SENTINEL-1 DATA TIME SERIES TO SUPPORT FOREST POLICE IN HARVESTINGS DETECTION

Abstract. Satellite remote sensing has long been used to monitor forest harvesting with accuracies appropriate for practical mapping across a wide range of forest types by using different sensors. Unfortunately, in Italy, most of the cuts take place in winter where the cloud cover is very high, making it impossible an early detection by optical data. In this framework, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data such as Sentinel-1 (S1) allows a better land monitoring by penetrating cloud cover. In this work we tested some methods for time series breakpoint detection with the aim of mapping significant forest cover changes in 2019 over an Italian forested area. These maps can be useful tools to support the focusing of field surveys by forest police with the aim of increasing the monitorable areas and decreasing the related field survey costs. Four methods were proposed and compared based on the analysis of SAR polarimetric index time series (Cross Ratio index). In particular, adopted methods search for a breakpoint in the cross-ratio time series assuming it as moment after that forest canopy temporal behaviour significantly change. In general, high overall accuracy and user's accuracy were found for all methods while producer's accuracy and K values are lower denoting an underestimation of harvested areas by single method. Conversely, combining all methods into a final classification shows highest user's accuracy (> 0.9) in detecting forests harvestings when more than two classification methods were adopted

Mapping Ecological Focus Areas within the EU CAP Controls Framework by Copernicus Sentinel-2 Data

Greening is a Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidy that ensures that all EU farmers receiving income support produce climate and environmental benefits as part of their farming activities. To receive greening support, it is mandatory for the farmer to carry out three agricultural practices that are considered environmentally and climate friendly: (a) crop diversification; (b) maintenance of permanent meadows and pastures; and (c) presence of an Ecological Focus Area (EFA). Contributions are delivered and monitored by paying agencies (PP) that ordinarily perform administrative checks and spot checks. The latter are provided through photo-interpretation of high-resolution satellite or aerial images and, in specific cases, through local ground checks (GC) as well. In this work, stimulated by the Piemonte Regional Agency for Payments in Agriculture (ARPEA), a prototype service to support PPs’ controls within the greening CAP framework was proposed with special concern for EFA detection. The proposed approach is expected to represent a valid alternative or supporting tool for GC. It relies on the analysis of NDVI time series derived from Copernicus Sentinel-2 data. The study was conducted in the provinces of Turin, Asti and Vercelli within the Piedmont Region (NW Italy), and over 12,500 EFA fields were assessed. Since the recent National Report No. 5465 stipulates that mowing and any other soil management operation is prohibited on set-aside land designated as an EFA during the reference period (RP) between 1st March and 30th June, a time series (TS) of NDVI in the same period was generated. Once averaged at plot level, NDVI trends were modelled by a first-order polynomial, and the correspondent statistics (namely, R2, MAE and maximum residual) was computed. These were assumed to play the role of discriminants in EFA detection based on a thresholding approach (Otsu’s method), calibrated with reference to the training dataset. The threshold satisfaction was therefore tested, and, depending on the number of satisfied thresholds out of the possible three, EFA and non-EFA plots were detected with a different degree of reliability. The correspondent EFA map was generated for the area of interest and validated according to GCs as provided by the ARPEA. The results showed an overall accuracy of 84%, indicating that the approach is promising. The authors retain that this procedure represents a valid alternative (or integrating) tool for ground controls by PPs

Coupling between reconnection and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities in collisionless plasmas

In a collisionless plasma, when reconnection instability takes place, strong shear flows may develop. Under appropriate conditions these shear flows become unstable to the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. Here, we investigate the coupling between these instabilities in the framework of a four-field model. Firstly, we recover the known results in the low β limit, β being the ratio between the plasma and the magnetic pressure. We concentrate our attention on the dynamical evolution of the current density and vorticity sheets which evolve coupled together according to a laminar or a turbulent regime. A three-dimensional extension in this limit is also discussed. Secondly, we consider finite values of the β parameter, allowing for compression of the magnetic and velocity fields along the ignorable direction. We find that the current density and vorticity sheets now evolve separately. The Kelvin-Helmholtz instability involves only the vorticity field, which ends up in a turbulent regime, while the current density maintains a laminar structure

Post disruption reconnection event driven by a runaway current

The role of a runaway current in a post disruption plasma is investigated through numerical simulations in an asymmetric magnetic reconnection event. While the runaways do not alter the linear growth of the island, they lead to a rotation of the island in the poloidal direction as found in [C. Liu et al. Physics of Plasmas 27, 092507 (2020)]. The role of a microlayer smaller than the resistive one is thoroughly investigated. While the resistive layer controls the transition of the island from the linear to the nonlinear stage, the microlayer width causes the runaways to become nonlinear as soon as the size of the island exceeds it. Moreover, this transition of the runways electrons to the nonlinear phase is accompanied by a drastic redistribution of runaways within the island with respect to the symmetric case. The influence of the electron skin depth on the linear evolution is also taken into account. Finally, nonlinear simulations show that the rotation frequency tends toward zero when the island saturates

Coupling between reconnection and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities in collisionless plasmas

Abstract. In a collisionless plasma, when reconnection instability takes place, strong shear flows may develop. Under appropriate conditions these shear flows become unstable to the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. Here, we investigate the coupling between these instabilities in the framework of a four-field model. Firstly, we recover the known results in the low β limit, β being the ratio between the plasma and the magnetic pressure. We concentrate our attention on the dynamical evolution of the current density and vorticity sheets which evolve coupled together according to a laminar or a turbulent regime. A three-dimensional extension in this limit is also discussed. Secondly, we consider finite values of the β parameter, allowing for compression of the magnetic and velocity fields along the ignorable direction. We find that the current density and vorticity sheets now evolve separately. The Kelvin-Helmholtz instability involves only the vorticity field, which ends up in a turbulent regime, while the current density maintains a laminar structure

A Sustainable Approach for upgrading geographic databases based on high resolution satellite imagery

The availability of high-resolution satellite images could be exploited for upgrading geographic databases at medium scales (1:5,000-1:25,000) as alternative to aerial photogrammetry. The paper presents a procedure to carry out this task which is based on an automatic image-to-image registration procedure of new satellite data to existing ortho-photomaps that have to be upgraded. In order to get a regularization of control points extracted in automatic way, a technique implementing a neural network algorithm is applied. Once an image has been georeferenced, this can be ortho-corrected thanks to a DTM (nowadays available in almost all developed countries). However, the product which is obtained so far is still a raster maps. To cope with the increasing need of vector data in geographic geographic databases, some tests performed on the extraction of features (buildings and roads) from real high-resolution satellite images have been performed and results are shown here. Finally, to complete the data acquisition process, the use of GPS-GIS data-logger receivers in differential mode is proposed

PRELIMINARY CONCERNS ABOUT AGRONOMIC INTERPRETATION OF NDVI TIME SERIES FROM SENTINEL-2 DATA: PHENOLOGY AND THERMAL EFFICIENCY OF WINTER WHEAT IN PIEMONTE (NW ITALY)

Abstract. TELECER project is supported through Rural Development Programme regional action of EU CAP and is aimed at providing Precision Agriculture–devoted services for cereals monitoring in the Piemonte Region (NW-Italy) context. In this work authors explored some general and preliminary issues mainly aimed at demonstrating and formalizing those evident relationships existing between NDVI image time series and the main ordinary agronomic parameters, with special focus on phenology and thermal efficiency of crops as related to Growing Degrees Day (GDD). Winter wheat was investigated and relationships calibrated at field level, making possible to spatially characterise environmental and management effects. Two different analysis were achieved: (i) one aimed at mapping crop phenological metrics, as derivable from NDVI S2 time series; (ii) one aimed at locally modelling relationship linking GDD and NDVI to somehow test the thermal efficiency of crops in the different parts of the study area. The first analysis showed that the end of season appears to be the most constant phenological metric in the study area possibly demonstrating a time concentration of harvest operations in the area. Differently, the peak of season and the start of season metrics showed to be largely varying in the study, thus suggesting to be stronger predictors: (i) of crop development; (ii) of the effects induced by local agronomical practices. Several base temperatures were used to compute correspondent GDD. These were tested against NDVI and modelled by a parabolic model at field level. Model coefficients distribution were analysed and mapped the correspondent agronomic interpretation suggested