Leyla Karami; Seyed Mohammad Tavakkoli Sabour; Ali Asghar Torahi
Abstract
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Vegetation is considered to be one of the most important elements in all major ecosystems on the Earth. Thus, a proper understanding of vegetation and its growth trends and other environmental factors has always been of particular importance for environmental research. ...
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Extended Abstract
Introduction
Vegetation is considered to be one of the most important elements in all major ecosystems on the Earth. Thus, a proper understanding of vegetation and its growth trends and other environmental factors has always been of particular importance for environmental research. Estimating vegetation phenology parameters (VPPs) requires continuous NDVI data collection over a specific period of time. However, soil moisture, cloud cover, and particulate matter may affect the energy reflected from the vegetation cover and result in noisy images or erroneous data. Vegetation phenology parameters cannot be extracted from raw data due to the presence of random errors. These errors do not follow the phenological process and thus, overestimate or underestimate NDVI and fail to produce accurate results. Smoothing functions and especially the TIMESAT model are used to resolve this issue and eliminate errors in the NDVI time series. There is still no general consensus on which function acts more efficient and accurate in the TIMESAT model especially regarding the highlands. Naturally, each method yields different results in different regions, and thus it is necessary to compare and evaluate different functions used in the TIMESAT model and determine their accuracy in producing a continuous time series. The present study aimed to evaluate the performance of various functions such as asymmetric Gaussian (AG), double-logistic (DL), and Savitzky–Golay (SG) used to extract VPPs especially in mountainous regions.
Materials and Methods
TIMESAT model is a time-series analysis model based on remote sensing (RS) vegetation indices. It includes three functions: Savitzky–Golay, asymmetric Gaussian, and double-logistic, which are used to smooth collected data and identify outliers. Savitzky–Golay is an adaptive-degree polynomial filter (ADPF). The other two functions fit the information using nonlinear functions. These functions use unmodified NDVI data as input to produce modified and smoothed NDVI output. Four wheat farms in cold and warm regions of Khorramabad were used in the present study to investigate plant phenological behaviors and extract VPPs. The northern and eastern parts of Khorramabad have a cold climate, while the southern and western parts have a warm climate. One-year time series (2020) data of MODIS sensor was used in the present study. Using the infrared and near-infrared spectral reflectance values, NDVI was calculated in the Google Earth Engine environment. Errors of the NDVI time series were first corrected and a phenology curve was produced for wheat in both warm and cold farms. Asymmetric Gaussian, double-logistic, and Savitzky–Golay filter functions were also used to adapt the NDVI data. Following the reconstruction of growth curves in the time series of vegetation indices and smoothing the curve, various VPPs such as start of the season (SOS), end of the season (EOS), middle of the season (MOS), length of the growing season (LOS), base limit and value, maximum NDVI, vegetation growth season range, large seasonal integral, and small seasonal integral were extracted.
Results and Discussion
The model indicated that on average, beginning of the wheat growing season (SOS) in the warm regions of Khoramabad coincided with the 31.5th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar, whereas it happened on the 90th day of the year in the cold regions, thus indicating a 1.5-2 month difference between the beginning of the wheat growing season in cold and warm regions. The wheat growing season ended (EOS) on the 163rd day of year in the warm regions and on the 193rd day in the cold regions. In addition, in order to analyze the effect of climate on VPPs such as SOS and EOS, a comparison was made between the parameters obtained from farms in warm and cold regions. On average, the peak of vegetation growth has occurred in late March (Mar. 28, 2020) in farms of warm regions while cold regions experienced the peak of growth on May 20, 2020. In other words, warm regions have experienced peak growth approximately two months earlier than cold regions. Finally, the models were assessed and obtained values were compared with ground-based data collected in field surveys. Validation results showed that with an average RMSE of 2, Savitzky–Golay smoothing model reconstruct data more accurately as compared to asymmetric Gaussian, and double logistic function with an RMSE of 4 and 11, respectively. In other words, Savitzky–Golay estimates SOS and EOS with a higher accuracy and lower errors.
Conclusion
Findings indicate that Savitzky–Golay filter outperformed asymmetric Gaussian and double logistic functions in extracting VPPs in mountainous areas. Accordingly, it is suggested to use Savitzky–Golay in future studies aiming to investigate the phenological behavior of different vegetation covers in other Iranian highlands. The study has also showed that different climatic conditions within the study area affect plant phenological behaviors, which can lead to differences in SOS, peak of growing season, and EOS in different cold and warm regions of the province. Growing season of plants in cold regions of the province has occurred with an approximately two-month delay compared to the warm regions of the province.
Hamid Reza Ghafarian Malamiri; Hadi Zare Khormizi
Abstract
Introduction Investigation of vegetation changes can provide valuable information on global warming, the carbon cycle,water cycle and energy exchange. Satellite imagery timeseriesandremote sensing techniques offers a great deal of information on variations and dynamics of vegetation. Harmonic ANalysis ...
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Introduction Investigation of vegetation changes can provide valuable information on global warming, the carbon cycle,water cycle and energy exchange. Satellite imagery timeseriesandremote sensing techniques offers a great deal of information on variations and dynamics of vegetation. Harmonic ANalysis of Time Series (HANTS) has been effectively used to eliminate missing and outliers in time series of vegetation indices and land surface temperature (LST). However, the algorithm has been less frequently used to detect changes in vegetation and phenology. HANTSalgorithm decomposes periodic phenomena into their components(different sines and cosineswith different amplitudes and phases). The value of phases and amplitudes contains valuable information that can be used to investigate variations and identify different characteristics of vegetation such as growth and phenology. The present study aims to determine changes in each componentof vegetation time series in Iranin the past (1982, 1983, 1984 and 1985) and in recent years (2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018). Materials & Methods A daily NDVI product of AVHRR sensor, with a resolution of 0.05 at 0.05 ° (i.e. AVH13C1) was used in the present study. To obtain reliable harmonic components (amplitude and phase images), a reliable curve has to be fitted on the primary time series data. To do so, first,parameters of HANTS algorithm were determined and then Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of the curves fitted on data related to four one-year time series in the past year’s category (1982, 1983, 1984 and 1985) and four one-year time series in recent year’s category (2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018) was estimated. This classification (i.e. four one-year time series in the past and recent years) was used for two reasons. First, extraction and comparison of harmonic components in a single time series in the past and recentyears’ categories cannot reflect real changes, as these changes may occur under the influence ofimpermanent dynamics of vegetation, such as dryor wet periods. Second, with four one-year time series in the past category (1982, 1983, 1984 and 1985), and four one-year time series (2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018) in recent years, statistical comparison of the harmonic components through one-way analysis of variance becomes possible. Following the production of reliable harmonic components, variations of the harmonic components in recent years were compared with their variations in the past using difference method, and mean difference of the harmonic components’value in four one-year time seriesin the past and present categories wasdetermined using one-way analysis of variance. Finally, some maps were produced to exhibitthe significance of differenceinmeans. Results & Discussion According to the findings of the present study, mean RMSE of the fitted curves in the four one-year periods ofpresent and past time series were always less than 0.1 unit of NDVI. Moreover, mean RMSEof total area of Iranin the past and present time series were 0.037 and 0.039, respectively. This demonstrates high efficiency of the HANTS algorithm in elimination of missing and outlier data in the daily-NDVI time series ofNOAA-AVHRR. Results indicate thatrange of zero amplitude (the mean value of NDVI or the average vegetation coverage) decreasesin the central, eastern and northeastern regions of Iran atthe 95% probability level (F-value <0.05), whileit increases significantly (F-value <0.05)in the north, northwestern and western regions (especially, the Alborz and Zagros mountains). The meandifferenceof phases value in the four-time series of the past and recent years’categories wassignificant at the 95% probability level (F-value <0.05). Compared to the past time series, first harmonic phase average of total area of Iran in the new time series has decreased by almost 14 degrees. This decrease in the value of the annual and 6-month phases indicates a quicker growth phase and phenological processes of plants compared to past times. Conclusion Results indicated that HANTS algorithm can effectively eliminateand reconstruct outliers in the NDVI time series. Zero harmonic (mean value) represents the overall level of vegetation cover and the firstharmonic phase in a one-year time series determines the starting time of growth in seasonal plants or thosewith agrowth period of6-month or less. Annual Phase indicates the angular starting position of the annual cycles and the 6-month phase inherently indicates the fluctuation and angular position of a half-year or 6-month curve. However, interpreting 6-month amplitude and phases are difficult. As most changes are controlled by the first harmonic phase, the first harmonic phase in a one-year time series contains important information about the beginning of growth and the phenological processes of plants. Therefore, harmonic components of a periodic time series canbeusedto identify and determine changes in vegetation coverage and phenological processes.