The contribution of remote sensing to the assessment of drought effects in forest ecosystems

Annals of Forest Science, Sep 2006

Michel Deshayes, Dominique Guyon, Hervé Jeanjean, Nicolas Stach, Anne Jolly, Olivier Hagolle

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The contribution of remote sensing to the assessment of drought effects in forest ecosystems

Ann. For. Sci. The contribution of remote sensing to the assessment of drought effects in forest ecosystems Michel D 4 Dominique G 2 Hervé J 3 Nicolas S 0 Anne J 1 Olivier H 3 0 Inventaire Forestier National , 32 rue Léon Bourgeois, 69500 Bron , France 1 Office National des Forêts , Sylvétude Lorraine, 5 rue Girardet, 54052 Nancy Cedex , France 2 INRA, Unité de Recherche Écologie fonctionnelle et Physique de l'Environnement , BP81, 33883 Villenave d'Ornon , France 3 CNES , 18 avenue Edouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9 , France 4 ENGREF, UMR Territoires, Environnement, Télédétection et Information Spatiale , Cemagref-CIRAD-ENGREF, 500 rue JF Breton, 34093 Montpellier Cedex 5 , France - Due to their synoptic and monitoring capacities, Earth observation satellites could prove useful for the assessment and evaluation of drought effects in forest ecosystems. The objectives of this article are: to briefly review the existing sources of remote sensing data and their potential to detect drought damage; to review the remote sensing applications and studies carried out during the last two decades aiming at detecting and quantifying disturbances caused by various stress factors, and especially those causing effects similar to drought; to explore the possibility to use some of the different available systems for setting up a strategy more adapted to monitoring of drought effects in forests. drought / forest / remote sensing / satellite Résumé - Contribution de la télédétection à l'évaluation des effets de la sécheresse sur les écosystèmes forestiers. Grâce à leurs capacités de surveillance continue, les satellites d'observation de la Terre pourraient s'avérer utiles pour l'évaluation des effets de la sécheresse sur les écosystèmes forestiers. Les objectifs de cet article sont : de passer en revue rapidement les sources actuelles de données de télédétection et leur potentiel pour la détection des dommages dus à la sécheresse ; de passer en revue les études et applications de télédétection conduites pendant les deux dernières décennies et visant à détecter et quantifier les perturbations induites par différents facteurs de stress, et en particulier ceux causant des effets semblables à ceux de la sécheresse ; d'explorer la possibilité d'utiliser certains des systèmes disponibles pour définir une stratégie adaptée au suivi continu des effets de la sécheresse sur les forêts. - Review sécheresse / forêt / télédétection / satellite 1. INTRODUCTION Earth observation satellites have been used for more than 30 years for land cover mapping and forest monitoring. Most of platforms have been developed by state-owned space agencies. Commercial systems with very high resolution capabilities, mainly in the optical domain, have been developed for addressing specific markets, e.g. urban mapping, rapid mapping after natural disasters and defence needs. In 2005, more than 60 Earth observation satellites are in operation and are providing relevant information of the planet environment, about half of them carrying dedicated sensors for land and vegetation observation at different resolution and spectral capabilities [ 17 ]. This wide range of Earth observation systems offers in principle large possibilities for forest applications, but leads at the same time to specific problems on data compatibility, calibration, geometry and continuity. No Earth observation system is fully dedicated to monitor and quantify the impact of extreme climatic situations such as the severe heat and drought of 2003 and a very limited literature on such situations is available in temperate climate, especially in Europe, specifically on drought effects. The aims of this article are: (1) To briefly review the existing sources and useful physical principles of remote sensing. The observable biophysical variables and processes are presented. (2) To review the remote sensing applications and studies carried out during the last two decades aiming at detecting and quantifying disturbances caused by various stress factors. The potential use of earth observation data for detecting drought effects can be, with some limitations, derived from the similarity of the detected changes with those caused by drought. This part gives an overview of the state of the art in the use of remote sensing for detecting and monitoring forest changes and drought effects. The first section outlines the capability of remote sensing to detect and track rapid vegetation structure changes such as clear cutting or storm damages. Fire-related disturbances, a very important and specific issue in forest management, are not considered here. The following sections deal with monitoring of changes resulting from continuous and progressive mechanisms, such as forest decline or phenological disturbance or productivity reduction, with a focus on vegetation anomalies due to drought and water stress. The last section addresses the future prospects given by t (...truncated)


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Michel Deshayes, Dominique Guyon, Hervé Jeanjean, Nicolas Stach, Anne Jolly, Olivier Hagolle. The contribution of remote sensing to the assessment of drought effects in forest ecosystems, Annals of Forest Science, 2006, pp. 579-595, Volume 63, Issue 6, DOI: doi:10.1051/forest:2006045