Detecting Forest Degradation in the Three-North Forest Shelterbelt in China from Multi-Scale Satellite Images

Detecting forest degradation from satellite observation data is of great significance in revealing the process of decreasing forest quality and giving a better understanding of regional or global carbon emissions and their feedbacks with climate changes. In this paper, a quick and applicable approach was developed for monitoring forest degradation in the Three-North Forest Shelterbelt in China from multi-scale remote sensing data. Firstly, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Ratio Vegetation Index (RVI), Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR) and Net Primary Production (NPP) from remote sensing data were selected as the indicators to describe forest degradation. Then multi-scale forest degradation maps were obtained by adopting a new classification method using time series MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) images, and were validated with ground survey data. At last, the criteria and indicators for monitoring forest degradation from remote sensing data were discussed, and the uncertainly of the method was analyzed. Results of this paper indicated that multi-scale remote sensing data have great potential in detecting regional forest degradation.