This study investigated whether high-resolution satellite imagery is suitable for preparing a detailed digital forest cover map that discriminates forest cover at the tree species level. First, we tried to find an optimal process for segmenting the high-resolution images using a region-growing method with the scale, color and shape factors in Definiens^® Professional 5.0. The image was classified by a traditional, pixel-based, maximum likelihood classification approach using the spectral information of the pixels. The pixels in each segment were reclassified using a segment-based classification (SBC) with a majority rule. Segmentation with strongly weighted color was less sensitive to the scale parameter and led to optimal forest cover segmentation and classification. The pixel-based classification (PBC) suffered from the “salt-and-pepper effect” and performed poorly in the classification of forest cover types, whereas the SBC helped to attenuate the effect and notably improved the classification accuracy. As a whole, SBC proved to be more suitable for classifying and delineating forest cover using high-resolution satellite images.

Key message By integrating vegetation change tracker (VCT), spatial analysis (SA), and random forest regression (RF), the spectral-temporal patterns of forest stand age were mapped for three typical plantations in Southern China. The spectral-temporal distribution of age structure indicated that the plantation stands in the study area were increasingly aging. Context Plantations play a major role in China for ecosystem restoration and carbon sequestration. Mapping plantation stand age distributions is essential for developing sustainable plantation forest management plans. Aims The purpose of this study was to propose two new remote sensing based models for mapping plantation ages and to test the model feasibility and accuracy in determining the spectral-temporal patterns of forest ages. Methods We first integrated vegetation change tracker (VCT) algorithm and spatial analysis (VCT-SA) for the pixels that were disturbed at least once from 1987 to 2017, and integrated VCT and random forest (VCT-RF) for the pixels were not disturbed during the study period. Then the forest age of these two parts were merged separately to generate annual forest age. Results The spectral-temporal (30-m resolution, from 1987 to 2017) of forest age for the three typical plantations in Lishui were generated. The results indicated that the plantation stands in our large study area were increasingly aging. Conclusion Our results revealed that it is reasonable to derive the distribution of plantation stand ages from combined remote sensing models. Besides, we confirmed that the stand ages of the plantations in our large study area of Lishui City are on the rise as the result of forest protection policies.

Phenology-based multi-index with the random forest (RF) algorithm can be used to overcome the shortcomings of traditional deforestation mapping that involves pixel-based classification, such as ISODATA or decision trees, and single images. The purpose of this study was to investigate methods to identify specific types of deforestation in North Korea, and to increase the accuracy of classification, using phenological characteristics extracted with multi-index and random forest algorithms. The mapping of deforestation area based on RF was carried out by merging phenology-based multi-indices (i.e., normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), normalized difference water index (NDWI), and normalized difference soil index (NDSI)) derived from MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) products and topographical variables. Our results showed overall classification accuracy of 89.38%, with corresponding kappa coefficients of 0.87. In particular, for forest and farm land categories with similar phenological characteristic (e.g., paddy, plateau vegetation, unstocked forest, hillside field), this approach improved the classification accuracy in comparison with pixel-based methods and other classes. The deforestation types were identified by incorporating point data from high-resolution imagery, outcomes of image classification, and slope data. Our study demonstrated that the proposed methodology could be used for deciding on the restoration priority and monitoring the expansion of deforestation areas.

In the literature one can find different accuracy measures that are built from the error matrix. However, standard accuracy assessment, which is based on the error matrix, is incomplete when dealing with fuzzy sets or when errors do not have the same importance. In this paper, we propose an extension of the error concept for soft (or crisp) classification that will be able to extend standard accuracy measures (e.g., overall, producer's, user's or Kappa statistic) that can be used in any framework: errors with different importance, soft classifier and crisp reference data (expert) or with a fuzzy expert. In particular, a weighted measure is built that takes into account the preferences of the decision maker in order to differentiate some errors that must not be considered equal.

Continuous monitoring of forest cover condition is key to understanding the carbon dynamics of forest ecosystems. This paper addresses how to integrate single-year airborne LiDAR and time-series Landsat imagery to derive forest cover change information. LiDAR data were used to extract forest cover at the sub-pixel level of Landsat for a single year, and the Landtrendr algorithm was applied to Landsat spectral data to explore the temporal information of forest cover change. Four different approaches were employed to model the relationship between forest cover and Landsat spectral data. The result shows incorporating the historic information using the temporal trajectory fitting process could infuse the model with better prediction power. Random forest modeling performs the best for quantitative forest cover estimation. Temporal trajectory fitting with random forest model shows the best agreement with validation data (R² = 0.82 and RMSE = 5.19%). We applied our approach to Youyu county in Shanxi province of China, as part of the Three North Shelter Forest Program, to map multi-decadal forest cover dynamics. With the availability of global time-series Landsat imagery and affordable airborne LiDAR data, the approach we developed has the potential to derive large-scale forest cover dynamics.