scholarly journals Modelling Daily Gross Primary Productivity with Sentinel-2 Data in the Nordic Region–Comparison with Data from MODIS

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 469
Author(s):  
Zhanzhang Cai ◽  
Sofia Junttila ◽  
Jutta Holst ◽  
Hongxiao Jin ◽  
Jonas Ardö ◽  
...  

The high-resolution Sentinel-2 data potentially enable the estimation of gross primary productivity (GPP) at finer spatial resolution by better capturing the spatial variation in a heterogeneous landscapes. This study investigates the potential of 10 m resolution reflectance from the Sentinel-2 Multispectral Instrument to improve the accuracy of GPP estimation across Nordic vegetation types, compared with the 250 m and 500 m resolution reflectance from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). We applied linear regression models with inputs of two-band enhanced vegetation index (EVI2) derived from Sentinel-2 and MODIS reflectance, respectively, together with various environmental drivers to estimate daily GPP at eight Nordic eddy covariance (EC) flux tower sites. Compared with the GPP from EC measurements, the accuracies of modelled GPP were generally high (R2 = 0.84 for Sentinel-2; R2 = 0.83 for MODIS), and the differences between Sentinel-2 and MODIS were minimal. This demonstrates the general consistency in GPP estimates based on the two satellite sensor systems at the Nordic regional scale. On the other hand, the model accuracy did not improve by using the higher spatial-resolution Sentinel-2 data. More analyses of different model formulations, more tests of remotely sensed indices and biophysical parameters, and analyses across a wider range of geographical locations and times will be required to achieve improved GPP estimations from Sentinel-2 satellite data.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (15) ◽  
pp. 1823 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaojuan Huang ◽  
Jingfeng Xiao ◽  
Mingguo Ma

Satellite-derived vegetation indices (VIs) have been widely used to approximate or estimate gross primary productivity (GPP). However, it remains unclear how the VI-GPP relationship varies with indices, biomes, timescales, and the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) effect. We examined the relationship between VIs and GPP for 121 FLUXNET sites across the globe and assessed how the VI-GPP relationship varied among a variety of biomes at both monthly and annual timescales. We used three widely-used VIs: normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI), and 2-band EVI (EVI2) as well as a new VI - NIRV and used surface reflectance both with and without BRDF correction from the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) to calculate these indices. The resulting traditional (NDVI, EVI, EVI2, and NIRV) and BRDF-corrected (NDVIBRDF, EVIBRDF, EVI2BRDF, and NIRV, BRDF) VIs were used to examine the VI-GPP relationship. At the monthly scale, all VIs were moderate or strong predictors of GPP, and the BRDF correction improved their performance. EVI2BRDF and NIRV, BRDF had similar performance in capturing the variations in tower GPP as did the MODIS GPP product. The VIs explained lower variance in tower GPP at the annual scale than at the monthly scale. The BRDF-correction of surface reflectance did not improve the VI-GPP relationship at the annual scale. The VIs had similar capability in capturing the interannual variability in tower GPP as MODIS GPP. VIs were influenced by temperature and water stresses and were more sensitive to temperature stress than to water stress. VIs in combination with environmental factors could improve the prediction of GPP than VIs alone. Our findings can help us better understand how the VI-GPP relationship varies among indices, biomes, and timescales and how the BRDF effect influences the VI-GPP relationship.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shangrong Lin ◽  
Jing Li ◽  
Qinhuo Liu ◽  
Longhui Li ◽  
Jing Zhao ◽  
...  

Gross primary productivity (GPP) is the most important component of terrestrial carbon flux. Red-edge (680–780 nm) reflectance is sensitive to leaf chlorophyll content, which is directly correlated with photosynthesis as the pigment pool, and it has the potential to improve GPP estimation. The European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel-2A and B satellites provide red-edge bands at 20-m spatial resolution on a five-day revisit period, which can be used for global estimation of GPP. Previous studies focused mostly on improving cropland GPP estimation using red-edge bands. In this study, we firstly evaluated the relationship between eight vegetation indices (VIs) retrieved from Sentinel-2 imagery in association with incident photosynthetic active radiation (PARin) and carbon flux tower GPP (GPPEC) across three forest and two grassland sites in Australia. We derived a time series of five red-edge VIs and three non-red-edge VIs over the CO2 flux tower footprints at 16-day time intervals and compared both temporal and spatial variations. The results showed that the relationship between the red-edge index (CIr, ρ 783 ρ 705 − 1 ) multiplied by PARin and GPPEC had the highest correlation (R2 = 0.77, root-mean-square error (RMSE) = 0.81 gC∙m−2∙day−1) at the two grassland sites. The CIr also showed consistency (rRMSE defined as RMSE/mean GPP, lower than 0.25) across forest and grassland sites. The high spatial resolution of the Sentinel-2 data provided more detailed information to adequately characterize the GPP variance at spatially heterogeneous areas. The high revisit period of Sentinel-2 exhibited temporal variance in GPP at the grassland sites; however, at forest sites, the flux-tower-based GPP variance could not be fully tracked by the limited satellite images. These results suggest that the high-spatial-resolution red-edge index from Sentinel-2 can improve large-scale spatio-temporal GPP assessments.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-298
Author(s):  
Chongya Jiang ◽  
Kaiyu Guan ◽  
Genghong Wu ◽  
Bin Peng ◽  
Sheng Wang

Abstract. Gross primary productivity (GPP) quantifies the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) fixed by plants through photosynthesis. Although as a key quantity of terrestrial ecosystems, there is a lack of high-spatial-and-temporal-resolution, real-time and observation-based GPP products. To address this critical gap, here we leverage a state-of-the-art vegetation index, near-infrared reflectance of vegetation (NIRV), along with accurate photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), to produce a SatelLite Only Photosynthesis Estimation (SLOPE) GPP product for the contiguous United States (CONUS). Compared to existing GPP products, the proposed SLOPE product is advanced in its spatial resolution (250 m versus >500 m), temporal resolution (daily versus 8 d), instantaneity (latency of 1 d versus >2 weeks) and quantitative uncertainty (on a per-pixel and daily basis versus no uncertainty information available). These characteristics are achieved because of several technical innovations employed in this study: (1) SLOPE couples machine learning models with MODIS atmosphere and land products to accurately estimate PAR. (2) SLOPE couples highly efficient and pragmatic gap-filling and filtering algorithms with surface reflectance acquired by both Terra and Aqua MODIS satellites to derive a soil-adjusted NIRV (SANIRV) dataset. (3) SLOPE couples a temporal pattern recognition approach with a long-term Cropland Data Layer (CDL) product to predict dynamic C4 crop fraction. Through developing a parsimonious model with only two slope parameters, the proposed SLOPE product explains 85 % of the spatial and temporal variations in GPP acquired from 49 AmeriFlux eddy-covariance sites (324 site years), with a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 1.63 gC m−2 d−1. The median R2 over C3 and C4 crop sites reaches 0.87 and 0.94, respectively, indicating great potentials for monitoring crops, in particular bioenergy crops, at the field level. With such a satisfactory performance and its distinct characteristics in spatiotemporal resolution and instantaneity, the proposed SLOPE GPP product is promising for biological and environmental research, carbon cycle research, and a broad range of real-time applications at the regional scale. The archived dataset is available at https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1786 (download page: https://daac.ornl.gov/daacdata/cms/SLOPE_GPP_CONUS/data/, last access: 20 January 2021) (Jiang and Guan, 2020), and the real-time dataset is available upon request.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1927 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhijiang Zhang ◽  
Lin Zhao ◽  
Aiwen Lin

Accurate and reliable estimation of gross primary productivity (GPP) is of great significance in monitoring global carbon cycles. The fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FAPAR) and vegetation index products of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are currently the most widely used data in evaluating GPP. The launch of the Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) onboard the Sentinel-3 satellite provides the FAPAR and the OLCI Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index (OTCI) products with higher temporal resolution and smoother spatial distribution than MODIS, having the potential to monitor terrain GPP. OTCI is one of the red-edge indices and is particularly sensitive to canopy chlorophyll content related to GPP. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the performance of OLCI FAPAR and OTCI for the estimation of GPP across seven biomes in 2017–2018. To this end, OLCI FAPAR and OTCI products in combination with insitu meteorological data were first integrated into the MODIS GPP algorithm and in three OTCI-driven models to simulate GPP. The modeled GPP (GPPOLCI-FAPAR and GPPOTCI) were then compared with flux tower GPP (GPPEC) for each site. Furthermore, the GPPOLCI-FAPAR and GPP derived from the MODIS FAPAR (GPPMODIS-FAPAR) were compared. Results showed that the performance of GPPOLCI-FAPAR was varied in different sites, with the highest R2 of 0.76 and lowest R2 of 0.45. The OTCI-driven models that include APAR data exhibited a significant relationship with GPPEC for all sites, and models using only OTCI provided the most varied performance, with the relationship between GPPOTCI and GPPEC from strong to nonsignificant. Moreover, GPPOLCI-FAPAR (R2 = 0.55) performed better than GPPMODIS-FAPAR (R2 = 0.44) across all biomes. These results demonstrate the potential of OLCI FAPAR and OTCI products in GPP estimation, and they also provide the basis for their combination with the soon-to-launch Fluorescence Explorer satellite and their integration with the Sentinel-3 land surface temperature product into light use models for GPP monitoring at regional and global scales.


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 505
Author(s):  
Gregoriy Kaplan ◽  
Offer Rozenstein

Satellite remote sensing is a useful tool for estimating crop variables, particularly Leaf Area Index (LAI), which plays a pivotal role in monitoring crop development. The goal of this study was to identify the optimal Sentinel-2 bands for LAI estimation and to derive Vegetation Indices (VI) that are well correlated with LAI. Linear regression models between time series of Sentinel-2 imagery and field-measured LAI showed that Sentinel-2 Band-8A—Narrow Near InfraRed (NIR) is more accurate for LAI estimation than the traditionally used Band-8 (NIR). Band-5 (Red edge-1) showed the lowest performance out of all red edge bands in tomato and cotton. A novel finding was that Band 9 (Water vapor) showed a very high correlation with LAI. Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11, and 12 were saturated at LAI ≈ 3 in cotton and tomato. Bands 6, 7, 8, 8A, and 9 were not saturated at high LAI values in cotton and tomato. The tomato, cotton, and wheat LAI estimation performance of ReNDVI (R2 = 0.79, 0.98, 0.83, respectively) and two new VIs (WEVI (Water vapor red Edge Vegetation Index) (R2 = 0.81, 0.96, 0.71, respectively) and WNEVI (Water vapor narrow NIR red Edge Vegetation index) (R2 = 0.79, 0.98, 0.79, respectively)) were higher than the LAI estimation performance of the commonly used NDVI (R2 = 0.66, 0.83, 0.05, respectively) and other common VIs tested in this study. Consequently, reNDVI, WEVI, and WNEVI can facilitate more accurate agricultural monitoring than traditional VIs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3459
Author(s):  
Shu-Di Fan ◽  
Yue-Ming Hu ◽  
Lu Wang ◽  
Zhen-Hua Liu ◽  
Zhou Shi ◽  
...  

To increase the spatial resolution of Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP), this study modifies the downscaling factor model based on the Temperature Vegetation Drought Index (TVDI) using data from the Project for On-Board Autonomy (PROBA-V). In the modified model, TVDI parameters were derived from the temperature-vegetation space and the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI). This study was conducted in the north China region using SMAP, PROBA-V, and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer satellite images. The 9-km spatial resolution SMAP data was downscaled to 0.3-km spatial resolution soil moisture using a modified downscaling method. Downscaling accuracies from the original and modified downscaling factor models were compared based on field observations. The results show that both methods generated similar spatial distributions in which soil moisture estimates increased as vegetation coverage increased from built-up areas to forest. However, based on the root mean square error between observations and estimations, the modified model demonstrated an increased estimation accuracy of 4.2% for soil moisture compared to the original method. This study also implies that downscaled soil moisture shows promise as a data source for subsequent watershed scale studies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Potter ◽  
Olivia Alexander

Understanding trends in vegetation phenology and growing season productivity at a regional scale is important for global change studies, particularly as linkages can be made between climate shifts and the vegetation’s potential to sequester or release carbon into the atmosphere. Trends and geographic patterns of change in vegetation growth and phenology from the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite data sets were analyzed for the state of Alaska over the period 2000 to 2018. Phenology metrics derived from the MODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time-series at 250 m resolution tracked changes in the total integrated greenness cover (TIN), maximum annual NDVI (MAXN), and start of the season timing (SOST) date over the past two decades. SOST trends showed significantly earlier seasonal vegetation greening (at more than one day per year) across the northeastern Brooks Range Mountains, on the Yukon-Kuskokwim coastal plain, and in the southern coastal areas of Alaska. TIN and MAXN have increased significantly across the western Arctic Coastal Plain and within the perimeters of most large wildfires of the Interior boreal region that burned since the year 2000, whereas TIN and MAXN have decreased notably in watersheds of Bristol Bay and in the Cook Inlet lowlands of southwestern Alaska, in the same regions where earlier-trending SOST was also detected. Mapping results from this MODIS time-series analysis have identified a new database of localized study locations across Alaska where vegetation phenology has recently shifted notably, and where land cover types and ecosystem processes could be changing rapidly.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (13) ◽  
pp. 2104
Author(s):  
Maral Maleki ◽  
Nicola Arriga ◽  
José Miguel Barrios ◽  
Sebastian Wieneke ◽  
Qiang Liu ◽  
...  

This study aimed to understand which vegetation indices (VIs) are an ideal proxy for describing phenology and interannual variability of Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) in short-rotation coppice (SRC) plantations. Canopy structure- and chlorophyll-sensitive VIs derived from Sentinel-2 images were used to estimate the start and end of the growing season (SOS and EOS, respectively) during the period 2016–2018, for an SRC poplar (Populus spp.) plantation in Lochristi (Belgium). Three different filtering methods (Savitzky–Golay (SavGol), polynomial (Polyfit) and Harmonic Analysis of Time Series (HANTS)) and five SOS- and EOS threshold methods (first derivative function, 10% and 20% percentages and 10% and 20% percentiles) were applied to identify the optimal methods for the determination of phenophases. Our results showed that the MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index (MTCI) had the best fit with GPP phenology, as derived from eddy covariance measurements, in identifying SOS- and EOS-dates. For SOS, the performance was only slightly better than for several other indices, whereas for EOS, MTCI performed markedly better. The relationship between SOS/EOS derived from GPP and VIs varied interannually. MTCI described best the seasonal pattern of the SRC plantation’s GPP (R2 = 0.52 when combining all three years). However, during the extreme dry year 2018, the Chlorophyll Red Edge Index performed slightly better in reproducing growing season GPP variability than MTCI (R2 = 0.59; R2 = 0.49, respectively). Regarding smoothing functions, Polyfit and HANTS methods showed the best (and very similar) performances. We further found that defining SOS as the date at which the 10% or 20% percentile occurred, yielded the best agreement between the VIs and the GPP; while for EOS the dates of the 10% percentile threshold came out as the best.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meng Guo ◽  
Jing Li ◽  
Shubo Huang ◽  
Lixiang Wen

Solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) is a novel approach to gain information about plant activity from remote sensing observations. However, there are currently no continuous SIF data produced at high spatial resolutions. Many previous studies have discussed the relationship between SIF and gross primary production (GPP) and showed a significant correlation between them, but few researchers have focused on forests, which are one the most important terrestrial ecosystems. This study takes Greater Khingan Mountains, a typical boreal forest in China, as an example to explore the feasibility of using MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) products and Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) SIF data to simulate continuous SIF at higher spatial resolutions. The results show that there is no significant correlation between SIF and MODIS GPP at a spatial resolution of 1 km; however, significant correlations between SIF and the enhanced vegetation index (EVI) were found during growing seasons. Furthermore, the broadleaf forest has a higher SIF than coniferous forest because of the difference in leaf and canopy bio-chemical and structural characteristic. When using MODIS EVI to model SIF, linear regression models show average performance (R2 = 0.58, Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) = 0.14 from Julian day 145 to 257) at a 16-day time scale. However, when using MODIS EVI and temperature, multiple regressions perform better (R2 = 0.71, RMSE = 0.13 from Julian day 145 to 241). An important contribution of this paper is the analysis of the relationships between SIF and vegetation indices at different spatial resolutions and the finding that the relationships became closer with a decrease in spatial resolution. From this research, we conclude that the SIF of the boreal forest investigated can mainly be explained by EVI and air temperature.


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