Combining ground-based measurements and MODIS-based spectral vegetation indices to track biomass accumulation in post-fire chaparral

ABSTRACT

Multi-temporal satellite imagery can provide valuable information on the patterns of vegetation growth over large spatial extents and long time periods, but  corresponding ground-referenced biomass information is often difficult to acquire, especially at an annual scale. In this study, we test the relationship between annual biomass estimated using shrub growth rings and metrics of seasonal growth derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) spectral vegetation indices (SVIs) for a small area of southern California chaparral to evaluate the potential for mapping biomass at larger spatial extents. These SVIs are related to the fraction of photosynthetically active radiation absorbed by the plant canopy, which varies throughout the growing season and is correlated with net primary productivity. The site had most recently burned in 2002, and annual biomass accumulation measurements were available from years 5 to 11 post-fire. We tested the metrics of seasonal growth using six SVIs: normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI), soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI), normalized difference water index (NDWI), normalized difference infrared index 6 (NDII6), and vegetation atmospherically resistant index (VARI). Several of the seasonal growth metrics/SVI combinations exhibit a very strong relationship with annual biomass, and all SVIs show a strong relationship with annual biomass (R² for base value time series metric ranging from 0.45 to 0.89). Although additional research is required to determine which of these metrics and SVIs are the most promising over larger spatial extents, this approach shows potential for mapping early post-fire biomass accumulation in chaparral at regional scales.

Acknowledgements

Mike Oxford from the USFS arranged for access to SDEF. I. Schmidt, Y. Granovskaya, J. McCullough, K. Walsh, A. Clark, J. Schichtel, L. Handa, M. Hartfelder, K. Hartfelder, E. Storey, R. Elliott, and A. Lewis provided assistance with field vegetation sampling. Funding for this project was provided by the USDA Forest Service through American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Agreement No. 10-JV-11279701-10: ‘Airborne remote sensing to enable hazardous fuels reduction, forest health protection, rehabilitation and hazard mitigation activities on Federal lands’, Dr Philip Riggan, Principal Investigator.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this project was provided by the USDA Forest Service through American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Agreement No. 10-JV-11279701-10: ‘Airborne remote sensing to enable hazardous fuels reduction, forest health protection, rehabilitation and hazard mitigation activities on Federal lands’, Dr. Philip Riggan, Principal Investigator.