Hyperion, IKONOS, ALI, and ETM+ sensors in the study of African rainforests

Autor: Prasad S. Thenkabail, Christopher Legg, Minko Jean De Dieu, Eden A Enclona, Mark S. Ashton
Rok vydání: 2004
Předmět:
Zdroj: Remote Sensing of Environment. 90:23-43
ISSN: 0034-4257
DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2003.11.018
Popis: The goal of this research was to compare narrowband hyperspectral Hyperion data with broadband hyperspatial IKONOS data and advanced multispectral Advanced Land Imager (ALI) and Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) data through modeling and classifying complex rainforest vegetation. For this purpose, Hyperion, ALI, IKONOS, and ETM+ data were acquired for southern Cameroon, a region considered to be a representative area for tropical moist evergreen and semi-deciduous forests. Field data, collected in near-real time to coincide with satellite sensor overpass, were used to (1) quantify and model the biomass of tree, shrub, and weed species; and (2) characterize forest land use/land cover (LULC) classes. The study established that even the most advanced broadband sensors (i.e., ETM+, IKONOS, and ALI) had serious limitations in modeling biomass and in classifying forest LULC classes. The broadband models explained only 13–60% of the variability in biomass across primary forests, secondary forests, and fallows. The overall accuracies were between 42% and 51% for classifying nine complex rainforest LULC classes using the broadband data of these sensors. Within individual vegetation types (e.g., primary or secondary forest), the overall accuracies increased slightly, but followed a similar trend. Among the broadband sensors, ALI sensor performed better than the IKONOS and ETM+ sensors. When compared to the three broadband sensors, Hyperion narrowband data produced (1) models that explained 36–83% more of the variability in rainforest biomass, and (2) LULC classifications with 45–52% higher overall accuracies. Twenty-three Hyperion narrowbands that were most sensitive in modeling forest biomass and in classifying forest LULC classes were identified and discussed.
Databáze: OpenAIRE