Using an OBCD approach and Landsat TM data to detect harvesting on nonindustrial private property in Upper Michigan

Forest dynamics influence climate, biodiversity, and livelihoods at multiple scales, yet current resource policy addressing these dynamics is ineffective without reliable land use land cover change data. The collective impact of harvest decisions by many small forest owners can be substantial at the landscape scale, yet monitoring harvests and regrowth in these forests is challenging. Remote sensing is an obvious route to detect and monitor small-scale land use dynamics over large areas. Using an annual series of Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper (TM) images and a GIS shapefile of property boundaries, we identified units where harvests occurred from 2005 to 2011 using an Object-Based Change Detection (OBCD) approach. Percent of basal area harvested was verified using stand-level harvest data. Our method detected all harvests above 20% basal area removal in all forest types (northern hardwoods, mixed deciduous/coniferous, coniferous), on properties as small as 10 acres (0.4 ha; approximately four Landsat pixels). Our results had a resolution of about 10% basal area (that is, a selective harvest removal of 30% could be distinguished from one of 40%). Our method can be automated and used to measure annual harvest rates and intensities for large areas of the United States, providing critical information on land use transition

Evaluation of MODIS data for mapping oil slicks - the deepwater horizon oil spill case

Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) multispectral imagery is used for oil spills mapping as an integration to radar data. MODIS images of the northern Gulf of Mexico (USA) are analyzed to study the sea anomalies from visible to thermal infrared in order to detect a reported oil slick. A simple Fluorescence/Emissivity Index and RGB false color bands combination are applied to detect fluorescence and emissivity anomalies due to oil spills in particular sun glint conditions. A monitoring system of sea surface may be built using high temporal resolution imagery as MODIS data. Applying the proposed index and RGB bands combination, also suitable on night-time overpasses, it’s possible to further increase the availability of clouds free images using optical sensors

Technological Advancement in Tower-Based Canopy Reflectance Monitoring: The AMSPEC-III System

Understanding plant photosynthesis, or Gross Primary Production (GPP), is a crucial aspect of quantifying the terrestrial carbon cycle. Remote sensing approaches, in particular multi-angular spectroscopy, have proven successful for studying relationships between canopy-reflectance and plant-physiology processes, thus providing a mechanism to scale up. However, many different instrumentation designs exist and few cross-comparisons have been undertaken. This paper discusses the design evolution of the Automated Multiangular SPectro-radiometer for Estimation of Canopy reflectance (AMSPEC) series of instruments. Specifically, we assess the performance of the PP-Systems Unispec-DC and Ocean Optics JAZ-COMBO spectro-radiometers installed on an updated, tower-based AMSPEC-III system. We demonstrate the interoperability of these spectro-radiometers, and the results obtained suggest that JAZ-COMBO can successfully be used to substitute more expensive measurement units for detecting and investigating photosynthesis and canopy spectra. We demonstrate close correlations between JAZ-COMBO and Unispec-DC measured canopy radiance (0.75 ≤ R² ≤ 0.85) and solar irradiance (0.95 ≤ R² ≤ 0.96) over a three month time span. We also demonstrate close agreement between the bi-directional distribution functions obtained from each instrument. We conclude that cost effective alternatives may allow a network of AMSPEC-III systems to simultaneously monitor various vegetation types in different ecosystems. This will allow to scale and improve our understanding of the interactions between vegetation physiology and spectral characteristics, calibrate broad-scale observations to stand-level measurements, and ultimately lead to improved understanding of changing vegetation spectral features from satellite.Keywords: multi-angle spectroscopy, photosynthesis, PRI, gross primary production, spectro-radiometer, light use efficiency, remote sensingThis is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the author(s) and published by MDPI. The published article can be found at: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensor

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT IN REMOTE SENSING AND INNOVATIVE APPLICATION TO VOLCANOLOGY

The integration of remote monitoring techniques at different scales is of crucial importance for monitoring of volcanoes and assessment of the associated hazard. In this optic, technological advancement and collaboration between research groups also play a key role. Vhub is a community cyberinfrastructure platform designed for collaboration in volcanology research. Within the Vhub framework, this dissertation focuses on two research themes, both representing novel applications of remotely sensed data in volcanology: advancement in the acquisition of topographic data via active techniques and application of passive multi-spectral satellite data to monitoring of vegetated volcanoes. Measuring surface deformation is a critical issue in analogue modelling of Earth science phenomena. I present a novel application of the Microsoft Kinect sensor to measurement of vertical and horizontal displacements in analogue models. Specifically, I quantified vertical displacement in a scaled analogue model of Nisyros volcano, Greece, simulating magmatic deflation and inflation and related surface deformation, and included the horizontal component to reconstruct 3D models of pit crater formation. The detection of active faults around volcanoes is of importance for seismic and volcanic hazard assessment, but not a simple task to be achieved using analogue models. I present new evidence of neotectonic deformation along a north-south trending fault from the Mt Shasta debris avalanche deposit (DAD), northern California. The fault was identified on an airborne LiDAR campaign of part of the region interested by the DAD and then confirmed in the field. High resolution LiDAR can be utilized also for geomorphological assessment of DADs, and I describe a size-distance analysis to document geomorphological aspects of hummock in the Shasta DAD. Relating the remote observations of volcanic passive degassing to conditions and impacts on the ground provides an increased understanding of volcanic degassing and how satellite-based monitoring can be used to inform hazard management strategies in nearreal time. Combining a variety of satellite-based spectral time series I aim to perform the first space-based assessment of the impacts of sulfur dioxide emissions from Turrialba volcano, Costa Rica, on vegetation in the surrounding environment, and establish whether vegetation indices could be used more broadly to detect volcanic unrest

Interoperability of Landsat and DMC imagery for continuous detection and quantification of nonindustrial forest harvests in the Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USA

The relationship between human land use and land cover change is critical to sustainable forest management. Land use decisions by small land managers aggregate into substantial land cover changes at landscape and regional scales. Land ownership across large portions of the Upper Great Lakes region is in considerable flux, as large timber industry tracts are split into many smaller non-industrial ownerships, and new owners prioritize amenity and non-timber forest values. Nonindustrial Private Forest (NIPF) owners also transfer their properties to younger generations or other NIPF owners with different management approaches and goals. Survey data on intended harvests and sales are available through the National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS), run by the USDA Forest Service. However, the disparity between NIPF owner-stated plans to harvest, and what actually occurs, can be substantially different, especially if annual fluctuations in timber prices or general economic fluctuations cause NIPF owners to deviate from their stated management and ownership intentions. This reduces the NWOS\u27 utility. Remote sensing data have considerable value for identifying small scale harvests and, paired with ownership data at the parcel scale, can measure NIPF harvest rates as related to ownership change at a regional scale. Here we focus on the Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan (WUP) and the most recent decade to develop our methodology, using primarily Landsat images from 2003-2013. However, Landsat data series are characterized by gaps in coverage over long temporal and large spatial scales, and so a methodology to combine multiple remote sensing data sources is necessary for regional-scale land use/land cover change research. We filled these gaps by integrating the available Landsat time series with DMC imagery. We then combined these data with GIS overlays of the parcels and stand-level data on removed basal area (BA) during known harvesting events to develop a classification of harvest intensity for the WUP. Images taken during peak growing season were preferred to calculate NDVI and ΔNDVI, and in general for enhancing possible spectral changes. We classified the harvests as clear cut, selective harvesting or thinning using an object-based image analysis. In particular, we defined a clear cut a harvesting event in which ~90-100% BA is removed, commercial harvesting if ~50-80% BA is removed and thinning if ~20-40% BA removal. This work demonstrates that DMC images can effectively fill the Landsat data gap for the detection and quantification of harvesting events. Preliminary results show that the method is capable of identifying harvests down to ~20% BA removal. These results can then be used to monitor the accuracy of the NWOS, and to develop a probability estimate of harvest given either ownership change or changes in market conditions

Determining Optimal Video Length for the Estimation of Building Height through Radial Displacement Measurement from Space

We presented a methodology for estimating building heights in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, using a high definition video (HDV) recorded from the International Space Station. We developed an iterative routine based on multiresolution image segmentation to track the radial displacement of building roofs over the course of the HDV, and to predict the building heights using an ordinary least-squares regression model. The linear relationship between the length of the tracking vector and the height of the buildings was excellent (r² ≤ 0.89, RMSE ≤ 8.85 m, p < 0.01). Notably, the accuracy of the height estimates was not improved considerably beyond 10 s of outline tracking, revealing an optimal video length for estimating the height or elevation of terrestrial features. HDVs are demonstrated to be a viable and effective data source for target tracking and building height prediction when high resolution imagery, spectral information, and/or topographic data from other sources are not available.Forestry, Faculty ofForest Resources Management, Department ofReviewedFacult

Technological Advancement in Tower-Based Canopy Reflectance Monitoring: The AMSPEC-III System

Understanding plant photosynthesis, or Gross Primary Production (GPP), is a crucial aspect of quantifying the terrestrial carbon cycle. Remote sensing approaches, in particular multi-angular spectroscopy, have proven successful for studying relationships between canopy-reflectance and plant-physiology processes, thus providing a mechanism to scale up. However, many different instrumentation designs exist and few cross-comparisons have been undertaken. This paper discusses the design evolution of the Automated Multiangular SPectro-radiometer for Estimation of Canopy reflectance (AMSPEC) series of instruments. Specifically, we assess the performance of the PP-Systems Unispec-DC and Ocean Optics JAZ-COMBO spectro-radiometers installed on an updated, tower-based AMSPEC-III system. We demonstrate the interoperability of these spectro-radiometers, and the results obtained suggest that JAZ-COMBO can successfully be used to substitute more expensive measurement units for detecting and investigating photosynthesis and canopy spectra. We demonstrate close correlations between JAZ-COMBO and Unispec-DC measured canopy radiance (0.75 ? R2 ? 0.85) and solar irradiance (0.95 ? R2 ? 0.96) over a three month time span. We also demonstrate close agreement between the bi-directional distribution functions obtained from each instrument. We conclude that cost effective alternatives may allow a network of AMSPEC-III systems to simultaneously monitor various vegetation types in different ecosystems. This will allow to scale and improve our understanding of the interactions between vegetation physiology and spectral characteristics, calibrate broad-scale observations to stand-level measurements, and ultimately lead to improved understanding of changing vegetation spectral features from satellite

Technological Advancement in Tower-Based Canopy Reflectance Monitoring: The AMSPEC-III System

Understanding plant photosynthesis, or Gross Primary Production (GPP), is a crucial aspect of quantifying the terrestrial carbon cycle. Remote sensing approaches, in particular multi-angular spectroscopy, have proven successful for studying relationships between canopy-reflectance and plant-physiology processes, thus providing a mechanism to scale up. However, many different instrumentation designs exist and few cross-comparisons have been undertaken. This paper discusses the design evolution of the Automated Multiangular SPectro-radiometer for Estimation of Canopy reflectance (AMSPEC) series of instruments. Specifically, we assess the performance of the PP-Systems Unispec-DC and Ocean Optics JAZ-COMBO spectro-radiometers installed on an updated, tower-based AMSPEC-III system. We demonstrate the interoperability of these spectro-radiometers, and the results obtained suggest that JAZ-COMBO can successfully be used to substitute more expensive measurement units for detecting and investigating photosynthesis and canopy spectra. We demonstrate close correlations between JAZ-COMBO and Unispec-DC measured canopy radiance (0.75 ≤ R² ≤ 0.85) and solar irradiance (0.95 ≤ R² ≤ 0.96) over a three month time span. We also demonstrate close agreement between the bi-directional distribution functions obtained from each instrument. We conclude that cost effective alternatives may allow a network of AMSPEC-III systems to simultaneously monitor various vegetation types in different ecosystems. This will allow to scale and improve our understanding of the interactions between vegetation physiology and spectral characteristics, calibrate broad-scale observations to stand-level measurements, and ultimately lead to improved understanding of changing vegetation spectral features from satellite.Forestry, Faculty ofLand and Food Systems, Faculty ofOther UBCNon UBCForest Resources Management, Department ofReviewedFacult

Seeing the faults from the hummocks: Tectonic or landslide fault discrimination with LiDAR at Mt Shasta, California

© 2015 Tortini,van Wyk de Vries and Carn. The detection of active faults around volcanoes is of importance for both seismic and volcanic hazard assessment. The lower flanks of volcanoes are, however, often covered by debris avalanche deposits (DADs) that are highly faulted during transport. Such areas are dissected by faults that delineate deposit hummocks, making it hard to differentiate tectonic from landslide structures. Detailed analysis of DAD surface morphology can detect fault trends not compatible with landslide emplacement, but which do follow regional trends or cut hummocks. Indeed, neotectonic faults may also cut across avalanche structure and morphology and thus be distinguishable. We present evidence of neotectonic deformation along a north-south trending fault, cutting across the 300ka BP Mt Shasta DAD. The fault was identified on an airborne LiDAR campaign and then confirmed in the field. The discovery emphasizes the value of high-resolution topographic mapping of such areas, and exposes a previously unknown fault. In this particular case the identified fault is not long, and may not present a strong seismic hazard to the sparsely populated area, but the full area of the DAD has not been mapped and there are suggestions from lower resolution datasets that other faults may be present outside the LiDAR coverage, indicating that the Shasta basin could be more seismically active than presently thought. We speculate that this may be part of a westward extension of the Klamath basin rifting. Many DADs at the base of other volcanoes are highly populated and fault detection in these zones could have a significant impact on hazard assessment

An innovative application of the kinect in earth sciences: Quantifying deformation in analogue modelling of volcanoes

Measuring surface deformation is critical in analogue modelling of Earth science phenomena. Here, we present a novel application of the Microsoft Kinect sensor to measure vertical deformation in a scaled analogue model of Nisyros volcano (Greece), simulating two magmatic sources and related surface deformation. The Kinect permits capture of real time, 640 × 480 pixel, true-colour images (RGB) and a grid of distances to the modelled surface with a horizontal and vertical resolution of ±1 mm. Using recorded distances permits quantification of vertical deformation in terms of maximum and average down- and uplift during deflation and inflation phases respectively, which is of crucial importance for defining the kinematics of faults formed during the modelling, determined from interpretation of the RGB images. Although other techniques have demonstrated similar or higher accuracy, our study demonstrates the cost-effectiveness of the Kinect in analogue modelling of volcanoes. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd