Seasonal variation of land cover classification accuracy of Landsat 8 images in Burkina Faso

In the seasonal tropics, vegetation shows large reflectance variation because of phenology, which complicates land cover change monitoring. Ideally, multi-temporal images for change monitoring should be from the same season, but availability of cloud-free images is limited in wet season in compariso...

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Main Authors: J. Liu, J. Heiskanen, E. Aynekulu, P. K. E. Pellikka
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2015-04-01
Series:The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences
Online Access:http://www.int-arch-photogramm-remote-sens-spatial-inf-sci.net/XL-7-W3/455/2015/isprsarchives-XL-7-W3-455-2015.pdf
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author J. Liu
J. Heiskanen
E. Aynekulu
P. K. E. Pellikka
author_facet J. Liu
J. Heiskanen
E. Aynekulu
P. K. E. Pellikka
author_sort J. Liu
collection DOAJ
description In the seasonal tropics, vegetation shows large reflectance variation because of phenology, which complicates land cover change monitoring. Ideally, multi-temporal images for change monitoring should be from the same season, but availability of cloud-free images is limited in wet season in comparison to dry season. Our aim was to investigate how land cover classification accuracy depends on the season in southern Burkina Faso by analyzing 14 Landsat 8 OLI images from April 2013 to April 2014. Because all the images were acquired within one year, we assumed that most of the observed variation between the images was due to phenology. All the images were cloud masked and atmospherically corrected. Field data was collected from 160 field plots located within a 10 km × 10 km study area between December 2013 and February 2014. The plots were classified to closed forest, open forest and cropland, and used as training and validation data. Random forest classifier was employed for classifications. According to the results, there is a tendency for higher classification accuracy towards the dry season. The highest classification accuracy was provided by an image from December, which corresponds to the dry season and minimum NDVI period. In contrast, an image from October, which corresponds to the wet season and maximum NDVI period provided the lowest accuracy. Furthermore, the multi-temporal classification based on dry and wet season images had higher accuracy than single image classifications, but the improvement was small because seasonal changes affect similarly to the different land cover classes.
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spelling doaj.art-3286f19c73654e8f9dab15d8295dc38e2022-12-21T18:58:15ZengCopernicus PublicationsThe International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences1682-17502194-90342015-04-01XL-7/W345546010.5194/isprsarchives-XL-7-W3-455-2015Seasonal variation of land cover classification accuracy of Landsat 8 images in Burkina FasoJ. Liu0J. Heiskanen1E. Aynekulu2P. K. E. Pellikka3University of Helsinki, Department of Geosciences and Geography, P.O. Box 64, FI-00014, Helsinki, FinlandUniversity of Helsinki, Department of Geosciences and Geography, P.O. Box 64, FI-00014, Helsinki, FinlandWorld Agroforestry Centre, United Nations Avenue, P.O. Box 30677, Nairobi, 00100, KenyaUniversity of Helsinki, Department of Geosciences and Geography, P.O. Box 64, FI-00014, Helsinki, FinlandIn the seasonal tropics, vegetation shows large reflectance variation because of phenology, which complicates land cover change monitoring. Ideally, multi-temporal images for change monitoring should be from the same season, but availability of cloud-free images is limited in wet season in comparison to dry season. Our aim was to investigate how land cover classification accuracy depends on the season in southern Burkina Faso by analyzing 14 Landsat 8 OLI images from April 2013 to April 2014. Because all the images were acquired within one year, we assumed that most of the observed variation between the images was due to phenology. All the images were cloud masked and atmospherically corrected. Field data was collected from 160 field plots located within a 10 km × 10 km study area between December 2013 and February 2014. The plots were classified to closed forest, open forest and cropland, and used as training and validation data. Random forest classifier was employed for classifications. According to the results, there is a tendency for higher classification accuracy towards the dry season. The highest classification accuracy was provided by an image from December, which corresponds to the dry season and minimum NDVI period. In contrast, an image from October, which corresponds to the wet season and maximum NDVI period provided the lowest accuracy. Furthermore, the multi-temporal classification based on dry and wet season images had higher accuracy than single image classifications, but the improvement was small because seasonal changes affect similarly to the different land cover classes.http://www.int-arch-photogramm-remote-sens-spatial-inf-sci.net/XL-7-W3/455/2015/isprsarchives-XL-7-W3-455-2015.pdf
spellingShingle J. Liu
J. Heiskanen
E. Aynekulu
P. K. E. Pellikka
Seasonal variation of land cover classification accuracy of Landsat 8 images in Burkina Faso
The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences
title Seasonal variation of land cover classification accuracy of Landsat 8 images in Burkina Faso
title_full Seasonal variation of land cover classification accuracy of Landsat 8 images in Burkina Faso
title_fullStr Seasonal variation of land cover classification accuracy of Landsat 8 images in Burkina Faso
title_full_unstemmed Seasonal variation of land cover classification accuracy of Landsat 8 images in Burkina Faso
title_short Seasonal variation of land cover classification accuracy of Landsat 8 images in Burkina Faso
title_sort seasonal variation of land cover classification accuracy of landsat 8 images in burkina faso
url http://www.int-arch-photogramm-remote-sens-spatial-inf-sci.net/XL-7-W3/455/2015/isprsarchives-XL-7-W3-455-2015.pdf
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