Forest Cover Change Monitoring with PROBA-V: Potentials and Limitations on European Terrain

摘要

The VEGETATION instruments onboard SPOT 4 and SPOT 5 satellites provide daily coverage of the Earth and means of monitoring terrestrial vegetation at regional and global scales. Such data see use in the forestry section, particularly in the forest mapping and change detection. However, those instruments will only be available until the middle of 2012. The series of Sentinel 3 satellites, which are to provide data similar to VEGETATION, are not expected to be operational for at least two years following the end of VEGETATION operation. Based on the PROBA expertise, Belgium has decided to build the PROBA-V satellite, which will continue to satisfy the users' needs during that gap and subsequently supplement the Sentinel series. The PROBA-V mission will have improved spatial resolution (up to 1/3 of a Km), in comparison to the VEGETATION instrument, while maintaining the capability of daily global coverage. This potentially presents new opportunities for forest monitoring at a global scale. The increased spatial resolution is expected to improve the spatial detail in mapping forested areas, and assess sudden changes in forest cover caused by catastrophic events, such as forest fires of storm damage. The mapping accuracy is quantified based on the comparison between spatially degraded versions of the JRC Forest Cover Map of 2006 from 25 metres to 1/3 and 1 Km. Furthermore, a series of semi-automatic classification methods are assessed, using simulated PROBA-V data, in order to determine the most efficient change detection methodology, on locations at five bio-geographical regions in Europe (Alpine, Atlantic, Boreal, Continental, and Mediterranean). Results could be employed at an operational level for the support the existing forest monitoring services and/ or Regional and National governments for the establishment of a more localized forest monitoring operation.