Comparing harmonic regression and GLAD Phenology metrics for estimation of forest community types and aboveground live biomass within forest inventory and analysis plots

The Landsat multispectral time series is a valuable source of moderate spatial resolution data to support forest mapping and monitoring tasks. Using United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots within the states of Michigan, Oregon, and West...

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Main Authors: Aaron E. Maxwell, Barry T. Wilson, Justin J. Holgerson, Michelle S. Bester
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2023-08-01
Series:International Journal of Applied Earth Observations and Geoinformation
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1569843223002595
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author Aaron E. Maxwell
Barry T. Wilson
Justin J. Holgerson
Michelle S. Bester
author_facet Aaron E. Maxwell
Barry T. Wilson
Justin J. Holgerson
Michelle S. Bester
author_sort Aaron E. Maxwell
collection DOAJ
description The Landsat multispectral time series is a valuable source of moderate spatial resolution data to support forest mapping and monitoring tasks. Using United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots within the states of Michigan, Oregon, and West Virginia, two methods to summarize time series observations, harmonic regression coefficients and Global Land Analysis & Discovery (GLAD) Phenology metrics, are compared for predicting forest community type, total aboveground live biomass (AGLBM), and species-specific AGLBM. Harmonic regression coefficients, which provided mean overall accuracies (OAs) between 62.8% and 73.1% and map image classification efficacies (MICEs) varying between 0.455 and 0.566 for the three studied states and calculated using multiple model replicates, generally provided better predictive performance for differentiating forest community types in comparison to GLAD phenology metrics. However, differences were not always statistically significant. DTM-derived terrain variables improved classification performance in some landscapes when using machine learning, random forest classification (for example, the highest obtained mean OA of 78.5% (MICE = 0.557) was obtained for West Virginia when using the combined harmonic regression and terrain variables). For the regression-based estimation of total and species-specific AGLBM, the spectral data used and the incorporation of terrain variables had less of an impact on model performance. Further, the regression models in Oregon provided larger mean R-squared values (0.452 to 0.490) in comparison to those in Michigan and West Virginia, where all R-squared values were lower than 0.200, suggesting that AGLBM prediction may be more or less challenging in different landscapes depending on forest characteristics, terrain, management practices, and disturbance histories.
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spelling doaj.art-7da8bcae638f4a0bb191cd69981f8abb2023-08-24T04:34:19ZengElsevierInternational Journal of Applied Earth Observations and Geoinformation1569-84322023-08-01122103435Comparing harmonic regression and GLAD Phenology metrics for estimation of forest community types and aboveground live biomass within forest inventory and analysis plotsAaron E. Maxwell0Barry T. Wilson1Justin J. Holgerson2Michelle S. Bester3West Virginia University Department of Geology and Geography, Morgantown, WV 26505, United States; Corresponding author.Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, St. Paul, MN 55108, United StatesNorthern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, St. Paul, MN 55108, United StatesWest Virginia University Department of Geology and Geography, Morgantown, WV 26505, United StatesThe Landsat multispectral time series is a valuable source of moderate spatial resolution data to support forest mapping and monitoring tasks. Using United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots within the states of Michigan, Oregon, and West Virginia, two methods to summarize time series observations, harmonic regression coefficients and Global Land Analysis & Discovery (GLAD) Phenology metrics, are compared for predicting forest community type, total aboveground live biomass (AGLBM), and species-specific AGLBM. Harmonic regression coefficients, which provided mean overall accuracies (OAs) between 62.8% and 73.1% and map image classification efficacies (MICEs) varying between 0.455 and 0.566 for the three studied states and calculated using multiple model replicates, generally provided better predictive performance for differentiating forest community types in comparison to GLAD phenology metrics. However, differences were not always statistically significant. DTM-derived terrain variables improved classification performance in some landscapes when using machine learning, random forest classification (for example, the highest obtained mean OA of 78.5% (MICE = 0.557) was obtained for West Virginia when using the combined harmonic regression and terrain variables). For the regression-based estimation of total and species-specific AGLBM, the spectral data used and the incorporation of terrain variables had less of an impact on model performance. Further, the regression models in Oregon provided larger mean R-squared values (0.452 to 0.490) in comparison to those in Michigan and West Virginia, where all R-squared values were lower than 0.200, suggesting that AGLBM prediction may be more or less challenging in different landscapes depending on forest characteristics, terrain, management practices, and disturbance histories.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1569843223002595LandsatHarmonic regressionTime series analysisPhenologyForest typesAboveground live biomass
spellingShingle Aaron E. Maxwell
Barry T. Wilson
Justin J. Holgerson
Michelle S. Bester
Comparing harmonic regression and GLAD Phenology metrics for estimation of forest community types and aboveground live biomass within forest inventory and analysis plots
International Journal of Applied Earth Observations and Geoinformation
Landsat
Harmonic regression
Time series analysis
Phenology
Forest types
Aboveground live biomass
title Comparing harmonic regression and GLAD Phenology metrics for estimation of forest community types and aboveground live biomass within forest inventory and analysis plots
title_full Comparing harmonic regression and GLAD Phenology metrics for estimation of forest community types and aboveground live biomass within forest inventory and analysis plots
title_fullStr Comparing harmonic regression and GLAD Phenology metrics for estimation of forest community types and aboveground live biomass within forest inventory and analysis plots
title_full_unstemmed Comparing harmonic regression and GLAD Phenology metrics for estimation of forest community types and aboveground live biomass within forest inventory and analysis plots
title_short Comparing harmonic regression and GLAD Phenology metrics for estimation of forest community types and aboveground live biomass within forest inventory and analysis plots
title_sort comparing harmonic regression and glad phenology metrics for estimation of forest community types and aboveground live biomass within forest inventory and analysis plots
topic Landsat
Harmonic regression
Time series analysis
Phenology
Forest types
Aboveground live biomass
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1569843223002595
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