Detection of windthrows and insect outbreaks by L-band SAR: A case study in the Bavarian Forest National Park

REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT

卷:209

Article

Tanase, Mihai A.^1,2  Aponte, Cristina²  Mermoz, Stephan³  Bouvet, Alexandre³  Thuy Le Toan³  Heurich, Marco^4,5 

[1] Univ Alcala, Dept Geol Geog & Environm, C Colegios 2, Alcala De Henares 28801, Spain

[2] Univ Melbourne, Sch Ecosyst & Forest Sci, Parkville, Vic 3052, Australia

[3] Univ Paul Sabatier, Ctr Study Biosphere Space, 18 Av Edouard Belin, F-2801 Toulouse, France

[4] Dept Conservat & Res, Bavarian Forest Natl Pk,Freyunger Str 2, D-94481 Grafenau, Germany

[5] Univ Freiburg, Chair Wildlife Ecol & Wildlife Management, Tennenbacher Str 4, D-79106 Freiburg, Germany

关键词: Insect outbreaks;    Windthrows;    Bark beetle;    L-band SAR;    ALOS PALSAR;    Forest disturbance;    Change detection;    Radar change ratio;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.rse.2018.03.009

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Natural disturbances significantly influence forest ecosystem services and biodiversity. Accurate delineation and early detection of areas affected by wind and insect outbreaks are crucial for guiding management decisions. To this end, past studies relied mostly on passive sensors (e.g., optical), and active sensors (i.e., radar) were rarely used. This study used L-band space-borne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) within a change-detection framework to delineate forested areas affected by wind and insect disturbances. The results showed that changes in back scatter relate to damage caused by wind and insect outbreaks. Overall accuracies of 69-84% and 65-88% were obtained for delineation of areas affected by wind damage and insect outbreaks, respectively, depending on the acquisition date and environmental conditions. Areas susceptible to insect outbreaks or experiencing the initial outbreak phase (green) were detected with lower accuracies (64-74%). It is expected that L-band space-borne SAR data can be applied over larger areas and ecosystem types in the temperate and boreal regions to delineate and detect damaged areas.

【 授权许可】

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