@article{KhareLatifiRossietal.2019,
  author    = {Khare, Siddhartha and Latifi, Hooman and Rossi, Sergio and Ghosh, Sanjay Kumar},
  title     = {Fractional cover mapping of invasive plant species by combining very high-resolution stereo and multi-sensor multispectral imageries},
  series = {Forests},
  volume    = {10},
  journal   = {Forests},
  number    = {7},
  issn      = {1999-4907},
  doi       = {10.3390/f10070540},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-197250},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Invasive plant species are major threats to biodiversity. They can be identified and monitored by means of high spatial resolution remote sensing imagery. This study aimed to test the potential of multiple very high-resolution (VHR) optical multispectral and stereo imageries (VHRSI) at spatial resolutions of 1.5 and 5 m to quantify the presence of the invasive lantana (Lantana camara L.) and predict its distribution at large spatial scale using medium-resolution fractional cover analysis. We created initial training data for fractional cover analysis by classifying smaller extent VHR data (SPOT-6 and RapidEye) along with three dimensional (3D) VHRSI derived digital surface model (DSM) datasets. We modelled the statistical relationship between fractional cover and spectral reflectance for a VHR subset of the study area located in the Himalayan region of India, and finally predicted the fractional cover of lantana based on the spectral reflectance of Landsat-8 imagery of a larger spatial extent. We classified SPOT-6 and RapidEye data and used the outputs as training data to create continuous field layers of Landsat-8 imagery. The area outside the overlapping region was predicted by fractional cover analysis due to the larger extent of Landsat-8 imagery compared with VHR datasets. Results showed clear discrimination of understory lantana from upperstory vegetation with 87.38\% (for SPOT-6), and 85.27\% (for RapidEye) overall accuracy due to the presence of additional VHRSI derived DSM information. Independent validation for lantana fractional cover estimated root-mean-square errors (RMSE) of 11.8\% (for RapidEye) and 7.22\% (for SPOT-6), and R\(^2\) values of 0.85 and 0.92 for RapidEye (5 m) and SPOT-6 (1.5 m), respectively. Results suggested an increase in predictive accuracy of lantana within forest areas along with increase in the spatial resolution for the same Landsat-8 imagery. The variance explained at 1.5 m spatial resolution to predict lantana was 64.37\%, whereas it decreased by up to 37.96\% in the case of 5 m spatial resolution data. This study revealed the high potential of combining small extent VHR and VHRSI- derived 3D optical data with larger extent, freely available satellite data for identification and mapping of invasive species in mountainous forests and remote regions.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{KhareDeslauriersMorinetal.2021,
  author    = {Khare, Siddhartha and Deslauriers, Annie and Morin, Hubert and Latifi, Hooman and Rossi, Sergio},
  title     = {Comparing time-lapse PhenoCams with satellite observations across the boreal forest of Quebec, Canada},
  series = {Remote Sensing},
  volume    = {14},
  journal   = {Remote Sensing},
  number    = {1},
  issn      = {2072-4292},
  doi       = {10.3390/rs14010100},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-252213},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {Intercomparison of satellite-derived vegetation phenology is scarce in remote locations because of the limited coverage area and low temporal resolution of field observations. By their reliable near-ground observations and high-frequency data collection, PhenoCams can be a robust tool for intercomparison of land surface phenology derived from satellites. This study aims to investigate the transition dates of black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) phenology by comparing fortnightly the MODIS normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the enhanced vegetation index (EVI) extracted using the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform with the daily PhenoCam-based green chromatic coordinate (GCC) index. Data were collected from 2016 to 2019 by PhenoCams installed in six mature stands along a latitudinal gradient of the boreal forests of Quebec, Canada. All time series were fitted by double-logistic functions, and the estimated parameters were compared between NDVI, EVI, and GCC. The onset of GCC occurred in the second week of May, whereas the ending of GCC occurred in the last week of September. We demonstrated that GCC was more correlated with EVI (R\(^2\) from 0.66 to 0.85) than NDVI (R\(^2\) from 0.52 to 0.68). In addition, the onset and ending of phenology were shown to differ by 3.5 and 5.4 days between EVI and GCC, respectively. Larger differences were detected between NDVI and GCC, 17.05 and 26.89 days for the onset and ending, respectively. EVI showed better estimations of the phenological dates than NDVI. This better performance is explained by the higher spectral sensitivity of EVI for multiple canopy leaf layers due to the presence of an additional blue band and an optimized soil factor value. Our study demonstrates that the phenological observations derived from PhenoCam are comparable with the EVI index. We conclude that EVI is more suitable than NDVI to assess phenology in evergreen species of the northern boreal region, where PhenoCam data are not available. The EVI index could be used as a reliable proxy of GCC for monitoring evergreen species phenology in areas with reduced access, or where repeated data collection from remote areas are logistically difficult due to the extreme weather.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{KhareLatifiKhare2021,
  author    = {Khare, Suyash and Latifi, Hooman and Khare, Siddhartha},
  title     = {Vegetation growth analysis of UNESCO World Heritage Hyrcanian forests using multi-sensor optical remote sensing data},
  series = {Remote Sensing},
  volume    = {13},
  journal   = {Remote Sensing},
  number    = {19},
  issn      = {2072-4292},
  doi       = {10.3390/rs13193965},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-248398},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {Freely available satellite data at Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud platform enables vegetation phenology analysis across different scales very efficiently. We evaluated seasonal and annual phenology of the old-growth Hyrcanian forests (HF) of northern Iran covering an area of ca. 1.9 million ha, and also focused on 15 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. We extracted bi-weekly MODIS-NDVI between 2017 and 2020 in GEE, which was used to identify the range of NDVI between two temporal stages. Then, changes in phenology and growth were analyzed by Sentinel 2-derived Temporal Normalized Phenology Index. We modelled between seasonal phenology and growth by additionally considering elevation, surface temperature, and monthly precipitation. Results indicated considerable difference in onset of forests along the longitudinal gradient of the HF. Faster growth was observed in low- and uplands of the western zone, whereas it was lower in both the mid-elevations and the western outskirts. Longitudinal range was a major driver of vegetation growth, to which environmental factors also differently but significantly contributed (p < 0.0001) along the west-east gradient. Our study developed at GEE provides a benchmark to examine the effects of environmental parameters on the vegetation growth of HF, which cover mountainous areas with partly no or limited accessibility.},
  language  = {en}
}