Assessment of Deforestation and Forest Degradation due to Selective

Logging and Fires using Time Series of Fraction Images derived from

Landsat ETM+ images

Yosio Edemir Shimabukuro a, b

René Beuchle b

Rosana Cristina Grecchi b

Dario Simonetti b

Frédéric Achard b

a Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)

Remote Sensing Division (DSR), São José dos Campos, Brazil

b Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC)

Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES), Ispra, Italy

Email: (yosio.shimabukuro; rene.beuchle; rosana.grecchi; frederic.achard) @ jrc.ec.europa.eu

Sentinel-2 For Science Workshop 20-22 May 2014 ESA-ESRIN Frascati (Rome) Italy

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OUTLINE

- INTRODUCTION

- STUDY AREA

- MATERIAL

- METHODOLOGY

- RESULTS

- CONCLUSIONS

Sentinel-2 For Science Workshop 20-22 May 2014 ESA-ESRIN Frascati (Rome) Italy

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SELECTIVE LOGGING FOREST FIRE

• INTRODUCTION

Forest degradation is a key process for the

UNFCCC REDD+ mechanism (Reduction of

Emissions from Deforestation and forest

Degradation)

Forest degradation in the Brazilian Amazon is

mainly due to selective logging and forest fires

OBJECTIVES

The main objective of this work is to develop a semi-automated

procedure based on fraction images for the assessment of forest

degradation caused by selective logging and forest fires in the

Brazilian Amazon using a Landsat time series dataset.

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Sentinel-2 For Science Workshop, 20-22 May 2014 ESA-ESRIN Frascati (Rome) Italy

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Study Area Landsat ETM+

15 Jun 2002

01 Jul 2002

17 Jul 2002

02 Aug 2002

18 Aug 2002

03 Sep 2002

19 Sep 2002

05 Oct 2002

150 km

The study area corresponds to one Landsat scene

(path/row 227/068) located in the State of Mato Grosso,

in the region named “Deforestation Arc” of the

Brazilian Amazon

Sentinel-2 For Science Workshop 20-22 May 2014 ESA-ESRIN Frascati (Rome) Italy

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METHOD

The proposed method is performed according to the following steps:

- to generate a forest mask to prevent mapping areas already deforested before 2002;

- to generate fraction images for all 2002 ETM+ images selected for this study;

- to apply the image segmentation process to a multi-temporal dataset composed of soil and

shade fraction images derived from ETM+ time series;

- to generate map of selective logging and deforested areas for all analyzed soil fraction

images;

- to generate map of burned areas for all analyzed shade fraction images;

- to combine the resulting two maps to generate the degradation forest areas due to selective

logging and due to forest fire.

Sentinel-2 For Science Workshop 20-22 May 2014 ESA-ESRIN Frascati (Rome) Italy

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METHODOLOGICAL

APPROACH

Sentinel-2 For Science Workshop 20-22 May 2014 ESA-ESRIN Frascati (Rome) Italy

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ETM+ 05 October 2002

Shade Fraction Image Soil Fraction Image

Selective Logging

Burned

Clear cut

Fraction images enhance:

• Shade: forest canopy structure,

water, and burned areas

• Soil: bare soil, deforestation,

and other non-photosynthetic

materials

• Vegetation: forest canopy,

regrowth areas

Sentinel-2 For Science Workshop 20-22 May 2014 ESA-ESRIN Frascati (Rome) Italy

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ETM+ 02 OCT 2001 DEFORESTATION MAP - INPE PRODES 2001

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ETM+ 15 June 2002

Mapping new deforested areas

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ETM+ 15 June 2002

Mapping burned areas

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ETM+ 2002

Map of burned and deforested areas

ETM+ 2002

Map of deforested areas

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Forest degradation by fires

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ETM+ 2002

Mapping selective logging areas

Soil Fraction Image ETM+ 17 July 2002

Sentinel-2 For Science Workshop 20-22 May 2014 ESA-ESRIN Frascati (Rome) Italy

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Estimated areas for the mapped classes in the study area

Sentinel-2 For Science Workshop 20-22 May 2014 ESA-ESRIN Frascati (Rome) Italy

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CLASSES AREA (km2)

Old Deforestation

Deforestation 2002

Degradation-logging

Degradation-burning

Forest

Water

6,546

490

982 (*)

380

16,591

77

Total 25,066

(*) Forest degradation due to selective logging is overestimated for the

year 2002 since we have not masked the previous selective logging

areas

CONCLUSIONS

- Forest mask is essential for developing a procedure for detecting and mapping forest

degradation areas.

- Forest degradation due to selective logging can be detected and mapped using soil fraction

images.

- Forest degradation due to fires can only be mapped using time series images because

burned areas can also be related to deforestation process when burning is used to clear the

remaining vegetation.

- The proposed method shows the potential to discriminate selective logging from burned

forests within degraded forests, which is very important for estimation of carbon emissions.

- The future availability of time series of high spatial resolution data (Sentinel-2) is expected

to improve the assessment of deforestation and forest degradation processes and

consequently facilitate implementing actions to protect the forest lands.

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Thank you for your attention

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