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Remote Sensing of Vegetation Phenology

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A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Biogeosciences Remote Sensing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2020) | Viewed by 39627

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Fabienne Maignan

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Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement LSCE/IPSL, UMR CEA-CNRS-UVSQ 8212, CEA Paris-Saclay, Orme des Merisiers, Bâtiment 714, CEDEX, F-91191 Gif sur Yvette, France
Interests: modeling and remote sensing of continental vegetation; phenology; photosynthesis; fluorescence; COS; surface directional effects

Dr. Natasha MacBean

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Department of Geography, Indiana University, Student Building 120, 701 E Kirkwood Ave, Bloomington, IN 47405-7100, USA
Interests: the carbon cycle; vegetation dynamics (phenology and long-term trends); impacts of climate change; CO₂ fertilization and land cover change in terrestrial ecosystem functioning; terrestrial biosphere modeling; data assimilation; remote sensing

Dr. Koen Hufkens

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Guest Editor

INRA Bordeaux Aquitaine - Water Relations and Ecosystem Functioning, 71 Avenue Edouard Bourlaux, 33140 Villenave-d'Ornon, France
Interests: vegetation phenology; forest demography; carbon sequestration; drought and disturbance resilience; dendrochronology; model data fusion; computer vision and remote sensing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Soudani Kamel

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Guest Editor

Laboratoire Ecologie Systématique et Evolution, Université Paris-Sud, AgroParisTech, CNRS, UMR 8079, Orsay, F-75231 Paris, France
Interests: proximal; airborne and satellite remote sensing; plant ecophysiology; phenology; ecosystem carbon and water fluxes

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are delighted to announce this Special Issue on the phenology of terrestrial vegetation.

Phenology is the variation of recurrent key stages in the plant life cycle, linked to environmental changes. By extension, it also includes the mean seasonal cycle of relevant biophysical and biochemical quantities and their temporal and spatial changes. Remote sensing is a major player in this science, and we welcome all contributions related, but not limited, to the following topics:

Methodology manuscripts concerning signal processing (noise removal and filtering techniques), and derivation of phenological metrics, on established, long satellite time-series, more recent satellite observations and products (e.g. SIF, VOD), and high-resolution satellites (e.g. Sentinel), to support studies of seasonal cycles, interannual variability, and trends, by coupling patterns to processes.
Studies which link derived metrics to in situ phenological observations and indirect measurements, including digital photography networks, that could address scaling issues.
Analyses on the phenological responses of vegetation to multiple environmental drivers in the context of climate change (temperature, water availability, radiation, etc.), and their impact on carbon and water cycles. We encourage the evaluation, optimization, and development of phenology (leaf onset, senescence) and land surface models using satellite data.
In the above topics, we invite both submissions of reviews and biome-specific, sectorial (forest, agriculture, grasslands), or regional studies, e.g., climate-sensitive regions, such as spatially heterogeneous semi-arid or arid ecosystems, tropical forests with a challenging and debated seasonal cycle, high latitudes experiencing rapid warming.
We also accept phenological studies on urban environments and related to natural or human-induced disturbances.

Dr. Fabienne Maignan
Dr. Natasha MacBean
Dr. Koen Hufkens
Prof. Kamel Soudani
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Phenology
Remote sensing
Processes
Modeling
Climate change
Evaluation

Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 2961 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Phenological Characteristics of Global Ecosystems Based on Optical, Fluorescence, and Microwave Remote Sensing

by Matthew Dannenberg, Xian Wang, Dong Yan and William Smith

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(4), 671; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs12040671 - 18 Feb 2020

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 3941

Abstract

Growing seasons of vegetation generally start earlier and last longer due to anthropogenic warming. To facilitate the detection and monitoring of these phenological changes, we developed a discrete, hierarchical set of global “phenoregions” using self-organizing maps and three satellite-based vegetation indices representing multiple aspects of vegetation structure and function, including the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF), and vegetation optical depth (VOD). Here, we describe the distribution and phenological characteristics of these phenoregions, including their mean temperature and precipitation, differences among the three satellite indices, the number of annual growth cycles within each phenoregion and index, and recent changes in the land area of each phenoregion. We found that the phenoregions “self-organized” along two primary dimensions: degree of seasonality and peak productivity. The three satellite-based indices each appeared to provide unique information on land surface phenology, with SIF and VOD improving the ability to detect distinct annual and subannual growth cycles in some regions. Over the nine-year study period (limited in length by the short satellite SIF record), there was generally a decrease in the spatial extent of the highest productivity phenoregions, though whether due to climate or land use change remains unclear. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Vegetation Phenology)

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20 pages, 9706 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Uncertainty of Vegetation Green-Up Date Estimated from Vegetation Indices Due to Snowmelt at Northern Middle and High Latitudes

by Ruyin Cao, Yan Feng, Xilong Liu, Miaogen Shen and Ji Zhou

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(1), 190; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12010190 - 05 Jan 2020

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 5117

Abstract

Vegetation green-up date (GUD), an important phenological characteristic, is usually estimated from time-series of satellite-based normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data at regional and global scales. However, GUD estimates in seasonally snow-covered areas suffer from the effect of spring snowmelt on the NDVI signal, hampering our realistic understanding of phenological responses to climate change. Recently, two snow-free vegetation indices were developed for GUD detection: the normalized difference phenology index (NDPI) and normalized difference greenness index (NDGI). Both were found to improve GUD detection in the presence of spring snowmelt. However, these indices were tested at several field phenological camera sites and carbon flux sites, and a detailed evaluation on their performances at the large spatial scale is still lacking, which limits their applications globally. In this study, we employed NDVI, NDPI, and NDGI to estimate GUD at northern middle and high latitudes (north of 40° N) and quantified the snowmelt-induced uncertainty of GUD estimations from the three vegetation indices (VIs) by considering the changes in VI values caused by snowmelt. Results showed that compared with NDVI, both NDPI and NDGI improve the accuracy of GUD estimation with smaller GUD uncertainty in the areas below 55° N, but at higher latitudes (55°N-70° N), all three indices exhibit substantially larger GUD uncertainty. Furthermore, selecting which vegetation index to use for GUD estimation depends on vegetation types. All three indices performed much better for deciduous forests, and NDPI performed especially well (5.1 days for GUD uncertainty). In the arid and semi-arid grasslands, GUD estimations from NDGI are more reliable (i.e., smaller uncertainty) than NDP-based GUD (e.g., GUD uncertainty values for NDGI vs. NDPI are 4.3 d vs. 7.2 d in Mongolia grassland and 6.7 d vs. 9.8 d in Central Asia grassland), whereas in American prairie, NDPI performs slightly better than NDGI (GUD uncertainty for NDPI vs. NDGI is 3.8 d vs. 4.7 d). In central and western Europe, reliable GUD estimations from NDPI and NDGI were acquired only in those years without snowfall before green-up. This study provides important insights into the application of, and uncertainty in, snow-free vegetation indices for GUD estimation at large spatial scales, particularly in areas with seasonal snow cover. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Vegetation Phenology)

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19 pages, 6290 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Coarse-Resolution Satellite Images Overestimate Urbanization Effects on Vegetation Spring Phenology

by Jiaqi Tian, Xiaolin Zhu, Jin Wu, Miaogen Shen and Jin Chen

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(1), 117; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs12010117 - 01 Jan 2020

Cited by 32 | Viewed by 8188

Abstract

Numerous investigations of urbanization effects on vegetation spring phenology using satellite images have reached a consensus that vegetation spring phenology in urban areas occurs earlier than in surrounding rural areas. Nevertheless, the magnitude of this rural–urban difference is quite different among these studies, especially for studies over the same areas, which implies large uncertainties. One possible reason is that the satellite images used in these studies have different spatial resolutions from 30 m to 1 km. In this study, we investigated the impact of spatial resolution on the rural–urban difference of vegetation spring phenology using satellite images at different spatial resolutions. To be exact, we first generated a dense 10 m NDVI time series through harmonizing Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 images by data fusion method, and then resampled the 10 m time series to coarser resolutions from 30 m to 8 km to simulate images at different resolutions. Afterwards, to quantify urbanization effects, vegetation spring phenology at each resolution was extracted by a widely used tool, TIMESAT. Last, we calculated the difference between rural and urban areas using an urban extent map derived from NPP VIIRS nighttime light data. Our results reveal: (1) vegetation spring phenology in urban areas happen earlier than rural areas no matter which spatial resolution from 10 m to 8 km is used, (2) the rural–urban difference in vegetation spring phenology is amplified with spatial resolution, i.e., coarse satellite images overestimate the urbanization effects on vegetation spring phenology, and (3) the underlying reason of this overestimation is that the majority of urban pixels in coarser images have higher diversity in terms of spring phenology dates, which leads to spring phenology detected from coarser NDVI time series earlier than the actual dates. This study indicates that spatial resolution is an important factor that affects the accuracy of the assessment of urbanization effects on vegetation spring phenology. For future studies, we suggest that satellite images with a fine spatial resolution are more appropriate to explore urbanization effects on vegetation spring phenology if vegetation species in urban areas is very diverse. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Vegetation Phenology)

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16 pages, 10806 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment of Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Black Spruce Bud Phenology across Quebec Based on MODIS-NDVI Time Series and Field Observations

by Siddhartha Khare, Guillaume Drolet, Jean-Daniel Sylvain, Maxime Charles Paré and Sergio Rossi

Remote Sens. 2019, 11(23), 2745; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs11232745 - 22 Nov 2019

Cited by 24 | Viewed by 4278

Abstract

Satellite remote sensing is a widely accessible tool to investigate the spatiotemporal variations in the bud phenology of evergreen species, which show limited seasonal changes in canopy greenness. However, there is a need for precise and compatible data to compare remote sensing time series with field observations. In this study, fortnightly MODIS-NDVI was fitted using double-logistic functions and calibrated using ordinal logit models with the sequential phases of bud phenology collected during 2015, 2017 and 2018 in a black spruce stand. Bud break and bud set were spatialized for the period 2009–2018 across 5000 stands in Quebec, Canada. The first phase of bud break and the last phase of bud set were observed in the field in mid-May and at the beginning of September, when NDVI was 80.5% and 92.2% of its maximum amplitude, respectively. The NDVI rate of change was estimated at 0.07 in spring and 0.04 in autumn. When spatialized on the black spruce stands, bud break was detected earlier in the southwestern regions (April–May), and later in the northeastern regions (mid to end of June). No clear trend was observed for bud set, with different patterns being detected among the years. Overall, the process bud break and bud set lasted 51 and 87 days, respectively. Our results demonstrate the potential of satellite remote sensing for providing reliable timings of bud phenological events using calibrated NDVI time series on wide regions that are remote or with limited access. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Vegetation Phenology)

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15 pages, 3250 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Climatic Drivers of Greening Trends in the Alps

by Gianluca Filippa, Edoardo Cremonese, Marta Galvagno, Michel Isabellon, Arthur Bayle, Philippe Choler, Bradley Z. Carlson, Simone Gabellani, Umberto Morra di Cella and Mirco Migliavacca

Remote Sens. 2019, 11(21), 2527; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs11212527 - 29 Oct 2019

Cited by 39 | Viewed by 6481

Abstract

Since the 1980s, vegetated lands have experienced widespread greening at the global scale. Numerous studies have focused on spatial patterns and mechanisms of this phenomenon, especially in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. Greening trends in the European Alps have received less attention, although this region has experienced strong climate and land-use changes during recent decades. We studied the rates and spatial patterns of greening in an inner-alpine region of the Western Alps. We used MODIS-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) at 8-day temporal and 250 m spatial resolution, for the period 2000–2018, and removed areas with disturbances in order to consider the trends of undisturbed vegetation. The objectives of this study were to (i) quantify trends of greening in a representative area of the Western Alps; and (ii) examine mechanisms and causes of spatial patterns of greening across different plant types. We show that 63% of vegetated areas experienced significant trends during the 2000–2018 period, of which only 8% were negative. We identify (i) a climatic control on spring and autumn phenology with contrasting effects depending on plant type and elevation, and (ii) land-use change dynamics, such as shrub encroachment on abandoned pastures and colonization of new surfaces at high elevation. Below 1500 m, warming temperatures promote incremental greening in the transition from spring to summer, but not in fall, suggesting either photoperiod or water limitation. In the alpine and sub-alpine belts (>1800 m asl), snow prevents vegetation development until late spring, despite favorable temperatures. Instead, at high elevation greening acts both in summer and autumn. However, photoperiod limitation likely prevents forested ecosystems from fully exploiting warmer autumn conditions. We furthermore illustrate two emblematic cases of prominent greening: recent colonization of previously glaciated/non vegetated areas, as well as shrub/tree encroachment due to the abandonment of agricultural practices. Our results demonstrate the interplay of climate and land-use change in controlling greening dynamics in the Western Alps. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Vegetation Phenology)

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20 pages, 6281 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How Does Scale Effect Influence Spring Vegetation Phenology Estimated from Satellite-Derived Vegetation Indexes?

by Licong Liu, Ruyin Cao, Miaogen Shen, Jin Chen, Jianmin Wang and Xiaoyang Zhang

Remote Sens. 2019, 11(18), 2137; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs11182137 - 13 Sep 2019

Cited by 33 | Viewed by 4392

Abstract

As an important land-surface parameter, vegetation phenology has been estimated from observations by various satellite-borne sensors with substantially different spatial resolutions, ranging from tens of meters to several kilometers. The inconsistency of satellite-derived phenological metrics (e.g., green-up date, GUD, also known as the land-surface spring phenology) among different spatial resolutions, which is referred to as the “scale effect” on GUD, has been recognized in previous studies, but it still needs further efforts to explore the cause of the scale effect on GUD and to quantify the scale effect mechanistically. To address these issues, we performed mathematical analyses and designed up-scaling experiments. We found that the scale effect on GUD is not only related to the heterogeneity of GUD among fine pixels within a coarse pixel, but it is also greatly affected by the covariation between the GUD and vegetation growth speed of fine pixels. GUD of a coarse pixel tends to be closer to that of fine pixels with earlier green-up and higher vegetation growth speed. Therefore, GUD of the coarse pixel is earlier than the average of GUD of fine pixels, if the growth speed is a constant. However, GUD of the coarse pixel could be later than the average from fine pixels, depending on the proportion of fine pixels with later GUD and higher growth speed. Based on those mechanisms, we proposed a model that accounted for the effects of heterogeneity of GUD and its co-variation with growth speed, which explained about 60% of the scale effect, suggesting that the model can help convert GUD estimated at different spatial scales. Our study provides new mechanistic explanations of the scale effect on GUD. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Vegetation Phenology)

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22 pages, 12472 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Coupled Spatiotemporal Characterization of Monsoon Cloud Cover and Vegetation Phenology

by Daniel Sousa, Christopher Small, Andrew Spalton and Andy Kwarteng

Remote Sens. 2019, 11(10), 1203; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs11101203 - 21 May 2019

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2574

Abstract

In monsoonal ecosystems, vegetation phenology is generally modulated by the timing and intensity of seasonal precipitation. Seasonal precipitation is often characterized by substantial interannual variability in both space and time. A rigorous quantitative understanding of the ecology of the landscape requires spatially explicit information regarding the strength of the relationship between seasonal precipitation and vegetation phenology, as well as the interannual variability of the system. For this information to be accurately estimated, it must be based on spatially and temporally consistent measurements. The optical satellite image archive can provide these measurements. Satellite imagery offers observations of both a) atmospheric parameters such as the timing and spatial extent of monsoon cloud cover; and, b) phenological parameters, such as the timing and spatial extent of vegetation green-up and senescence. This work presents a method to capture both atmospheric and phenological parameters from an optical image time series. The method uses Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis of a single spectral index for unified characterization of the spatiotemporal dynamics of both monsoon cloud cover and vegetation phenology. This is made possible by leveraging well-understood differences in the visible and near infrared reflectance of green vegetation, soil, and clouds. Image time series are transformed into a temporal feature space (TFS) that is comprised of low-order Principal Components. The structure of the temporal feature space reveals spatiotemporally distinct annual cycles of both cloud cover and vegetation phenology. In order to illustrate this technique, we apply it to the retrospective analysis of a seasonal cloud forest in the Dhofar Mountains of the southern Arabian Peninsula. Our results quantify known (but previously unmapped) local gradients in monsoon duration and vegetation community response. Individual ecological subsystems are also clearly distinguishable from each other, and consistent elevation gradients emerge within each subsystem. Novel observations also emerge, such as regreening/early greening events and spatial patterns in cloud duration. The method is conceptually straightforward and could be applied to characterize other monsoon environments anywhere on Earth. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Vegetation Phenology)

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Review

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23 pages, 6805 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Text Mining in Remotely Sensed Phenology Studies: A Review on Research Development, Main Topics, and Emerging Issues

by Sofia Bajocco, Elisabetta Raparelli, Tommaso Teofili, Marco Bascietto and Carlo Ricotta

Remote Sens. 2019, 11(23), 2751; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs11232751 - 22 Nov 2019

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3626

Abstract

As an interdisciplinary field of research, phenology is developing rapidly, and the contents of phenological research have become increasingly abundant. In addition, the potentiality of remote sensing technologies has largely contributed to the growth and complexity of this discipline, in terms of the scale of analysis, techniques of data processing, and a variety of topics. As a consequence, it is increasingly difficult for scientists to get a clear picture of remotely sensed phenology (rs+pheno) research. Bibliometric analysis is increasingly used for the study of a discipline and its conceptual dynamics. This review analyzed the last 40 years (1979–2018) of publications in the rs+pheno field retrieved from the Scopus database; such publications were investigated by means of a text mining approach, both in terms of bibliographic and text data. Results demonstrated that rs+pheno research is exponentially growing through time; however, it is primarily considered a subset of remote sensing science rather than a branch of phenology. In this framework, in the last decade, agriculture is becoming more and more a standalone science in rs+pheno research, independently from other related topics, e.g., classification. On the contrary, forestry struggles to gain its thematic role in rs+pheno studies and remains strictly connected with climate change issues. Classification and mapping represent the major rs+pheno topic, together with the extraction and the analysis of phenological metrics, like the start of the growing season. To the contrary, forest ecophysiology, in terms of ecosystem respiration and net ecosystem exchange, results as the most relevant new topic, together with the use of the red edge band and SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) data in rs+pheno agricultural studies. Some niche emerging rs+pheno topics may be recognized in the ocean and arctic investigations linked to phytoplankton blooming and ice cover dynamics. The findings of this study might be applicable for planning and managing remotely sensed phenology research; scientists involved in such discipline might use this study as a reference to consider their research domain in a broader dynamical network. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Vegetation Phenology)

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