A Robust Algorithm for Estimating Surface Fractional Vegetation Cover from Landsat Data
Fractional vegetation cover (FVC) is an essential land surface parameter for Earth surface process simulations and global change studies. The currently existing FVC products are mostly obtained from low or medium resolution remotely sensed data, while many applications require the fine spatial resol...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2017-08-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/9/8/857 |
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| author | Linqing Yang Kun Jia Shunlin Liang Xiangqin Wei Yunjun Yao Xiaotong Zhang |
| author_facet | Linqing Yang Kun Jia Shunlin Liang Xiangqin Wei Yunjun Yao Xiaotong Zhang |
| author_sort | Linqing Yang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Fractional vegetation cover (FVC) is an essential land surface parameter for Earth surface process simulations and global change studies. The currently existing FVC products are mostly obtained from low or medium resolution remotely sensed data, while many applications require the fine spatial resolution FVC product. The availability of well-calibrated coverage of Landsat imagery over large areas offers an opportunity for the production of FVC at fine spatial resolution. Therefore, the objective of this study is to develop a general and reliable land surface FVC estimation algorithm for Landsat surface reflectance data under various land surface conditions. Two machine learning methods multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) model and back-propagation neural networks (BPNNs) were trained using samples from PROSPECT leaf optical properties model and the scattering by arbitrarily inclined leaves (SAIL) model simulations, which included Landsat reflectance and corresponding FVC values, and evaluated to choose the method which had better performance. Thereafter, the MARS model, which had better performance in the independent validation, was evaluated using ground FVC measurements from two case study areas. The direct validation of the FVC estimated using the proposed algorithm (Heihe: R2 = 0.8825, RMSE = 0.097; Chengde using Landsat 7 ETM+: R2 = 0.8571, RMSE = 0.078, Chengde using Landsat 8 OLI: R2 = 0.8598, RMSE = 0.078) showed the proposed method had good performance. Spatial-temporal assessment of the estimated FVC from Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI data confirmed the robustness and consistency of the proposed method. All these results indicated that the proposed algorithm could obtain satisfactory accuracy and had the potential for the production of high-quality FVC estimates from Landsat surface reflectance data. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T16:15:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-723217db3db147ea98ef1ad793cc2014 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T16:15:27Z |
| publishDate | 2017-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-723217db3db147ea98ef1ad793cc20142022-12-22T04:14:34ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922017-08-019885710.3390/rs9080857rs9080857A Robust Algorithm for Estimating Surface Fractional Vegetation Cover from Landsat DataLinqing Yang0Kun Jia1Shunlin Liang2Xiangqin Wei3Yunjun Yao4Xiaotong Zhang5State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Institute of Remote Sensing Science and Engineering, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Institute of Remote Sensing Science and Engineering, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Institute of Remote Sensing Science and Engineering, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, ChinaInstitute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Institute of Remote Sensing Science and Engineering, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Institute of Remote Sensing Science and Engineering, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, ChinaFractional vegetation cover (FVC) is an essential land surface parameter for Earth surface process simulations and global change studies. The currently existing FVC products are mostly obtained from low or medium resolution remotely sensed data, while many applications require the fine spatial resolution FVC product. The availability of well-calibrated coverage of Landsat imagery over large areas offers an opportunity for the production of FVC at fine spatial resolution. Therefore, the objective of this study is to develop a general and reliable land surface FVC estimation algorithm for Landsat surface reflectance data under various land surface conditions. Two machine learning methods multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) model and back-propagation neural networks (BPNNs) were trained using samples from PROSPECT leaf optical properties model and the scattering by arbitrarily inclined leaves (SAIL) model simulations, which included Landsat reflectance and corresponding FVC values, and evaluated to choose the method which had better performance. Thereafter, the MARS model, which had better performance in the independent validation, was evaluated using ground FVC measurements from two case study areas. The direct validation of the FVC estimated using the proposed algorithm (Heihe: R2 = 0.8825, RMSE = 0.097; Chengde using Landsat 7 ETM+: R2 = 0.8571, RMSE = 0.078, Chengde using Landsat 8 OLI: R2 = 0.8598, RMSE = 0.078) showed the proposed method had good performance. Spatial-temporal assessment of the estimated FVC from Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI data confirmed the robustness and consistency of the proposed method. All these results indicated that the proposed algorithm could obtain satisfactory accuracy and had the potential for the production of high-quality FVC estimates from Landsat surface reflectance data.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/9/8/857fractional vegetation cover (FVC)PROSAILmultivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS)Landsatmachine learning |
| spellingShingle | Linqing Yang Kun Jia Shunlin Liang Xiangqin Wei Yunjun Yao Xiaotong Zhang A Robust Algorithm for Estimating Surface Fractional Vegetation Cover from Landsat Data Remote Sensing fractional vegetation cover (FVC) PROSAIL multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) Landsat machine learning |
| title | A Robust Algorithm for Estimating Surface Fractional Vegetation Cover from Landsat Data |
| title_full | A Robust Algorithm for Estimating Surface Fractional Vegetation Cover from Landsat Data |
| title_fullStr | A Robust Algorithm for Estimating Surface Fractional Vegetation Cover from Landsat Data |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Robust Algorithm for Estimating Surface Fractional Vegetation Cover from Landsat Data |
| title_short | A Robust Algorithm for Estimating Surface Fractional Vegetation Cover from Landsat Data |
| title_sort | robust algorithm for estimating surface fractional vegetation cover from landsat data |
| topic | fractional vegetation cover (FVC) PROSAIL multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) Landsat machine learning |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/9/8/857 |
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