceptibility evaluation (LSE) refers to the probability of landslide occurrence in a region under a specific geological environment and trigger conditions, which is crucial to preventing and controlling landslide risk. The mainstream of the Yangtze River in Yichang City belongs to the [...] Read more.

Landslide susceptibility evaluation (LSE) refers to the probability of landslide occurrence in a region under a specific geological environment and trigger conditions, which is crucial to preventing and controlling landslide risk. The mainstream of the Yangtze River in Yichang City belongs to the largest basin in the Three Gorges Reservoir area and is prone to landslides. Affected by global climate change, seismic activity, and accelerated urbanization, geological disasters such as landslide collapses and debris flows in the study area have increased significantly. Therefore, it is urgent to carry out the LSE in the Yichang section of the Yangtze River Basin. The main results are as follows: (1) Based on historical landslide catalog, geological data, geographic data, hydrological data, remote sensing data, and other multi-source spatial-temporal big data, we construct the LSE index system; (2) In this paper, unsupervised Deep Embedding Clustering (DEC) algorithm and deep integration network (Capsule Neural Network based on SENet: SE-CapNet) are used for the first time to participate in non-landslide sample selection, and LSE in the study area and the accuracy of the algorithm is 96.29; (3) Based on the constructed sensitivity model and rainfall forecast data, the main driving mechanisms of landslides in the Yangtze River Basin were revealed. In this paper, the study area’s mid-long term LSE prediction and trend analysis are carried out. (4) The complete results show that the method has good performance and high precision, providing a reference for subsequent LSE, landslide susceptibility prediction (LSP), and change rule research, and providing a scientific basis for landslide disaster prevention. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Toward an Application of Remote Sensing Technology for Decision Making during Natural Disasters)

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16 pages, 3093 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Estimation of Downwelling Surface Longwave Radiation with the Combination of Parameterization and Artificial Neural Network from Remotely Sensed Data for Cloudy Sky Conditions

by Yun Jiang, Bo-Hui Tang and Yanhong Zhao

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2716; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112716 - 6 Jun 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2605

Abstract

This work proposes a new method for estimating downwelling surface longwave radiation (DSLR) under cloudy-sky conditions based on a parameterization method and a genetic algorithm–artificial neural network (GA-ANN) algorithm. The new method establishes a GA-ANN model based on simulated data, and then combines [...] Read more.

This work proposes a new method for estimating downwelling surface longwave radiation (DSLR) under cloudy-sky conditions based on a parameterization method and a genetic algorithm–artificial neural network (GA-ANN) algorithm. The new method establishes a GA-ANN model based on simulated data, and then combines MODIS satellite data and ERA5 reanalysis data to estimate the DSLR. According to the validation results of the field sites, the bias and RMSE are –9.18 and 34.88 W/m², respectively. Compared with the existing research, the new method can achieve reasonable accuracy. Parameter analysis using independently simulated data shows that the near-surface air temperature (

T_{a}

) and cloud base height (CBH) have an important influence on DSLR estimation under cloudy-sky conditions. With an increase in CBH, DSLR gradually decreases; however, with an increase in

T_{a}

, DSLR shows a trend of gradual increase. When estimating DSLR under cloudy-sky conditions, under the influence of clouds, except for cirrus, the change in DSLRs with CBH and

T_{a}

is greater than 20 W/m². Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advance on Net Surface Radiation Inversion Using Remote Sensing Technology)

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17 pages, 5893 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Two-Stepwise Hierarchical Adaptive Threshold Method for Automatic Rapeseed Mapping over Jiangsu Using Harmonized Landsat/Sentinel-2

by Shaomei Chen, Zhaofu Li, Tingli Ji, Haiyan Zhao, Xiaosan Jiang, Xiang Gao, Jianjun Pan and Wenmin Zhang

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2715; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112715 - 6 Jun 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3406

Abstract

Rapeseed distribution mapping is a crucial issue for food and oil security, entertainment, and tourism development. Previous studies have used various remote sensing approaches to map rapeseed. However, the time-consuming and labor-intensive sample data used in these supervised classification methods greatly limit the [...] Read more.

Rapeseed distribution mapping is a crucial issue for food and oil security, entertainment, and tourism development. Previous studies have used various remote sensing approaches to map rapeseed. However, the time-consuming and labor-intensive sample data used in these supervised classification methods greatly limit the development of large-scale mapping in rapeseed studies. Regarding threshold methods, some empirical thresholding methods still need sample data to select the optimal threshold value, and their accuracies decrease when a fixed threshold is applied in complex and diverse environments. This study first developed the Normalized Difference Rapeseed Index (NDRI), defined as the difference in green and short-wave infrared bands divided by their sum, to find a suitable feature to distinguish rapeseed from other types of crops. Next, a two-stepwise hierarchical adaptive thresholding (THAT) algorithm requiring no training data was used to automatically extract rapeseed in Xinghua. Finally, two adaptive thresholding methods of the standalone Otsu and Otsu with Canny Edge Detection (OCED) were used to extract rapeseed across Jiangsu province. The results show that (1) NDRI can separate rapeseed from other vegetation well; (2) the OCED-THAT method can accurately map rapeseed in Jiangsu with an overall accuracy (OA) of 0.9559 and a Kappa coefficient of 0.8569, and it performed better than the Otsu-THAT method; (3) the OCED-THAT method had a lower but acceptable accuracy than the Random Forest method (OA = 0.9806 and Kappa = 0.9391). This study indicates that the THAT model is a promising automatic method for mapping rapeseed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics in Agriculture and Environment)

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20 pages, 5723 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Estimation of Regional Ground-Level PM_2.5 Concentrations Directly from Satellite Top-of-Atmosphere Reflectance Using A Hybrid Learning Model

by Yu Feng, Shurui Fan, Kewen Xia and Li Wang

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2714; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112714 - 6 Jun 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2340

Abstract

The accurate prediction of PM_2.5 concentrations is important for environmental protection. The accuracy of the commonly used prediction methods is not high; so, this paper proposes a PM_2.5 concentration prediction method based on a hybrid learning model. The Top-of-Atmosphere Reflectance (TOAR), [...] Read more.

The accurate prediction of PM_2.5 concentrations is important for environmental protection. The accuracy of the commonly used prediction methods is not high; so, this paper proposes a PM_2.5 concentration prediction method based on a hybrid learning model. The Top-of-Atmosphere Reflectance (TOAR), PM_2.5 data decomposed by wavelets, and meteorological data were used as input features to build an integrated prediction model using random forest and LightGBM, which was applied to PM_2.5 concentration prediction in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. The practical application showed that the proposed method using TOAR, incorporating wavelet decomposition with meteorological element data, had an improvement of 0.06 in the R² of the model accuracy and a reduction of 2.93 and 1.14 in the root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE), respectively, over the model using Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD). Our model had a prediction accuracy of R² of 0.91, which was better than the other models. We used this model to estimate and analyze the variation in PM_2.5 concentrations in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, and the results were the same as the actual PM_2.5 concentration distribution trend. Obviously, the proposed model has a high prediction accuracy and can avoid the errors caused by the limitations of the AOD inversion method. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Machine Learning for Spatiotemporal Remote Sensing Data)

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25 pages, 16536 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Precise Crop Classification of Hyperspectral Images Using Multi-Branch Feature Fusion and Dilation-Based MLP

by Haibin Wu, Huaming Zhou, Aili Wang and Yuji Iwahori

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2713; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112713 - 5 Jun 2022

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 3446

Abstract

The precise classification of crop types using hyperspectral remote sensing imaging is an essential application in the field of agriculture, and is of significance for crop yield estimation and growth monitoring. Among the deep learning methods, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are the premier [...] Read more.

The precise classification of crop types using hyperspectral remote sensing imaging is an essential application in the field of agriculture, and is of significance for crop yield estimation and growth monitoring. Among the deep learning methods, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are the premier model for hyperspectral image (HSI) classification for their outstanding locally contextual modeling capability, which facilitates spatial and spectral feature extraction. Nevertheless, the existing CNNs have a fixed shape and are limited to observing restricted receptive fields, constituting a simulation difficulty for modeling long-range dependencies. To tackle this challenge, this paper proposed two novel classification frameworks which are both built from multilayer perceptrons (MLPs). Firstly, we put forward a dilation-based MLP (DMLP) model, in which the dilated convolutional layer replaced the ordinary convolution of MLP, enlarging the receptive field without losing resolution and keeping the relative spatial position of pixels unchanged. Secondly, the paper proposes multi-branch residual blocks and DMLP concerning performance feature fusion after principal component analysis (PCA), called DMLPFFN, which makes full use of the multi-level feature information of the HSI. The proposed approaches are carried out on two widely used hyperspectral datasets: Salinas and KSC; and two practical crop hyperspectral datasets: WHU-Hi-LongKou and WHU-Hi-HanChuan. Experimental results show that the proposed methods outshine several state-of-the-art methods, outperforming CNN by 6.81%, 12.45%, 4.38% and 8.84%, and outperforming ResNet by 4.48%, 7.74%, 3.53% and 6.39% on the Salinas, KSC, WHU-Hi-LongKou and WHU-Hi-HanChuan datasets, respectively. As a result of this study, it was confirmed that the proposed methods offer remarkable performances for hyperspectral precise crop classification. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Processing Mixed Pixels for Hyperspectral Image)

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41 pages, 4732 KiB

Open AccessReview

Deep Learning for SAR Ship Detection: Past, Present and Future

by Jianwei Li, Congan Xu, Hang Su, Long Gao and Taoyang Wang

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2712; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112712 - 5 Jun 2022

Cited by 92 | Viewed by 10284

Abstract

After the revival of deep learning in computer vision in 2012, SAR ship detection comes into the deep learning era too. The deep learning-based computer vision algorithms can work in an end-to-end pipeline, without the need of designing features manually, and they have [...] Read more.

After the revival of deep learning in computer vision in 2012, SAR ship detection comes into the deep learning era too. The deep learning-based computer vision algorithms can work in an end-to-end pipeline, without the need of designing features manually, and they have amazing performance. As a result, it is also used to detect ships in SAR images. The beginning of this direction is the paper we published in 2017BIGSARDATA, in which the first dataset SSDD was used and shared with peers. Since then, lots of researchers focus their attention on this field. In this paper, we analyze the past, present, and future of the deep learning-based ship detection algorithms in SAR images. In the past section, we analyze the difference between traditional CFAR (constant false alarm rate) based and deep learning-based detectors through theory and experiment. The traditional method is unsupervised while the deep learning is strongly supervised, and their performance varies several times. In the present part, we analyze the 177 published papers about SAR ship detection. We highlight the dataset, algorithm, performance, deep learning framework, country, timeline, etc. After that, we introduce the use of single-stage, two-stage, anchor-free, train from scratch, oriented bounding box, multi-scale, and real-time detectors in detail in the 177 papers. The advantages and disadvantages of speed and accuracy are also analyzed. In the future part, we list the problem and direction of this field. We can find that, in the past five years, the AP₅₀ has boosted from 78.8% in 2017 to 97.8 % in 2022 on SSDD. Additionally, we think that researchers should design algorithms according to the specific characteristics of SAR images. What we should do next is to bridge the gap between SAR ship detection and computer vision by merging the small datasets into a large one and formulating corresponding standards and benchmarks. We expect that this survey of 177 papers can make people better understand these algorithms and stimulate more research in this field. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Meets Deep Learning)

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17 pages, 8129 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Diurnal Variation in Cloud and Precipitation Characteristics in Summer over the Tibetan Plateau and Sichuan Basin

by Bangjun Cao, Xianyu Yang, Boliang Li, Yaqiong Lu and Jun Wen

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2711; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112711 - 5 Jun 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2439

Abstract

The diurnal variation in precipitation and cloud parameters and their influencing factors during summer over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and Sichuan Basin (SB) were investigated using the Hydro-Estimator satellite rainfall estimates, ground observations, and ERA5 dataset. The precipitation and cloud parameters show diurnal [...] Read more.

The diurnal variation in precipitation and cloud parameters and their influencing factors during summer over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and Sichuan Basin (SB) were investigated using the Hydro-Estimator satellite rainfall estimates, ground observations, and ERA5 dataset. The precipitation and cloud parameters show diurnal propagation over the SB during the mei-yu period in contrast to such parameters over the TP. The diurnal maximum precipitation from the Hydro-Estimator satellite and cloud ice and liquid water content (cloud LWC and IWC) from the ERA5 dataset are concentrated in the early evening, while their diurnal minimums manifest in the morning. Cloud LWC accounts for more than 60% of the total water during almost the entire diurnal cycle over the inner TP and SB during the mei-yu period. The IWC accounts for more than 60% of the total water in the late afternoon over the edge of the SB and TP. The cloud base height (CBH) above ground level (AGL), the lifting condensation level (LCL) AGL, and the zero degree level AGL are almost equal over the TP during the summer period. The zero degree level AGL over the SB is higher than that over the TP because the air temperature lapse rate over the TP is larger. The thickness of liquid water cloud over the SB is larger than that over the TP. The correlation analysis shows that the CBH AGL and LCL AGL over the TP are related to the dewpoint spread, but less so over the SB because of the stronger turbulence and lower air density over the TP than the SB. Convective available potential energy has a larger impact on precipitation over the TP than the SB. The cloud LWC makes a larger contribution to the precipitation over the SB than over the TP, which is related to the mean zonal wind and diurnal cycle of low-level winds. The precipitation at the edge of the TP and SB (i.e., the steep downstream slope) is largely influenced by the ice water contained within clouds owing to the convergence rising motion over the slopes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land-Atmosphere Interactions and Effects on the Climate of the Tibetan Plateau and Surrounding Regions)

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20 pages, 14492 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Estimation of Daily Average Shortwave Solar Radiation under Clear-Sky Conditions by the Spatial Downscaling and Temporal Extrapolation of Satellite Products in Mountainous Areas

by Yanli Zhang and Linhong Chen

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2710; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112710 - 5 Jun 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2308

Abstract

The downward surface shortwave radiation (DSSR) received by an inclined surface can be estimated accurately based on the mountain radiation transfer model by using the digital elevation model (DEM) and high-resolution optical remote sensing images. However, it is still challenging to obtain the [...] Read more.

The downward surface shortwave radiation (DSSR) received by an inclined surface can be estimated accurately based on the mountain radiation transfer model by using the digital elevation model (DEM) and high-resolution optical remote sensing images. However, it is still challenging to obtain the high-resolution daily average DSSR affected by the atmosphere and local topography in mountain areas. In this study, the spatial downscaling and temporal extrapolation methods were explored separately to estimate the high-resolution daily average DSSR under clear-sky conditions based on Himawari-8, Sentinel-2 satellite radiation products and DEM data. The upper and middle reaches of the Heihe River Basin (UM-HRB) and the Laohugou area of Qilian Mountain (LGH) were used as the study areas because there are many ground observation stations in the UM-HRB that are convenient for DSSR spatial downscaling studies and the high-resolution instantaneous DSSR datasets published for the LHG are helpful for DSSR temporal extrapolation studies. The verification results show that both methods of spatial downscaling and temporal extrapolation can effectively estimate the daily average DSSR. A total of 3002 measurements from six observation sites showed that the 50 m downscaled results of the Himawari-8 10-min 5 km radiation products had quite a high correlation with the ground-based measurements from the UM-HRB. The coefficient of determination (R²) exceeded 0.96. The mean bias error (MBE) and the root-mean-squared error (RMSE) were about 41.57 W/m² (or 8.22%) and 49.25 W/m² (or 9.73%), respectively. The fifty-two measurements from two stations in the LHG indicated that the temporal extrapolated results of the Sentinel-2 10 m instantaneous DSSR datasets published previously performed well, giving R², MBE, and RMSE values of 0.65, 41.06 W/m² (or 7.89%) and 88.90 W/m² (or 17.07%), respectively. By comparing the estimation results of the two methods in the LHG, it was found that although the temporal extrapolation method of instantaneous high-resolution radiation products can more finely describe the spatial heterogeneity of solar radiation in complex terrain areas, the overall accuracy is lower than that achieved with the spatial downscaling approach. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Challenges in Solar Radiation, Modeling and Remote Sensing)

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14 pages, 10679 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

A New Analysis Method for Magnetic Disturbances Possibly Related to Earthquakes Observed by Satellites

by Xin-Yan Ouyang, Yong-Fu Wang, Xue-Min Zhang, Ya-Lu Wang and Ying-Yan Wu

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2709; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112709 - 5 Jun 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1918

Abstract

Studies on magnetic disturbances in ultralow frequency ranges related to earthquakes observed by satellites are still limited. Based on Swarm satellites, this paper proposes a new analysis method to investigate pre-earthquake magnetic disturbances by excluding some known non-earthquake magnetic effects that are not [...] Read more.

Studies on magnetic disturbances in ultralow frequency ranges related to earthquakes observed by satellites are still limited. Based on Swarm satellites, this paper proposes a new analysis method to investigate pre-earthquake magnetic disturbances by excluding some known non-earthquake magnetic effects that are not confined to those caused by intense geomagnetic activity. This method is demonstrated by two earthquake cases. One is an interplate earthquake, and the other is an intraplate earthquake. Magnetic disturbances around these two earthquakes are associated with solar wind and geomagnetic activity indices, electron density and field-aligned currents. Magnetic disturbances several days before earthquakes do not show clear relations with the already known magnetic effects. These nightside disturbances (LT~17/18, ~02), possibly related to earthquakes observed by Swarm satellites, oscillate in the transverse magnetic field below 2 Hz, propagate along the background magnetic field and are mostly linearly polarized. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Observations to Improve Knowledge of Lithosphere–Atmosphere–Ionosphere Coupling during the Preparatory Phase of Earthquakes)

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17 pages, 3966 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Using Airborne Lidar, Multispectral Imagery, and Field Inventory Data to Estimate Basal Area, Volume, and Aboveground Biomass in Heterogeneous Mixed Species Forests: A Case Study in Southern Alabama

by Schyler Brown, Lana L. Narine and John Gilbert

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2708; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112708 - 4 Jun 2022

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3802

Abstract

Airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) has proven to be a useful data source for estimating forest inventory metrics such as basal area (BA), volume, and aboveground biomass (AGB) and for producing wall-to-wall maps for validation of satellite-derived estimates of forest measures. However, [...] Read more.

Airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) has proven to be a useful data source for estimating forest inventory metrics such as basal area (BA), volume, and aboveground biomass (AGB) and for producing wall-to-wall maps for validation of satellite-derived estimates of forest measures. However, some studies have shown that in mixed forests, estimates of forest inventory derived from lidar can be less accurate due to the high variability of growth patterns in multispecies forests. The goal of this study is to produce more accurate wall-to-wall reference maps in mixed forest stands by introducing variables from multispectral imagery into lidar models. Both parametric (multiple linear regression) and non-parametric (Random Forests) modeling techniques were used to estimate BA, volume, and AGB in mixed-species forests in Southern Alabama. Models from Random Forests and linear regression were competitive with one another; neither approach produced substantially better models. Of the best models produced from linear regression, all included a variable for multispectral imagery, though models with only lidar variables were nearly as sufficient for estimating BA, volume, and AGB. In Random Forests modeling, the most important variables were those derived from lidar. The following accuracy was achieved for linear regression model estimates: BA R² = 0.36, %RMSE = 31.26, volume R² = 0.45, %RMSE = 35.30, and AGB R² = 0.41, %RMSE = 31.31. The results of this study show that the addition of multispectral imagery is not substantially beneficial for improving estimates of BA, volume, and AGB in mixed forests and suggests that the investigation of other variables to explain forest variability is necessary. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Estimating Carbon Stocks in Forest Ecosystems: From Allometric Equations to Remote Sensing-Based Methods)

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24 pages, 15372 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Landslide Susceptibility Mapping Based on the Germinal Center Optimization Algorithm and Support Vector Classification

by Ding Xia, Huiming Tang, Sixuan Sun, Chunyan Tang and Bocheng Zhang

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2707; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112707 - 4 Jun 2022

Cited by 29 | Viewed by 2867

Abstract

A landslide susceptibility model based on a metaheuristic optimization algorithm (germinal center optimization (GCO)) and support vector classification (SVC) is proposed and applied to landslide susceptibility mapping in the Three Gorges Reservoir area in this paper. The proposed GCO-SVC model was constructed via [...] Read more.

A landslide susceptibility model based on a metaheuristic optimization algorithm (germinal center optimization (GCO)) and support vector classification (SVC) is proposed and applied to landslide susceptibility mapping in the Three Gorges Reservoir area in this paper. The proposed GCO-SVC model was constructed via the following steps: First, data on 11 influencing factors and 292 landslide polygons were collected to establish the spatial database. Then, after the influencing factors were subjected to multicollinearity analysis, the data were randomly divided into training and testing sets at a ratio of 7:3. Next, the SVC model with 5-fold cross-validation was optimized by hyperparameter space search using GCO to obtain the optimal hyperparameters, and then the best model was constructed based on the optimal hyperparameters and training set. Finally, the best model acquired by GCO-SVC was applied for landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM), and its performance was compared with that of 6 popular models. The proposed GCO-SVC model achieved better performance (0.9425) than the genetic algorithm support vector classification (GA-SVC; 0.9371), grid search optimized support vector classification (GRID-SVC; 0.9198), random forest (RF; 0.9085), artificial neural network (ANN; 0.9075), K-nearest neighbor (KNN; 0.8976), and decision tree (DT; 0.8914) models in terms of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), and the trends of the other metrics were consistent with that of the AUC. Therefore, the proposed GCO-SVC model has some advantages in LSM and may be worth promoting for wide use. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessing Natural Hazards through Advanced Machine Learning Methods and Remote Sensing Technology)

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17 pages, 7641 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Attribution of NDVI Dynamics over the Globe from 1982 to 2015

by Cuiyan Liu, Jianyu Liu, Qiang Zhang, Hui Ci, Xihui Gu and Aminjon Gulakhmadov

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2706; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112706 - 4 Jun 2022

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 2669

Abstract

Satellite remote sensing has witnessed a global widespread vegetation greening since the 1980s. However, reliable observation-based quantitative knowledge on global greening remains obscure due to uncertainties in model simulations and the contribution of natural variability is largely unknown. Here, we revisit the attribution [...] Read more.

Satellite remote sensing has witnessed a global widespread vegetation greening since the 1980s. However, reliable observation-based quantitative knowledge on global greening remains obscure due to uncertainties in model simulations and the contribution of natural variability is largely unknown. Here, we revisit the attribution of global vegetation changes using the Time Series Segment and Residual Trend (TSS-RESTREND) method. Results showed global vegetation significantly greening over 40.6% of the vegetated grids, whereas vegetation significantly browning over 11.6% of the vegetated grids. The attribution results based on the TSS-RESTREND method show that CO₂ fertilization (CO₂) plays an influential role in vegetation changes over 61.4% of the global vegetated areas, followed by land use (LU, 23.5%), climate change (CC, 7.3%), and climate variability (CV, 1.5%). The vegetation greening can be largely attributed to CO₂ fertilization while the vegetation browning is mainly caused by LU. Meanwhile, we also identify positive impacts of LU and CC on vegetation change in arid regions but negative impacts in humid regions. Our findings indicate spatial heterogeneity in causes behind global vegetation changes, providing more detailed references for global vegetation modeling. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vegetation Biophysical Variables and Remote Sensing Applications)

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20 pages, 7326 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Identification and Evaluation of the Polycentric Urban Structure: An Empirical Analysis Based on Multi-Source Big Data Fusion

by Yuquan Zhou, Xiong He and Yiting Zhu

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2705; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112705 - 4 Jun 2022

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3513

Abstract

Identifying and evaluating polycentric urban spatial structure is essential for understanding and optimizing current urban development. In order to accurately identify the urban centers of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), this study firstly fused nighttime light data, POI data, and population [...] Read more.

Identifying and evaluating polycentric urban spatial structure is essential for understanding and optimizing current urban development. In order to accurately identify the urban centers of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), this study firstly fused nighttime light data, POI data, and population migration data based on wavelet transform, then identified the polycentric spatial structure of the GBA by carrying out cluster and outlier analysis, and evaluated the level of different urban centers byconducting geographical weighted regression analysis. Using data fusion, we identified 4579.81 km² of the urban poly-center area in the GBA, with an identification accuracy of 93.22%. Although the number and spatial extent of the identified urban poly-centers are consistent with the GBA development plan outline, the poly-center level evaluation results are inconsistent with the development plan, which shows there are great differences in actual development levels among different cities in the GBA. By identifying and grading the polycentric spatial structure of the GBA, this study accurately analyzed the current spatial distribution and could provide policy implications for the GBA’s future development and planning. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Application in Sustainable Urban Planning and Environmental Services in the Big Data Era)

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14 pages, 4457 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Investigation of Atmospheric Dynamic and Thermodynamic Structures of Typhoon Sinlaku (2020) from High-Resolution Dropsonde and Two-Way Rawinsonde Measurements

by Lihui Liu, Yi Han, Yuancai Xia, Qiyun Guo, Wenhua Gao and Jianping Guo

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2704; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112704 - 4 Jun 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1887

Abstract

Profiling the vertical atmospheric structure for typhoons remains challenging. Here, the atmospheric dynamic and thermodynamic structures were investigated during the passage of Typhoon Sinlaku (2020) over Xisha Islands in the South China Sea for the period 28 July to 2 August 2020, mainly [...] Read more.

Profiling the vertical atmospheric structure for typhoons remains challenging. Here, the atmospheric dynamic and thermodynamic structures were investigated during the passage of Typhoon Sinlaku (2020) over Xisha Islands in the South China Sea for the period 28 July to 2 August 2020, mainly based on two-way rawinsonde and dropsonde measurements in combination with surface-based automatic weather station observations, disdrometer measurements, and Himawari-8 geostationary satellite images. The study period was divided to three stages: the formation stage of tropical depression (pre-TD), tropical depression (TD), and tropical storm (TS). The wind speed and local vertical wind shear reached the maximum value at 3 km above mean sea level (AMSL) before the typhoon approached the Xisha islands. Pseudo-equivalent potential temperature (θse) was found to decrease with the altitude below 2 km AMSL; temperature inversions occurred frequently within this altitude range, particularly during the TS stage. This seemed a typical capping inversion that indicated a downward motion above 2 km AMSL. The temperature increased slightly with the development of Typhoon Sinlaku (2020) at altitudes of 8–10 km AMSL. This indicated that our observations presumably captured the air mass warmed by the condensation, which was a good signature of an upper air in the tropical cyclone. In addition, wind speed (particularly in the lower stratosphere), specific humidity, and equivalent potential temperature escalated significantly when the tropical depression strengthened into Typhoon Sinlaku (2020), which indicated that the typhoon constantly obtained energy from the sea surface during its passage over the study region. The thermodynamic and dynamic structures of atmosphere advance our understanding of the inner structure of typhoons during the different evolutionary stages. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Atmospheric Remote Sensing)

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20 pages, 109665 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Tradeoffs between UAS Spatial Resolution and Accuracy for Deep Learning Semantic Segmentation Applied to Wetland Vegetation Species Mapping

by Troy M. Saltiel, Philip E. Dennison, Michael J. Campbell, Tom R. Thompson and Keith R. Hambrecht

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2703; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112703 - 4 Jun 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3496

Abstract

Recent advances in image classification of fine spatial resolution imagery from unoccupied aircraft systems (UASs) have allowed for mapping vegetation based on both multispectral reflectance and fine textural details. Convolutional neural network (CNN)-based models can take advantage of the spatial detail present in [...] Read more.

Recent advances in image classification of fine spatial resolution imagery from unoccupied aircraft systems (UASs) have allowed for mapping vegetation based on both multispectral reflectance and fine textural details. Convolutional neural network (CNN)-based models can take advantage of the spatial detail present in UAS imagery by implicitly learning shapes and textures associated with classes to produce highly accurate maps. However, the spatial resolution of UAS data is infrequently examined in CNN classification, and there are important tradeoffs between spatial resolution and classification accuracy. To improve the understanding of the relationship between spatial resolution and classification accuracy for a CNN-based model, we captured 7.6 cm imagery with a UAS in a wetland environment containing graminoid (grass-like) plant species and simulated a range of spatial resolutions up to 76.0 cm. We evaluated two methods for the simulation of coarser spatial resolution imagery, averaging before and after orthomosaic stitching, and then trained and applied a U-Net CNN model for each resolution and method. We found untuned overall accuracies exceeding 70% at the finest spatial resolutions, but classification accuracy decreased as spatial resolution coarsened, particularly beyond a 22.8 cm resolution. Coarsening the spatial resolution from 7.6 cm to 22.8 cm could permit a ninefold increase in survey area, with only a moderate reduction in classification accuracy. This study provides insight into the impact of the spatial resolution on deep learning semantic segmentation performance and information that can potentially be useful for optimizing precise UAS-based mapping projects. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Machine Learning Techniques Applied to Geosciences and Remote Sensing)

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16 pages, 3807 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modeling Artificial Light Exposure after Vegetation Trimming at a Marine Turtle Nesting Beach

by Mark A. Barrett and Kristen Nelson Sella

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2702; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112702 - 4 Jun 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3015

Abstract

Light pollution caused by poorly directed artificial lighting has increased globally in recent years. Artificial lights visible along marine turtle nesting beaches can disrupt natural brightness cues used by hatchling turtles to orient correctly to the ocean for their offshore migrations. Natural barriers, [...] Read more.

Light pollution caused by poorly directed artificial lighting has increased globally in recent years. Artificial lights visible along marine turtle nesting beaches can disrupt natural brightness cues used by hatchling turtles to orient correctly to the ocean for their offshore migrations. Natural barriers, such as tall dunes and dense vegetation, that block coastal and inland lights from the beach may reduce this disruption. However, coastal areas are often managed toward human values, including the trimming of vegetation to improve ocean views. We used viewshed models to determine how reducing the dune vegetation height (specifically that of seagrape, Cocoloba uvifera) might increase the amount of artificial light from upland buildings that reaches a marine turtle nesting beach in Southeast Florida. We incorporated three data sets (LiDAR data, turtle nest locations, and field surveys of artificial lights) into a geographic information system to create viewsheds of lighting from buildings across 21 vegetation profiles. In 2018, when most seagrape patches had been trimmed to <1.1 m tall, female loggerhead turtles nested in areas with potential for high light exposure based on a cumulative viewshed model. Viewshed models using random (iterative simulations) and nonrandom selections of buildings revealed that untrimmed seagrape heights (mean = 3.1 m) and especially taller vegetation profiles effectively reduced potential lighting exposure from three building heights (upper story, midstory, and ground level). Even the tallest modeled vegetation, however, would fail to block lights from the upper stories of some tall buildings. Results from this study can support management decisions regarding the trimming of beach dune vegetation, any associated changes in the visibility of artificial lighting from the nesting areas, and modifications to existing lighting needed to mitigate light exposure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Applications for Sea Turtle Conservation)

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16 pages, 10977 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Real-Time Integration of Segmentation Techniques for Reduction of False Positive Rates in Fire Plume Detection Systems during Forest Fires

by Leonardo Martins, Federico Guede-Fernández, Rui Valente de Almeida, Hugo Gamboa and Pedro Vieira

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2701; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112701 - 4 Jun 2022

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2762

Abstract

Governmental offices are still highly concerned with controlling the escalation of forest fires due to their social, environmental and economic consequences. This paper presents new developments to a previously implemented system for the classification of smoke columns with object detection and a deep [...] Read more.

Governmental offices are still highly concerned with controlling the escalation of forest fires due to their social, environmental and economic consequences. This paper presents new developments to a previously implemented system for the classification of smoke columns with object detection and a deep learning-based approach. The study focuses on identifying and correcting several False Positive cases while only obtaining a small reduction of the True Positives. Our approach was based on using an instance segmentation algorithm to obtain the shape, color and spectral features of the object. An ensemble of Machine Learning (ML) algorithms was then used to further identify smoke objects, obtaining a removal of around 95% of the False Positives, with a reduction to 88.7% (from 93.0%) of the detection rate on 29 newly acquired daily sequences. This model was also compared with 32 smoke sequences of the public HPWREN dataset and a dataset of 75 sequences attaining 9.6 and 6.5 min, respectively, for the average time elapsed from the fire ignition and the first smoke detection. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Information Retrieval from Remote Sensing Images)

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17 pages, 5984 KiB

Open AccessTechnical Note

Two Practical Methods to Retrieve Aerosol Optical Properties from Coherent Doppler Lidar

by Yinchao Zhang, Yize Zheng, Wangshu Tan, Pan Guo, Qingyue Xu, Su Chen, Ruiqi Lin, Siying Chen and He Chen

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2700; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112700 - 4 Jun 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2249

Abstract

Complexly distributed aerosol particles have significant impacts on climate and environmental changes. As one of the vital atmospheric power sources, the wind field deeply affects the distribution and transport of aerosol particles. For a more comprehensive investigation of the aerosols flux and transport [...] Read more.

Complexly distributed aerosol particles have significant impacts on climate and environmental changes. As one of the vital atmospheric power sources, the wind field deeply affects the distribution and transport of aerosol particles. For a more comprehensive investigation of the aerosols flux and transport mechanism, two retrieval methods of aerosol optical properties (backscatter coefficient and extinction coefficient at 1550 nm) from coherent Doppler lidar (CDL) observation are proposed in this paper. The first method utilizes the calculated aerosol backscatter coefficient (532 nm) from Mie-scattering lidar datasets and the iterative Fernald method to retrieve aerosol optical property profiles during joint measurements with CDL and Mie-scattering lidar. After verifying the correctness of the first method compared with AERONET datasets, we proposed the second retrieval method. Using the forward integral Fernald method with near-ground reference aerosol extinction coefficient calculated by atmospheric visibility, aerosol optical properties at 1550 nm could be obtained. Thirty-six-day joint measurements with two lidars were specially designed and conducted to verify the correctness of these retrieval methods. The validation results of these two methods indicate great performances, where the mean relative errors are 0.0272 and 0.1656, and the correlation coefficients are 0.9306 and 0.9197, respectively. In conclusion, the feasibility of these two retrieval methods extends the capability of CDL to detect aerosol optical properties and also provides a possibility to observe the aerosol distribution and transport process comprehensively, which is a great promotion of aerosol transport studies development. Full article

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24 pages, 7604 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Smart Procedure for Assessing the Health Status of Terrestrial Habitats in Protected Areas: The Case of the Natura 2000 Ecological Network in Basilicata (Southern Italy)

by Vito Imbrenda, Maria Lanfredi, Rosa Coluzzi and Tiziana Simoniello

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2699; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112699 - 4 Jun 2022

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 2354

Abstract

Natura 2000 is the largest coordinated network of protected areas in the world, which has been established to preserve rare habitats and threatened species at the European Community level. Generally, tools for habitat quality assessment are based on the analyses of land-use/land-cover changes, [...] Read more.

Natura 2000 is the largest coordinated network of protected areas in the world, which has been established to preserve rare habitats and threatened species at the European Community level. Generally, tools for habitat quality assessment are based on the analyses of land-use/land-cover changes, thus, highlighting already overt habitat modifications. To evaluate the general quality conditions of terrestrial habitats and detect habitat degradation processes at an early stage, a direct and cost-effective procedure based on satellite imagery (Landsat data) and GIS (Geographic Information System) tools is proposed. It focuses on the detection of anomalies in vegetation matrix (stress/fragmentation), estimated for each habitat at the level of both a single protected site and local network, to identify habitat priority areas (HPA), i.e., areas needing priority interventions, and to support a rational use of resources (field surveys, recovery actions). By analyzing the statistical distributions of standardized NDVI for all the enclosed habitats (at the site or network level), the Degree of Habitat Consistency (DHC) was also defined. The index allows the assessment of the general status of a protected site/network, and the comparison of the environmental conditions of a certain habitat within a given protected site (SCI, SAC) with those belonging to the other sites of the network. The procedure was tested over the Natura 2000 network of the Basilicata region (Southern Italy), considered as a hotspot of great natural and landscape interest. An overall accuracy of ~97% was obtained, with quite low percentages of commission (~8%) and omission (~6%) errors. By examining the diachronic evolution (1985–2009) of DHC and HPA, it was possible to track progress or degradation of the analyzed areas over time and to recognize the efficaciousness/failure of past managements and interventions (e.g., controlled disturbances), providing decision-makers with a thorough understanding for setting up the most suitable mitigation/contrast measures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances of Remote Sensing in the Analysis of the Spatial and Temporal Variability of Land Surface)

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21 pages, 8429 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of Performance of Three Satellite-Derived Precipitation Products in Capturing Extreme Precipitation Events over Beijing, China

by Yu Li, Bo Pang, Meifang Ren, Shulan Shi, Dingzhi Peng, Zhongfan Zhu and Depeng Zuo

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2698; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112698 - 4 Jun 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2676

Abstract

Extreme precipitation events have a more serious impact on densely populated cities and therefore reliable estimation of extreme precipitation is very important. Satellite-derived precipitation products provide precipitation datasets with high spatiotemporal resolution. For improved applicability to estimating urban extreme precipitation, the performance of [...] Read more.

Extreme precipitation events have a more serious impact on densely populated cities and therefore reliable estimation of extreme precipitation is very important. Satellite-derived precipitation products provide precipitation datasets with high spatiotemporal resolution. For improved applicability to estimating urban extreme precipitation, the performance of such products must be evaluated regionally. This study evaluated three satellite-derived precipitation products, the Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG_V06), Multi-Source Weighted-Ensemble Precipitation (MSWEP V2), and China Meteorological Forcing Dataset (CMFD), in capturing extreme precipitation using observations acquired at 36 rainfall stations during 2001–2016 in Beijing, China. Results showed that MSWEP had the highest accuracy regarding daily precipitation data, with the highest correlation coefficient and the lowest absolute deviation between MSWEP and the rainfall station observations. CMFD demonstrated the best ability for correct detection of daily precipitation events, while MSWEP maintained the lowest rate of detecting non-rainy days as rainy days. MSWEP performed better in estimating precipitation amount and the number of precipitation days when daily precipitation was <50 mm; CMFD performed better when daily precipitation was >50 mm. All three products underestimated extreme precipitation. The Structural Similarity Index, which is a map comparison technique, was used to compare the similarities between the three products and rainfall station observations of two extreme rainstorms: “7.21” in 2012 and “7.20” in 2016. MSWEP and CMFD showed higher levels of similarity in terms of spatial–temporal structure. Overall, despite systematic underestimation, MSWEP performed better than IMERG and CMFD in estimating extreme precipitation in Beijing. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Quantitative Remote Sensing)

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19 pages, 16081 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Extraction of Photovoltaic Plants Using Machine Learning Methods: A Case Study of the Pilot Energy City of Golmud, China

by Zhenghang Chen, Yawen Kang, Zhongxiao Sun, Feng Wu and Qian Zhang

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2697; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112697 - 3 Jun 2022

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3351

Abstract

Solar energy is an abundant, clean, and renewable source that can mitigate global climate change, environmental pollution, and energy shortage. However, comprehensive datasets and efficient identification models for the spatial distribution of photovoltaic (PV) plants locally and globally over time remain limited. In [...] Read more.

Solar energy is an abundant, clean, and renewable source that can mitigate global climate change, environmental pollution, and energy shortage. However, comprehensive datasets and efficient identification models for the spatial distribution of photovoltaic (PV) plants locally and globally over time remain limited. In the present study, a model that combines original spectral features, PV extraction indexes, and terrain features for the identification of PV plants is established based on the pilot energy city Golmud in China, which covers 71,298.7 km² and has the highest density of PV plants in the world. High-performance machine learning algorithms were integrated with PV plant extraction models, and performances of the XGBoost, random forest (RF), and support vector machine (SVM) algorithms were compared. According to results from the investigations, the XGBoost produced the highest accuracy (OA = 99.65%, F1score = 0.9631) using Landsat 8 OLI imagery. The total area occupied by PV plants in Golmud City in 2020 was 10,715.85 ha based on the optimum model. The model also revealed that the area covered by the PV plant park in the east of Golmud City increased by approximately 10% from 2018 (5344.2 ha) to 2020 (5879.34 ha). The proposed approach in this study is one of the first attempts to identify time-series large-scale PV plants based on a pixel-based machine learning algorithm with medium-resolution free images in an efficient way. The study also confirmed the effectiveness of combining original spectral features, PV extraction indexes, and terrain features for the identification of PV plants. It will shed light on larger- and longer-scale identification of PV plants around the world and the evaluation of the associated dynamics of PV plants. Full article

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14 pages, 4216 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Meandering Characteristics of the Yimin River in Hulun Buir Grassland, Inner Mongolia, China

by Yuanyuan Zhou and Qiuhong Tang

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2696; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112696 - 3 Jun 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2362

Abstract

The evolution of meandering rivers continues to attract considerable attention in research and for practical applications, given that it is closely associated with the safety of river systems and riparian zones. There has been much discussion regarding the various channel planform features exhibited [...] Read more.

The evolution of meandering rivers continues to attract considerable attention in research and for practical applications, given that it is closely associated with the safety of river systems and riparian zones. There has been much discussion regarding the various channel planform features exhibited by meandering rivers under different river systems and riparian conditions. The Yimin River is a good example and is located southeast of the Hulun Buir Grassland, which is characterised by a fragile ecosystem and little anthropological activity along with active flow during the non-frozen season from May to November each year and relatively low sediment discharge compared with the Yellow River and Mississippi River. Improved analysis of the evolution of the Yimin River from 1975 to 2019 can support increased local species diversity and more effective flood risk and river management. With the combined Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform and the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technique, remote sensing images, including Landsat images and global surface water data, are used to analyse the channel planform features of the freely meandering river channel in the middle and lower Yimin River. The results show that the percentage of low sinuosity channel bends was higher than that of high-sinuosity bends. Although the bends with an amplitude greater than 0.48 km and sinuosity greater than 2.3 have an evident upstream-skewed trend, the main channel planform features were downstream skewed with 1499 such bends. The river system conditions in the Yimin River, including lower sediment discharge and vegetation cover, are conducive to the development of downstream-skewed bends. The high-sinuosity bends were found to have a relatively larger ratio during 1981–2000, a period with higher mean annual streamflow compared with other time periods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Calibration and Assimilation of Multisensor Satellite Data for Hydrology Estimation)

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Remote Sens., Volume 14, Issue 11 (June-1 2022) – 216 articles

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