Comparison of Thermal Infrared-Derived Maps of Irrigated and Non-Irrigated Vegetation in Urban and Non-Urban Areas of Southern California
It is important to understand the distribution of irrigated and non-irrigated vegetation in rapidly expanding urban areas that are experiencing climate-induced changes in water availability, such as Los Angeles, California. Mapping irrigated vegetation in Los Angeles is necessary for developing sust...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/24/4102 |
| _version_ | 1797544606257119232 |
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| author | Red Willow Coleman Natasha Stavros Glynn Hulley Nicholas Parazoo |
| author_facet | Red Willow Coleman Natasha Stavros Glynn Hulley Nicholas Parazoo |
| author_sort | Red Willow Coleman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | It is important to understand the distribution of irrigated and non-irrigated vegetation in rapidly expanding urban areas that are experiencing climate-induced changes in water availability, such as Los Angeles, California. Mapping irrigated vegetation in Los Angeles is necessary for developing sustainable water use practices and accurately accounting for the megacity’s carbon exchange and water balance changes. However, pre-existing maps of irrigated vegetation are largely limited to agricultural regions and are too coarse to resolve heterogeneous urban landscapes. Previous research suggests that irrigation has a strong cooling effect on vegetation, especially in semi-arid environments. The July 2018 launch of the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) offers an opportunity to test this hypothesis using retrieved land surface temperature (LST) data in complex, heterogeneous urban/non-urban environments. In this study, we leverage Landsat 8 optical imagery and 30 m sharpened afternoon summertime ECOSTRESS LST, then apply very high-resolution (0.6–10 m) vegetation fraction weighting to produce a map of irrigated and non-irrigated vegetation in Los Angeles. This classification was compared to other classifications using different combinations of sensors in order to offer a preliminary accuracy and uncertainty assessment. This approach verifies that ECOSTRESS LST data provides an accurate map (98.2% accuracy) of irrigated urban vegetation in southern California that has the potential to reduce uncertainties in regional carbon and hydrological cycle models. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:02:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-60822b9654b249e7b595aea304210368 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:02:54Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-60822b9654b249e7b595aea3042103682023-11-21T00:57:06ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922020-12-011224410210.3390/rs12244102Comparison of Thermal Infrared-Derived Maps of Irrigated and Non-Irrigated Vegetation in Urban and Non-Urban Areas of Southern CaliforniaRed Willow Coleman0Natasha Stavros1Glynn Hulley2Nicholas Parazoo3Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USAJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USAJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USAJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USAIt is important to understand the distribution of irrigated and non-irrigated vegetation in rapidly expanding urban areas that are experiencing climate-induced changes in water availability, such as Los Angeles, California. Mapping irrigated vegetation in Los Angeles is necessary for developing sustainable water use practices and accurately accounting for the megacity’s carbon exchange and water balance changes. However, pre-existing maps of irrigated vegetation are largely limited to agricultural regions and are too coarse to resolve heterogeneous urban landscapes. Previous research suggests that irrigation has a strong cooling effect on vegetation, especially in semi-arid environments. The July 2018 launch of the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) offers an opportunity to test this hypothesis using retrieved land surface temperature (LST) data in complex, heterogeneous urban/non-urban environments. In this study, we leverage Landsat 8 optical imagery and 30 m sharpened afternoon summertime ECOSTRESS LST, then apply very high-resolution (0.6–10 m) vegetation fraction weighting to produce a map of irrigated and non-irrigated vegetation in Los Angeles. This classification was compared to other classifications using different combinations of sensors in order to offer a preliminary accuracy and uncertainty assessment. This approach verifies that ECOSTRESS LST data provides an accurate map (98.2% accuracy) of irrigated urban vegetation in southern California that has the potential to reduce uncertainties in regional carbon and hydrological cycle models.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/24/4102remote sensingurban land coverECOSTRESSthermal imageryirrigationGoogle Earth Engine |
| spellingShingle | Red Willow Coleman Natasha Stavros Glynn Hulley Nicholas Parazoo Comparison of Thermal Infrared-Derived Maps of Irrigated and Non-Irrigated Vegetation in Urban and Non-Urban Areas of Southern California Remote Sensing remote sensing urban land cover ECOSTRESS thermal imagery irrigation Google Earth Engine |
| title | Comparison of Thermal Infrared-Derived Maps of Irrigated and Non-Irrigated Vegetation in Urban and Non-Urban Areas of Southern California |
| title_full | Comparison of Thermal Infrared-Derived Maps of Irrigated and Non-Irrigated Vegetation in Urban and Non-Urban Areas of Southern California |
| title_fullStr | Comparison of Thermal Infrared-Derived Maps of Irrigated and Non-Irrigated Vegetation in Urban and Non-Urban Areas of Southern California |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comparison of Thermal Infrared-Derived Maps of Irrigated and Non-Irrigated Vegetation in Urban and Non-Urban Areas of Southern California |
| title_short | Comparison of Thermal Infrared-Derived Maps of Irrigated and Non-Irrigated Vegetation in Urban and Non-Urban Areas of Southern California |
| title_sort | comparison of thermal infrared derived maps of irrigated and non irrigated vegetation in urban and non urban areas of southern california |
| topic | remote sensing urban land cover ECOSTRESS thermal imagery irrigation Google Earth Engine |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/24/4102 |
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