Improving Satellite Leaf Area Index Estimation Based On Various Integration Methods

Leaf Area Index (LAI) is an important land surface biophysical variable that is used to characterize vegetation amount and activity. Current satellite LAI products, however, do not satisfy the requirements of the modeling community due to their large uncertainties and frequent missing values. Each LAI product is currently generated from only one satellite sensor data. There is an urgent need for advanced methods to integrate multiple LAI products to improve the product's accuracy and integrality for various applications. To meet this need, this study proposes four methods, including the Optimal Interpolation (OI), Bayesian Maximum Entropy (BME), Multi-Resolution Tree (MRT) and Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF), to integrate multiple LAI products. Three LAI products have been considered in this study: Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) and Carbon cYcle and Change in Land Observational Products from an Ensemble of Satellites (CYCLOPES) LAI. As the basis of data integration, this dissertation first validates and intercompares MODIS and CYCLOPES LAI products and also evaluates their geometric accuracies. The CYCLOPES LAI product has smoother temporal profiles and fewer spatial variations, but tends to produce spurious large errors in winter. The Locally Adjusted Cubic-spline Capping algorithm is revised to smooth multiple years' average and variance. Although OI, BME and MRT based methods have been used in other fields, this is the first research to employ them in integrating multiple LAI products. This dissertation also presents a new integration method based on EOF to solve the problem of large data volume and inconsistent temporal resolution of different datasets. High resolution LAI reference maps generated with ground measurements are used to validate these algorithms. Validation results show that all of these four methods can fill data gaps and reduce the errors of the existing LAI products. The data gaps are filled with information from adjacent pixels and background. These algorithms remove the spurious large temporal and spatial variation of the original LAI products. The combination of multiple satellite products significantly reduces bias. OI and BME can reduce the RMSE from 1.0 (MODIS) to 0.7 and reduce the bias from +0.3 (MODIS) and -0.2 (CYCLOPES) to -0.1. MRT can produce similar results with OI but with significantly improved efficiency. EOF also generates the results with the RMSE of 0.7 but zero bias. Limited ground measurement data hardly prove which methods outperform the others. OI and BME theoretically produce statistically optimal results. BME relaxes OI's linear and Gaussian assumption and explicitly considers data error, but bears a much higher computational burden. MRT has improved efficiency but needs strict assumptions on the scale transfer function. EOF requires simpler model identification, while it is more "empirical" than "statistical". The original contributions of this study mainly include: 1) a new application of several different integration methods to incorporate multiple satellite LAI products to reduce uncertainties and improve integrality, 2) an enhancement of the Locally Adjusted Cubic-spline Capping by revising the end condition, 3) a novel comprehensive comparison of MODIS C5 LAI product with other satellite products, 4) the development of a new LAI normalization scheme by assuming the linear relationship between measurement error and LAI natural variance to account for the inconsistency between products, and finally, 5) the creation of a new data integration method based on EOF

ESA - RESGROW: Epansion of the Market for EO Based Information Services in Renewable Energy - Biomass Energy sector

Biomass energy is of growing importance as it is widely recognised, both scientifically and politically, that the increase of atmospheric CO2 has led to an enhanced efficiency of the greenhouse effect and, as such, warrants concern for climate change. It is accepted (IPCC 2011 and just recently in the draft version of the IPCC 2013 report) that climate change is partly induced by humans notably by using fossil fuels. For reducing the use of oil or coal, biomass energy is receiving more and more attention as an additional energy source available regionally in large parts of the world. Effective management of renewable energy resources is critical for the European and the global energy supply system. The future contribution of bioenergy to the energy supply strongly depends on its availability, in other words the biomass potential. Biomass potentials are currently mainly assessed on a national to regional or on a global level, with the bulk biomass potential allocated to the whole country. With certain biomass fractions being of low energy density, transport distances and thus their spatial distribution are crucial economic and ecological factors. For other biomass fractions a super-regional or global market is envisaged. Thus spatial information on biomass potentials is vital for the further expansion of bioenergy use. This study, which is an updated version of a study carried out in 2007 in frame of the ENVISOLAR project, analyses the potential use of Earth Observation data as input for biomass models in order to assessment and manage of the biomass energy resources especially biomass potentials of agricultural and forest areas with high spatial resolution (typical 1km x 1km). In addition to a sorrow review of recent developments in data availability and approaches in comparison to its 2007’ version, this study also includes a review on approaches to directly correlate remote sensing data with biomass estimations. An overview of existing biomass models is given covering models using remote sensing data as input as well as models using only meteorological and/or management data as input. It covers the full life cycle from the planning stage to plant management and operations (Figure 1). Several groups of stakeholders were identified

Modelling LAI at a regional scale with ISBA-A-gs: comparison with satellite-derived LAI over southwestern France

International audienceA CO2-responsive land surface model (the ISBAA- gs model of M´et´eo-France) is used to simulate photosynthesis and Leaf Area Index (LAI) in southwestern France for a 3-year period (2001–2003). A domain of about 170 000 km2 is covered at a spatial resolution of 8 km. The capability of ISBA-A-gs to reproduce the seasonal and the interannual variability of LAI at a regional scale, is assessed with satellite-derived LAI products. One originates from the CYCLOPES programme using SPOT/VEGETATION data, and two products are based on MODIS data. The comparison reveals discrepancies between the satellite LAI estimates and between satellite and simulated LAI values, both in their intensity and in the timing of the leaf onset. The model simulates higher LAI values for the C3 crops than the satellite observations, which may be due to a saturation effect within the satellite signal or to uncertainties in model parameters. The simulated leaf onset presents a significant delay for C3 crops and mountainous grasslands. In-situ observations at a mid-altitude grassland site show that the generic temperature response of photosynthesis used in the model is not appropriate for plants adapted to the cold climatic conditions of the mountainous areas. This study demonstrates the potential of LAI remote sensing products for identifying and locating models' shortcomings at a regional scale

Estimación remota del área de planta en un bosque seco : validación de un sistema autónomo de captura y almacenamiento de datos

El índice de área foliar es clave en el control de los procesos de los ecosistemas y como tal se busca estimarlo cada vez con mayor precisión y frecuencia para estudios locales, regionales y globales. Los métodos han evolucionado desde la medición directa hasta la utilización de instrumentos ópticos, logrando reducir los esfuerzos y los costos y permitiendo ampliar la frecuencia, la cobertura geográfica y la variedad de ambientes en la estimación de la variable. Una herramienta de estimación es el sistema PASTiS 57, desarrollado en el INRA, que permite registrar la transmitancia de la radiación en la porción del azul del espectro automáticamente cada 1 minuto, derivando de ella el índice de área de planta (PAI). El sistema se ha probado con éxito en bosques boreales y áreas agrícolas, pero no ha sido validado en bosques secos o en áreas semiáridas. El objetivo de este trabajo fue estimar la evolución de PAI con sensores autónomos en tres sitios en un bosque seco en la provincia de San Luis bajo diferentes coberturas a lo largo de un año y evaluar su desempeño en relación a estimaciones realizadas con fotografías hemisféricas, ampliamente validadas para la obtención de PAI. El PAI obtenido mostró una evolución temporal similar al estimado con el método convencional, presentándose hasta el momento como la única herramienta para realizar un monitoreo continuo de esta variable en tierra, en una escala de detalle mayor que la de los sensores remotos satelitales, y requiriendo un menor esfuerzo de muestreo que el habitual con fotografías hemisféricas y otros sensores ópticos manuales

Remote Sensing of Biophysical Parameters

Vegetation plays an essential role in the study of the environment through plant respiration and photosynthesis. Therefore, the assessment of the current vegetation status is critical to modeling terrestrial ecosystems and energy cycles. Canopy structure (LAI, fCover, plant height, biomass, leaf angle distribution) and biochemical parameters (leaf pigmentation and water content) have been employed to assess vegetation status and its dynamics at scales ranging from kilometric to decametric spatial resolutions thanks to methods based on remote sensing (RS) data.Optical RS retrieval methods are based on the radiative transfer processes of sunlight in vegetation, determining the amount of radiation that is measured by passive sensors in the visible and infrared channels. The increased availability of active RS (radar and LiDAR) data has fostered their use in many applications for the analysis of land surface properties and processes, thanks to their insensitivity to weather conditions and the ability to exploit rich structural and texture information. Optical and radar data fusion and multi-sensor integration approaches are pressing topics, which could fully exploit the information conveyed by both the optical and microwave parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.This Special Issue reprint reviews the state of the art in biophysical parameters retrieval and its usage in a wide variety of applications (e.g., ecology, carbon cycle, agriculture, forestry and food security)

Linking in situ LAI and Fine Resolution Remote Sensing Data to Map Reference LAI over Cropland and Grassland Using Geostatistical Regression Method

Leaf Area Index (LAI) is an important parameter of vegetation structure. A number of moderate resolution LAI products have been produced in urgent need of large scale vegetation monitoring. High resolution LAI reference maps are necessary to validate these LAI products. This study used a geostatistical regression (GR) method to estimate LAI reference maps by linking in situ LAI and Landsat TM/ETM+ and SPOT-HRV data over two cropland and two grassland sites. To explore the discrepancies of employing different vegetation indices (VIs) on estimating LAI reference maps, this study established the GR models for different VIs, including difference vegetation index (DVI), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and ratio vegetation index (RVI). To further assess the performance of the GR model, the results from the GR and Reduced Major Axis (RMA) models were compared. The results show that the performance of the GR model varies between the cropland and grassland sites. At the cropland sites, the GR model based on DVI provides the best estimation, while at the grassland sites, the GR model based on DVI performs poorly. Compared to the RMA model, the GR model improves the accuracy of reference LAI maps in terms of root mean square errors (RMSE) and bia

Remote sensing of leaf area index : enhanced retrieval from close-range and remotely sensed optical observations

A wide range of models used in agriculture, ecology, carbon cycling, climate and other related studies require information on the amount of leaf material present in a given environment to correctly represent radiation, heat, momentum, water, and various gas exchanges with the overlying atmosphere or the underlying soil. Leaf area index (LAI) thus often features as a critical land surface variable in parameterisations of global and regional climate models, e.g., radiation uptake, precipitation interception, energy conversion, gas exchange and momentum, as all areas are substantially determined by the vegetation surface. Optical wavelengths of remote sensing are the common electromagnetic regions used for LAI estimations and generally for vegetation studies. The main purpose of this dissertation was to enhance the determination of LAI using close-range remote sensing (hemispherical photography), airborne remote sensing (high resolution colour and colour infrared imagery), and satellite remote sensing (high resolution SPOT 5 HRG imagery) optical observations. The commonly used light extinction models are applied at all levels of optical observations. For the sake of comparative analysis, LAI was further determined using statistical relationships between spectral vegetation index (SVI) and ground based LAI. The study areas of this dissertation focus on two regions, one located in Taita Hills, South-East Kenya characterised by tropical cloud forest and exotic plantations, and the other in Gatineau Park, Southern Quebec, Canada dominated by temperate hardwood forest. The sampling procedure of sky map of gap fraction and size from hemispherical photographs was proven to be one of the most crucial steps in the accurate determination of LAI. LAI and clumping index estimates were significantly affected by the variation of the size of sky segments for given zenith angle ranges. On sloping ground, gap fraction and size distributions present strong upslope/downslope asymmetry of foliage elements, and thus the correction and the sensitivity analysis for both LAI and clumping index computations were demonstrated. Several SVIs can be used for LAI mapping using empirical regression analysis provided that the sensitivities of SVIs at varying ranges of LAI are large enough. Large scale LAI inversion algorithms were demonstrated and were proven to be a considerably efficient alternative approach for LAI mapping. LAI can be estimated nonparametrically from the information contained solely in the remotely sensed dataset given that the upper-end (saturated SVI) value is accurately determined. However, further study is still required to devise a methodology as well as instrumentation to retrieve on-ground green leaf area index . Subsequently, the large scale LAI inversion algorithms presented in this work can be precisely validated. Finally, based on literature review and this dissertation, potential future research prospects and directions were recommended.Ei saatavill

Assessing uncertainties of in situ FAPAR measurements across different forest ecosystems

Carbon balances are important for understanding global climate change. Assessing such balances on a local scale depends on accurate measurements of material flows to calculate the productivity of the ecosystem. The productivity of the Earth's biosphere, in turn, depends on the ability of plants to absorb sunlight and assimilate biomass. Over the past decades, numerous Earth observation missions from satellites have created new opportunities to derive so-called “essential climate variables” (ECVs), including important variables of the terrestrial biosphere, that can be used to assess the productivity of our Earth's system. One of these ECVs is the “fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation” (FAPAR) which is needed to calculate the global carbon balance. FAPAR relates the available photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) in the wavelength range between 400 and 700 nm to the absorption of plants and thus quantifies the status and temporal development of vegetation. In order to ensure accurate datasets of global FAPAR, the UN/WMO institution “Global Climate Observing System” (GCOS) declared an accuracy target of 10% (or 0.05) as acceptable for FAPAR products. Since current satellite derived FAPAR products still fail to meet this accuracy target, especially in forest ecosystems, in situ FAPAR measurements are needed to validate FAPAR products and improve them in the future. However, it is known that in situ FAPAR measurements can be affected by significant systematic as well as statistical errors (i.e., “bias”) depending on the choice of measurement method and prevailing environmental conditions. So far, uncertainties of in situ FAPAR have been reproduced theoretically in simulations with radiation transfer models (RTMs), but the findings have been validated neither in field experiments nor in different forest ecosystems. However, an uncertainty assessment of FAPAR in field experiments is essential to develop practicable measurement protocols. This work investigates the accuracy of in situ FAPAR measurements and sources of uncertainties based on multi-year, 10-minute PAR measurements with wireless sensor networks (WSNs) at three sites on three continents to represent different forest ecosystems: a mixed spruce forest at the site “Graswang” in Southern Germany, a boreal deciduous forest at the site “Peace River” in Northern Alberta, Canada and a tropical dry forest (TDF) at the site “Santa Rosa”, Costa Rica. The main statements of the research results achieved in this thesis are briefly summarized below: Uncertainties of instantaneous FAPAR in forest ecosystems can be assessed with Wireless Sensor Networks and additional meteorological and phenological observations. In this thesis, two methods for a FAPAR bias assessment have been developed. First, for assessing the bias of the so-called two-flux FAPAR estimate, the difference between FAPAR acquired under diffuse light conditions and two-flux FAPAR acquired during clear-sky conditions can be investigated. Therefore, measurements of incoming and transmitted PAR are required to calculate the two-flux FAPAR estimate as well as observations of the ratio of diffuse-to-total incident radiation. Second, to assess the bias of not only the two- but also the three-flux FAPAR estimate, four-flux FAPAR observations must be carried out, i.e. measurements of top-of-canopy (TOC) PAR albedo and PAR albedo of the forest background. Then, to quantify the bias of the two and three-flux estimate, the difference with the four-flux estimate can be calculated. Main sources of uncertainty of in situ FAPAR measurements are high solar zenith angle, occurrence of colored leaves and increased wind speed. At all sites, FAPAR observations exhibited considerable seasonal variability due to the phenological development of the forests (Graswang: 0.89 to 0.99 ±0.02; Peace River: 0.55 to 0.87 ±0.03; Santa Rosa: 0.45 to 0.97 ±0.06). Under certain environmental conditions, FAPAR was affected by systemic errors, i.e. bias that go beyond phenologically explainable fluctuations. The in situ observations confirmed a significant overestimation of FAPAR by up to 0.06 at solar zenith angles above 60° and by up to 0.05 under the occurrence of colored leaves of deciduous trees. The results confirm theoretical findings from radiation transfer simulations, which could now for the first time be quantified under field conditions. As a new finding, the influence of wind speed could be shown, which was particularly evident at the boreal location with a significant bias of FAPAR values at wind speeds above 5 ms-1. The uncertainties of the two-flux FAPAR estimate are acceptable under typical summer conditions. Three-flux or four-flux FAPAR measurements do not necessarily increase the accuracy of the estimate. The highest average relative bias of different FAPAR estimates were 2.1% in Graswang, 8.4% in Peace River and -4.5% in Santa Rosa. Thus, the GCOS accuracy threshold of 10% set by the GCOS was generally not exceeded. The two-flux FAPAR estimate was only found to be biased during high wind speeds, as changes in the TOC PAR albedo are not considered in two-flux FAPAR measurements. Under typical summer conditions, i.e. low wind speed, small solar zenith angle and green leaves, two-flux FAPAR measurements can be recommended for the validation of satellite-based FAPAR products. Based on the results obtained, it must be emphasized that the three-flux FAPAR estimate, which has often been preferred in previous studies, is not necessarily more accurate, which was particularly evident in the tropical location. The discrepancies between ground measurements and the current Sentinel-2 FAPAR product still largely exceed the GCOS target accuracy at the respective study sites, even when considering uncertainties of FAPAR ground measurements. It was found that the Sentinel-2 (S2) FAPAR product systematically underestimated the ground observations at all three study sites (i.e. negative values for the mean relative bias in percent). The highest agreement was observed at the boreal site Peace River with a mean relative deviation of -13% (R²=0.67). At Graswang and Santa Rosa, the mean relative deviations were -20% (R²=0.68) and -25% (R²=0.26), respectively. It was argued that these high discrepancies resulted from both the generic nature of the algorithm and the higher ecosystem complexity of the sites Graswang and Santa Rosa. It was also found that the temporal aggregation method of FAPAR ground data should be well considered for comparison with the S2 FAPAR product, which refers to daily averages, as overestimation of FAPAR during high solar zenith angles could distort validation results. However, considering uncertainties of ground measurements, the S2 FAPAR product met the GCOS accuracy requirements only at the boreal study site. Overall, it has been shown that the S2 FAPAR product is already well suited to assess the temporal variability of FAPAR, but due to the low accuracy of the absolute values, the possibilities to feed global production efficiency models and evaluate global carbon balances are currently limited. The accuracy of satellite derived FAPAR depends on the complexity of the observed forest ecosystem. The highest agreement between satellite derived FAPAR product and ground measurements, both in terms of absolute values and spatial variability, was achieved at the boreal site, where the complexity of the ecosystem is lowest considering forest structure variables and species richness. These results have been elaborated and presented in three publications that are at the center of this cumulative thesis. In sum, this work closes a knowledge gap by displaying the interplay of different environmental conditions on the accuracy of situ FAPAR measurements. Since the uncertainties of FAPAR are now quantifiable under field conditions, they should also be considered in future validation studies. In this context, the practical recommendations for the implementation of ground observations given in this thesis can be used to prepare sampling protocols, which are urgently needed to validate and improve global satellite derived FAPAR observations in the future.Projektionen zukünftiger Kohlenstoffbilanzen sind wichtig für das Verständnis des globalen Klimawandels und sind auf genaue Messungen von Stoffflüssen zur Berechnung der Produktivität des Erdökosystems angewiesen. Die Produktivität der Biosphäre unserer Erde wiederum ist abhängig von der Eigenschaft von Pflanzen, Sonnenlicht zu absorbieren und Biomasse zu assimilieren. Über die letzten Jahrzehnte haben zahlreiche Erdbeobachtungsmissionen von Satelliten neue Möglichkeiten geschaffen, sogenannte „essentielle Klimavariablen“ (ECVs), darunter auch wichtige Variablen der terrestrischen Biosphäre, aus Satellitendaten abzuleiten, mit deren Hilfe man die Produktivität unseres Erdsystems computergestützt berechnen kann. Eine dieser „essenziellen Klimavariablen“ ist der Anteil der absorbierten photosynthetisch aktiven Strahlung (FAPAR) die man zur Berechnung der globalen Kohlenstoffbilanz benötigt. FAPAR bezieht die verfügbare photosynthetisch aktive Strahlung (PAR) im Wellenlängenbereich zwischen 400 und 700 nm auf die Absorption von Pflanzen und quantifiziert somit Status und die zeitliche Entwicklung von Vegetation. Um möglichst präzise Informationen aus dem globalen FAPAR zu gewährleisten, erklärte die UN/WMO-Institution zur globalen Klimabeobachtung, das “Global Climate Observing System“ (GCOS), ein Genauigkeitsziel von 10% (bzw. 0.05) FAPAR-Produkte als akzeptabel. Da aktuell satellitengestützte FAPAR-Produkte dieses Genauigkeitsziel besonders in Waldökosystemen immer noch verfehlen, werden dringen in situ FAPAR-Messungen benötigt, um die FAPAR-Produkte validieren und in Zukunft verbessern zu können. Man weiß jedoch, dass je nach Auswahl des Messsystems und vorherrschenden Umweltbedingungen in situ FAPAR-Messungen mit erheblichen sowohl systematischen als auch statistischen Fehlern beeinflusst sein können. Bisher wurden diese Fehler in Simulationen mit Strahlungstransfermodellen zwar theoretisch nachvollzogen, aber die dadurch abgeleiteten Befunde sind bisher weder in Feldversuchen noch in unterschiedlichen Waldökosystemen validiert worden. Eine Unsicherheitsabschätzung von FAPAR im Feldversuch ist allerdings essenziell, um praxistaugliche Messprotokolle entwickeln zu können. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die Genauigkeit von in situ FAPAR-Messungen und Ursachen von Unsicherheit basierend auf mehrjährigen, 10-minütigen PAR-Messungen mit drahtlosen Sensornetzwerken (WSNs) an drei verschiedenen Waldstandorten auf drei Kontinenten: der Standort „Graswang“ in Süddeutschland mit einem Fichten-Mischwald, der Standort „Peace River“ in Nord-Alberta, Kanada mit einem borealen Laubwald und der Standort „Santa Rosa“, Costa Rica mit einem tropischen Trockenwald. Die Hauptaussagen der in dieser Arbeit erzielten Forschungsergebnisse werden im Folgenden kurz zusammengefasst: Unsicherheiten von FAPAR in Waldökosystemen können mit drahtlosen Sensornetzwerken und zusätzlichen meteorologischen und phänologischen Beobachtungen quantifiziert werden. In dieser Arbeit wurden zwei Methoden für die Bewertung von Unsicherheiten entwickelt. Erstens, um den systematischen Fehler der sogenannten „two-flux“ FAPAR-Messung zu beurteilen, kann die Differenz zwischen FAPAR, das unter diffusen Lichtverhältnissen aufgenommen wurde, und FAPAR, das unter klaren Himmelsbedingungen aufgenommen wurde, untersucht werden. Für diese Methode sind Messungen des einfallenden und transmittierten PAR sowie Beobachtungen des Verhältnisses von diffuser zur gesamten einfallenden Strahlung erforderlich. Zweitens, um den systematischen Fehler nicht nur der „two-flux“ FAPAR-Messung, sondern auch der „three-flux“ FAPAR-Messung zu beurteilen, müssen „four-flux“ FAPAR-Messungen durchgeführt werden, d.h. zusätzlich Messungen der PAR Albedo des Blätterdachs sowie des Waldbodens. Zur Quantifizierung des Fehlers der „two-flux“ und „three-flux“ FAPAR-Messung kann die Differenz zur „four-flux“ FAPAR-Messung herangezogen werden. Die Hauptquellen für die Unsicherheit von in situ FAPAR-Messungen sind ein hoher Sonnenzenitwinkel, Blattfärbung und erhöhte Windgeschwindigkeit. An allen drei Untersuchungsstandorten zeigten die FAPAR-Beobachtungen natürliche saisonale Schwankungen aufgrund der phänologischen Entwicklung der Wälder (Graswang: 0,89 bis 0,99 ±0,02; Peace River: 0,55 bis 0,87 ±0,03; Santa Rosa: 0,45 bis 0,97 ±0,06). Unter bestimmten Umweltbedingungen war FAPAR von systematischen Fehlern, d.h. Verzerrungen betroffen, die über phänologisch erklärbare Schwankungen hinausgehen. So bestätigten die in situ Beobachtungen eine signifikante Überschätzung von FAPAR um bis zu 0,06 bei Sonnenzenitwinkeln von über 60° und um bis zu 0,05 bei Vorkommen gefärbter Blätter der Laubbäume. Die Ergebnisse bestätigen theoretische Erkenntnisse aus Strahlungstransfersimulationen, die nun erstmalig unter Feldbedingungen quantifiziert werden konnten. Als eine neue Erkenntnis konnte der Einfluss der Windgeschwindigkeit gezeigt werden, der sich besonders am borealen Standort mit einer signifikanten Verzerrung der FAPAR-Werte bei Windgeschwindigkeiten über 5 ms-1 äußerte. Die Unsicherheiten der „two-flux“ FAPAR-Messung sind unter typischen Sommerbedingungen akzeptabel. „Three-flux“ oder „four-flux“ FAPAR-Messungen erhöhen nicht unbedingt die Genauigkeit der Abschätzung. Die höchsten durchschnittlichen relativen systematischen Fehler verschiedener Methoden zur FAPAR-Messung betrugen 2,1% in Graswang, 8,4% in Peace River und -4,5% in Santa Rosa. Damit wurde der durch GCOS festgelegte Genauigkeitsschwellenwert von 10% im Allgemeinen nicht überschritten. Die „two-flux“ FAPAR-Messung wurde nur als fehleranfällig bei hohe Windgeschwindigkeiten befunden, da Änderungen der PAR-Albedo des Blätterdachs bei der „two-flux“ FAPAR-Messung nicht berücksichtigt werden. Unter typischen Sommerbedingungen, also geringe Windgeschwindigkeit, kleiner Sonnenzenitwinkel und grüne Blätter, kann die „two-flux“ FAPAR-Messung für die Validierung von satellitengestützten FAPAR-Produkten empfohlen werden. Auf Basis der gewonnenen Ergebnisse muss betont werden, dass die „three-flux“ FAPAR-Messung, die in bisherigen Studien häufig bevorzugt wurde, nicht unbedingt weniger fehlerbehaftet sind, was sich insbesondere am tropischen Standort zeigte. Die Abweichungen zwischen Bodenmessungen und dem aktuellen Sentinel-2 FAPAR-Produkt überschreiten auch unter Berücksichtigung von Unsicherheiten in der Messmethodik immer noch weitgehend die GCOS-Zielgenauigkeit an den jeweiligen Untersuchungsstandorten. So zeigte sich, dass das S2 FAPAR-Produkt die Bodenbeobachtungen an allen drei Studienstandorten systematisch unterschätzte (d.h. negative Werte für die mittlere relative Abweichung in Prozent). Die höchste Übereinstimmung wurde am borealen Standort Peace River mit einer mittleren relativen Abweichung von -13% (R²=0,67) beobachtet. An den Standorten Graswang und Santa Rosa betrugen die mittleren relativen Abweichungen jeweils -20% (R²=0,68) bzw. -25% (R²=0,26). Es wurde argumentiert, dass diese hohen Abweichungen auf eine Kombination sowohl des generisch ausgerichteten Algorithmus als auch der höheren Komplexität beider Ökosysteme zurückgeführt werden können. Es zeigte sich außerdem, dass die zeitlichen Aggregierung der FAPAR-Bodendaten zum Vergleich mit S2 FAPAR-Produkt, das sich auf Tagesmittelwerte bezieht, gut überlegt sein sollte, da die Überschätzung von FAPAR während eines hohen Sonnenzenitwinkels in den Bodendaten die Validierungsergebnisse verzerren kann. Unter Berücksichtigung der Unsicherheiten der Bodendaten erfüllte das S2 FAPAR Produkt jedoch nur am boreale Untersuchungsstandort die Genauigkeitsanforderungen des GCOS. Insgesamt hat sich gezeigt, dass das S2 FAPAR-Produkt bereits gut zur Beurteilung der zeitlichen Variabilität von FAPAR geeignet ist, aber aufgrund der geringen Genauigkeit der absoluten Werte sind die Möglichkeiten, globale Produktionseffizienzmodelle zu speisen und globale Kohlenstoffbilanzen zu bewerten, derzeit begrenzt. Die Genauigkeit von satellitengestützten FAPAR-Produkten ist abhängig von der Komplexität des beobachteten Waldökosystems. Die höchste Übereinstimmung zwischen satellitengestütztem FAPAR und Bodenmessungen, sowohl hinsichtlich der Darstellung von absolutem Werten als auch der räumlichen Variabilität, wurde am borealen Standort erzielt, für den die Komplexität des Ökosystems unter Berücksichtigung von Waldstrukturvariablen und Artenreichtum am geringsten ausfällt. Die dargestellten Ergebnisse wurden in drei Publikationen dieser kumulativen Arbeit erarbeitet. Insgesamt schließt diese Arbeit eine Wissenslücke in der Darstellung des Zusammenspiels verschiedener Umgebungsbedingungen auf die Genauigkeit von situ FAPAR-Messungen. Da die Unsicherheiten von FAPAR nun unter Feldbedingungen quantifizierbar sind, sollten sie in zukünftigen Validierungsstudien auch berücksichtigt werden. In diesem Zusammenhang können die in dieser Arbeit genannten praktische Empfehlungen für die Durchführung von Bodenbeobachtungen zur Erstellung von Messprotokollen herangezogen werden, die dringend erforderlich sind, um globale satellitengestützte FAPAR-Beobachten validieren und zukünftig verbessern zu können

Improving data-oriented light use efficiency models of gross primary productivity with remotely sensed spectral indices

Several studies sustained the possibility that a photochemical reflectance index (PRI) directly obtained from satellite data can be used as a proxy for ecosystem light use efficiency (LUE) in diagnostic models of gross primary productivity. This modelling approach would avoid the complications that are involved in using me- teorological data as constraints for a fixed maximum LUE. However, no unifying model predicting LUE across climate zones and time based on MODIS PRI has been published to date. This study evaluates the effectiveness with which MODIS-based PRI can be used to estimate ecosystem light use efficiency at study sites of different plant functional types and vegetation densities. The objective is to examine if known limitations such as dependence on viewing and illumination geometry can be overcome and a single PRI-based model of LUE (i.e. based on the same reference band) can be applied under a wide range of conditions. Fur- thermore, this thesis examines the effect of using different fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (faPAR) products on the in-situ LUE used as ground truth and thus on the whole evaluation exercise. The conclusion of this study is that estimating LUE at site-level based on PRI reduces uncertainty compared to the approaches relying on a maximum LUE reduced by minimum temperature and vapour pressure deficit. Despite the advantages of using PRI to estimate LUE at site-level, a universally applicable light use efficiency model based on MODIS PRI could not be established. Models that were optimised for a pool of data from several sites did not perform well