Wet-GC: A Novel Multimodel Graph Convolutional Approach for Wetland Classification Using Sentinel-1 and 2 Imagery With Limited Training Samples

Wetland is one of the most productive resources on earth, and it provides vital habitats for several unique species of flora and fauna. Over the last decade, mapping and monitoring wetlands by utilizing deep learning (DL) models and remote sensing data gained popularity due to the importance of wetl...

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Main Authors: Hamid Jafarzadeh, Masoud Mahdianpari, Eric W. Gill
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2022-01-01
Series:IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9803207/
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author Hamid Jafarzadeh
Masoud Mahdianpari
Eric W. Gill
author_facet Hamid Jafarzadeh
Masoud Mahdianpari
Eric W. Gill
author_sort Hamid Jafarzadeh
collection DOAJ
description Wetland is one of the most productive resources on earth, and it provides vital habitats for several unique species of flora and fauna. Over the last decade, mapping and monitoring wetlands by utilizing deep learning (DL) models and remote sensing data gained popularity due to the importance of wetland preservation. In general, DL-based methods have shown astonishing achievement in wetland classification, but some practical issues, such as limited training samples, still need to be addressed. Moreover, the performance of most of the DL approaches is decreased when moderate-resolution images with few features are used as input data. One solution to breaking the performance bottleneck of a single model is to fuse two or more of them. To this end, we strive to investigate and develop a multimodel DL algorithm for wetland classification based on the combination of a graph convolutional network (GCN) and a shallow convolutional neural network (CNN), which is called the Wet-GC algorithm hereinafter. In doing this, moderate-resolution Sentinel-1 (S1) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and Sentinel-2 (S2) multispectral optical imagery are fed into the GCN and CNN models, respectively. As we know from the literature, the synergistic use of S1 SAR and S2 optical imagery can be used to extract different types of wetland features and increase the class discrimination possibility. Hence, wetland mapping by jointly using GCN and CNN has the ability to boost the wetland classification task. Findings indicate that the efficiency of Wet-GC with an overall accuracy (OA) of 88.68% outperforms the results obtained from random forest (OA = 84.88%), support vector machine (OA = 82.86%), extreme gradient boosting (OA = 86.55%), and ResNet50 (OA = 86.93%). The outcomes reveal that the Wet-GC architecture proposed in this article has an excellent capability to be applied over large areas with minimal need for training samples and can perform acceptably in supporting regional wetland mapping.
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spelling doaj.art-c00f610d36aa48daa6135adb1d1c7b042022-12-22T03:01:42ZengIEEEIEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing2151-15352022-01-01155303531610.1109/JSTARS.2022.31775799803207Wet-GC: A Novel Multimodel Graph Convolutional Approach for Wetland Classification Using Sentinel-1 and 2 Imagery With Limited Training SamplesHamid Jafarzadeh0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7785-1872Masoud Mahdianpari1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7234-959XEric W. Gill2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8329-0821Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, CanadaDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, CanadaDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, CanadaWetland is one of the most productive resources on earth, and it provides vital habitats for several unique species of flora and fauna. Over the last decade, mapping and monitoring wetlands by utilizing deep learning (DL) models and remote sensing data gained popularity due to the importance of wetland preservation. In general, DL-based methods have shown astonishing achievement in wetland classification, but some practical issues, such as limited training samples, still need to be addressed. Moreover, the performance of most of the DL approaches is decreased when moderate-resolution images with few features are used as input data. One solution to breaking the performance bottleneck of a single model is to fuse two or more of them. To this end, we strive to investigate and develop a multimodel DL algorithm for wetland classification based on the combination of a graph convolutional network (GCN) and a shallow convolutional neural network (CNN), which is called the Wet-GC algorithm hereinafter. In doing this, moderate-resolution Sentinel-1 (S1) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and Sentinel-2 (S2) multispectral optical imagery are fed into the GCN and CNN models, respectively. As we know from the literature, the synergistic use of S1 SAR and S2 optical imagery can be used to extract different types of wetland features and increase the class discrimination possibility. Hence, wetland mapping by jointly using GCN and CNN has the ability to boost the wetland classification task. Findings indicate that the efficiency of Wet-GC with an overall accuracy (OA) of 88.68% outperforms the results obtained from random forest (OA = 84.88%), support vector machine (OA = 82.86%), extreme gradient boosting (OA = 86.55%), and ResNet50 (OA = 86.93%). The outcomes reveal that the Wet-GC architecture proposed in this article has an excellent capability to be applied over large areas with minimal need for training samples and can perform acceptably in supporting regional wetland mapping.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9803207/Canadaclassificationconvolutional neural network (CNN)deep learning (DL)graph convolutional network (GCN)remote sensing (RS)
spellingShingle Hamid Jafarzadeh
Masoud Mahdianpari
Eric W. Gill
Wet-GC: A Novel Multimodel Graph Convolutional Approach for Wetland Classification Using Sentinel-1 and 2 Imagery With Limited Training Samples
IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing
Canada
classification
convolutional neural network (CNN)
deep learning (DL)
graph convolutional network (GCN)
remote sensing (RS)
title Wet-GC: A Novel Multimodel Graph Convolutional Approach for Wetland Classification Using Sentinel-1 and 2 Imagery With Limited Training Samples
title_full Wet-GC: A Novel Multimodel Graph Convolutional Approach for Wetland Classification Using Sentinel-1 and 2 Imagery With Limited Training Samples
title_fullStr Wet-GC: A Novel Multimodel Graph Convolutional Approach for Wetland Classification Using Sentinel-1 and 2 Imagery With Limited Training Samples
title_full_unstemmed Wet-GC: A Novel Multimodel Graph Convolutional Approach for Wetland Classification Using Sentinel-1 and 2 Imagery With Limited Training Samples
title_short Wet-GC: A Novel Multimodel Graph Convolutional Approach for Wetland Classification Using Sentinel-1 and 2 Imagery With Limited Training Samples
title_sort wet gc a novel multimodel graph convolutional approach for wetland classification using sentinel 1 and 2 imagery with limited training samples
topic Canada
classification
convolutional neural network (CNN)
deep learning (DL)
graph convolutional network (GCN)
remote sensing (RS)
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9803207/
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AT masoudmahdianpari wetgcanovelmultimodelgraphconvolutionalapproachforwetlandclassificationusingsentinel1and2imagerywithlimitedtrainingsamples
AT ericwgill wetgcanovelmultimodelgraphconvolutionalapproachforwetlandclassificationusingsentinel1and2imagerywithlimitedtrainingsamples