Bamboo forests, due to rapid growth and short harvest rotation, play an important role in carbon cycling and local economic development. Accurate estimation of bamboo forest aboveground biomass (AGB) has garnered increasing attention during the past two decades. However, remote sensing-based AGB estimation for bamboo forests is challenging due to poor understanding of the mechanisms between bamboo forest growth characteristics and remote sensing data. The objective of this research is to examine the remote sensing characteristics of on-year and off-year bamboo forests at different dates and their AGB estimation performance. This research used multiple Sentinel-2 data to explore AGB estimation of bamboo forests in Zhejiang Province, China, by taking into account the unique characteristics of on-year and off-year bamboo forest growth features. Combining field survey data and Sentinel-2 spectral responses (spectral bands and vegetation indices) and textural images, random forest was used to identify key variables for AGB estimation. The results show that (1) the on-year and off-year bamboo forests have considerably different spectral signatures, especially in the wavelengths between red edge 2 and near-infrared wavelength (NIR2) (740–865 nm), making it possible to separate on-year and off-year bamboo forests; (2) on-year bamboo forests have similar spectral signatures although AGB increases from as small as 40 Mgha⁻¹ to as high as 90 Mgha⁻¹, implying that optical sensor data cannot effectively model on-year bamboo AGB; (3) off-year bamboo AGB has significant relationships with red and shortwave infrared (SWIR) spectral bands in the April image and with red edge 2 in the July image, but the AGB saturation problem yields poor estimation accuracy; (4) stratification considerably improved off-year bamboo AGB estimation but not on-year, non-stratification using the April image is recommended; and (5) Sentinel-2 data cannot solve the bamboo AGB data saturation problem when AGB is greater than 70 Mgha⁻¹, similar to other optical sensor data such as Landsat. More research should be conducted in the future to integrate multiple sources—remotely sensed data (e.g., lidar, optical sensor data) and ancillary data (e.g., soil, topography)—into AGB modeling to improve the estimation. The use of very high spatial resolution images that can effectively extract tree density information may improve bamboo AGB estimation and yield new insights.

Analysis of urban distribution and its expansion using remote sensing data has received increasing attention in the past three decades, but little research has examined spatial patterns of urban distribution and expansion with buffer zones in different directions. This research selected Hangzhou metropolis as a case study to analyze spatial patterns and dynamic changes based on time-series urban impervious surface area (ISA) datasets. ISA was developed from Landsat imagery between 1991 and 2014 using a hybrid approach consisting of linear spectral mixture analysis, decision tree classifiers, and post-processing. The spatial patterns of ISA distribution and its dynamic changes in eight directions—east, southeast, south, southwest, west, northwest, north, and northeast—at the temporal scale were analyzed with a buffer zone-based approach. This research indicated that ISA can be extracted from Landsat imagery with both producer and user accuracies of over 90%. ISA in Hangzhou metropolis increased from 146 km² in 1991 to 868 km² in 2014. Annual ISA growth rates were between 15.6 km² and 48.8 km² with the lowest growth rate in 1994–2000 and the highest growth rate in 2005–2010. Urban ISA increase before 2000 was mainly due to infilling within the urban landscape, and, after 2005, due to urban expansion in the urban-rural interfaces. Urban expansion in this study area has different characteristics in various directions that are influenced by topographic factors and urban development policies.

Background: Spartina alterniflora is an invasive plant on the coast of China that replaces native vegetation and has a serious negative impact on local ecosystems. Monitoring the spatial distribution of S. alterniflora and its changes over time can reveal its expansion mechanism, which is crucial for the management of coastal ecosystems. The purpose of this study was to map the distribution of S. alterniflora in Zhejiang Province from 1985 to 2015 using a time series of Landsat TM/OLI images and analyze the temporal and spatial patterns of expansion of this species. Results: After analyzing the distribution of coastal vegetation, the vegetation index was calculated based on Landsat images for 4 years (1985, 1995, 2005 and 2015). According to a threshold determined based on expert knowledge, the distribution of S. alterniflora in Zhejiang Province was extracted, and the temporal and spatial changes in the distribution of S. alterniflora were analyzed. The classification accuracy was 90.3%. S. alterniflora has expanded rapidly in recent decades after being introduced into southern Zhejiang. Between 1985 and 2015, S. alterniflora increased its area of distribution by 10,000 hm², and it replaced native vegetation to become the most abundant halophyte in tidal flats. Overall, S. alterniflora expanded from south to north over the decades of the study, and the fastest expansion rate was 463.64 hm²/year, which occurred between 1995 and 2005. S. alterniflora was widely distributed in the tidal flats of bays and estuaries and expanded outward as sediment accumulated. Conclusions: This study reveals the changes over time in S. alterniflora cover in Zhejiang and can contribute to the control and management of this invasive plant.

Urban expansion has long been a research hotspot and is often based on individual cities, but rarely has research conducted a comprehensive comparison between coastal and inland metropoles for understanding different spatial patterns of urban expansions and driving forces. We selected coastal metropoles (Shanghai and Shenzhen in China, and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam) and inland metropoles (Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, Lanzhou in China, and Vientiane in Laos) with various developing stages and physical conditions for examining the spatiotemporal patterns of urban expansions in the past 25 years (1990–2015). Multitemporal Landsat images with 30 m spatial resolution were used to develop urban impervious surface area (ISA) distributions and examine their dynamic changes. The impacts of elevation, slope, and rivers on spatial patterns of urban expansion were examined. This research indicates that ISA is an important variable for examining urban expansion. Coastal metropoles had much faster urbanization rates than inland metropoles. The spatial patterns of urban ISA distribution and expansion are greatly influenced by physical conditions; that is, ISA is mainly distributed in the areas with slopes of less than 10 degrees. Rivers are important geographical factors constraining urban expansion, especially in developing stages, while bridges across the rivers promote urban expansion patterns and rates. The relationships of spatial patterns of urban ISA distribution and dynamics with physical conditions provide scientific data for urban planning, management, and sustainability.

Tea plantations are widely distributed in the southern provinces of China and have expanded rapidly in recent years due to their high economic value. This expansion has caused ecological problems such as soil erosion, and it is therefore urgent to clarify the spatial distribution and area of tea plantations. In this study, we developed a simple method to accurately map tea plantations based on their unique phenological characteristics observed from VENμS high-spatiotemporal-resolution multispectral imagery. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and red—green ratio index (RGRI) of time series were calculated using 40 VENμS images taken in 2018 to evaluate the phenology of tea plantations. The unique phenological period of tea plantations in northern Zhejiang is from April to May, with obvious deep pruning, which is very different from the phenological period of other vegetation. During this period, the RGRI values of tea plantations were much higher than those of other vegetation such as broadleaf forest and bamboo forest. Therefore, it is possible to identify tea plantations from the vegetation in images acquired during their phenological period. This method was applied to tea plantation mapping in northern Zhejiang. The NDVI value of the winter image was used to extract a vegetation coverage map, and spatial intersection analysis combined with maps of tea plantation phenological information was performed to obtain a tea plantation distribution map. The resulting tea plantation map had a high accuracy, with a 94% producer accuracy and 95.9% user accuracy. The method was also applied to Sentinel-2 images at the regional scale, and the obtained tea plantation distribution map had an accuracy of 88.7%, indicating the good applicability of the method.