New generation geostationary satellite observations support seasonality in greenness of the Amazon evergreen forests

Hashimoto, Hirofumi; Wang, Weile; Dungan, Jennifer; Li, Shuang; Michaelis, Andrew; Takenaka, Hiroyuki; Higuchi, Atsushi; Myneni, Ranga B.; Nemani, Ramakrishna R.

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-20994-y

Cited by 58 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…However, since drylands feature heterogeneous vegetation, studies will need to investigate whether increases in temporal resolution with coarse spatial resolution are enough to offer an improvement in dryland phenology (Smith et al, 2019). Leveraging diurnal observations from GOES to estimate greenness trajectories and phenological transitions (Hashimoto et al, 2021;Wheeler and Dietze, 2021) across the Western Hemisphere, coupled with the ability to extract these transitions from AHI, SE-VIRI, and GOCI, can result in a near-global improvement in estimating seasonal vegetation growth and decline. The capacity of GOES to track events in plant phenology is shown in Figs.…”

Section: Plant Phenologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reviews and syntheses: Ongoing and emerging opportunities to improve environmental science using observations from the Advanced Baseline Imager on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites

Khan¹,

Stoy

Douglas

et al. 2021

Biogeosciences

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Abstract. Environmental science is increasingly reliant on remotely sensed observations of the Earth's surface and atmosphere. Observations from polar-orbiting satellites have long supported investigations on land cover change, ecosystem productivity, hydrology, climate, the impacts of disturbance, and more and are critical for extrapolating (upscaling) ground-based measurements to larger areas. However, the limited temporal frequency at which polar-orbiting satellites observe the Earth limits our understanding of rapidly evolving ecosystem processes, especially in areas with frequent cloud cover. Geostationary satellites have observed the Earth's surface and atmosphere at high temporal frequency for decades, and their imagers now have spectral resolutions in the visible and near-infrared regions that are comparable to commonly used polar-orbiting sensors like the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), or Landsat. These advances extend applications of geostationary Earth observations from weather monitoring to multiple disciplines in ecology and environmental science. We review a number of existing applications that use data from geostationary platforms and present upcoming opportunities for observing key ecosystem properties using high-frequency observations from the Advanced Baseline Imagers (ABI) on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES), which routinely observe the Western Hemisphere every 5–15 min. Many of the existing applications in environmental science from ABI are focused on estimating land surface temperature, solar radiation, evapotranspiration, and biomass burning emissions along with detecting rapid drought development and wildfire. Ongoing work in estimating vegetation properties and phenology from other geostationary platforms demonstrates the potential to expand ABI observations to estimate vegetation greenness, moisture, and productivity at a high temporal frequency across the Western Hemisphere. Finally, we present emerging opportunities to address the relatively coarse resolution of ABI observations through multisensor fusion to resolve landscape heterogeneity and to leverage observations from ABI to study the carbon cycle and ecosystem function at unprecedented temporal frequency.

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Section: Plant Phenologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6.1. A recent review has also highlighted the use of geostationary imagers in monitoring landslides and flooding (Higuchi, 2021).…”

Section: Disturbance and Recoverymentioning

confidence: 99%

Reviews and syntheses: Ongoing and emerging opportunities to improve environmental science using observations from the Advanced Baseline Imager on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites

Khan¹,

Stoy

Douglas

et al. 2021

Biogeosciences

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“…While the mechanism driving these variations in slope may not be immediately clear, it is important to note that there are open questions around the process of litterfall and its relation to precipitation and radiation in general. A recent study from Hashimoto et al (2021) demonstrated that the temporal density of optical data from the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) onboard the Diurnal variations (i.e. the difference between morning and evening overpasses) were generally small, particularly in the evergreen forests.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of vegetation water dynamics on the ASCAT backscatter-incidence angle relationship in the Amazon

Petchiappan

Steele‐Dunne

Vreugdenhil

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Abstract. Microwave observations are sensitive to plant water content and could therefore provide essential information on biomass and plant water status in ecological and agricultural applications. The combined data record of the C-band scatterometers on ERS 1/2, the Metop series and the planned Metop Second Generation satellites will span over 40 years, which would provide a long-term perspective on the role of vegetation in the climate system. Recent research has indicated that the unique viewing geometry of ASCAT could be exploited to observe vegetation water dynamics. The incidence angle dependence of backscatter can be described with a second order polynomial, the slope and curvature of which are related to vegetation. In a study limited to grasslands, seasonal cycles, spatial patterns and interannual variability in the slope and curvature were found to vary among grassland types and were attributed to differences in moisture availability, growing season length and phenological changes. To exploit ASCAT slope and curvature for global vegetation monitoring, their dynamics over a wider range of vegetation types needs to be quantified and explained in terms of vegetation water dynamics. Here, we compare ASCAT data with meteorological data and GRACE Equivalent Water Thickness (EWT) to explain the dynamics of ASCAT backscatter, slope and curvature in terms of moisture availability and demand. We consider differences in the seasonal cycle, diurnal differences, and the response to the 2010 and 2015 droughts across ecoregions in the Amazon basin and surroundings. Results show that spatial and temporal patterns in backscatter reflect moisture availability indicated by GRACE EWT. Slope and curvature dynamics vary considerably among the ecoregions. The evergreen forests, often used as a calibration target, exhibit very stable behaviour even under drought conditions. The limited seasonal variation follows changes in the radiation cycle, and may indicate phenological changes such as litterfall. In contrast, the diversity of land cover types within the Cerrado region results in considerable heterogeneity in terms of the seasonal cycle and the influence of drought on both slope and curvature. Seasonal flooding in forest and savanna areas also produced a distinctive signature in terms of the backscatter as a function of incidence angle. This improved understanding of the incidence angle behaviour of backscatter increases our ability to interpret and make optimal use of the ASCAT data record and VOD products for vegetation monitoring.

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“…In this sense, incorporate observed data from vegetation dynamics and soil moisture is acutely necessary in order to evaluate uncertainties in vegetation indices such as NDVI and land-use changes. Incorporate the use of new generation geostationary satellites could help reduce these uncertainties and improve understanding of seasonality and vegetation dynamics in the tropical forests, which remains a challenge (Hashimoto et al, 2021).…”

Section: Hydrological Variables and Ndvi Relationshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Hydroclimate-Vegetation Relationship in the Southwestern Amazon During the 2000–2019 Period

Gutierrez-Cori

Espinoza

et al. 2021

Front. Water

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The southern Amazonia is undergoing a major biophysical transition, involving changes in land use and regional climate. This study provides new insights on the relationship between hydroclimatic variables and vegetation conditions in the upper Madeira Basin (~1 × 106 km2). Vegetative dynamics are characterised using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) while hydroclimatic variability is analysed using satellite-based precipitation, observed river discharge, satellite measurements of terrestrial water storage (TWS) and downward shortwave radiation (DSR). We show that the vegetation in this region varies from energy-limited to water-limited throughout the year. During the peak of the wet season (January-February), rainfall, discharge and TWS are negatively correlated with NDVI in February-April (r = −0.48 to −0.65; p < 0.05). In addition, DSR is positively correlated with NDVI (r = 0.47–0.54; p < 0.05), suggesting that the vegetation is mainly energy-limited during this period. Outside this period, these correlations are positive for rainfall, discharge and TWS (r = 0.55–0.88; p < 0.05), and negative for DSR (r = −0.47 to −0.54; p < 0.05), suggesting that vegetation depends mainly on water availability, particularly during the vegetation dry season (VDS; late June to late October). Accordantly, the total rainfall during the dry season explains around 80% of the VDS NDVI interannual variance. Considering the predominant land cover types, differences in the hydroclimate-NDVI relationship are observed. Evergreen forests (531,350 km2) remain energy-limited during the beginning of the dry season, but they become water-limited at the end of the VDS. In savannas and flooded savannas (162,850 km2), water dependence occurs months before the onset of the VDS. These differences are more evident during extreme drought years (2007, 2010, and 2011), where regional impacts on NDVI were stronger in savannas and flooded savannas (55% of the entire surface of savannas) than in evergreen forests (40%). A spatial analysis reveals that two specific areas do not show significant hydroclimatic-NDVI correlations during the dry season: (i) the eastern flank of the Andes, characterised by very wet conditions, therefore the vegetation is not water-limited, and (ii) recent deforested areas (~42,500 km2) that break the natural response in the hydroclimate-vegetation system. These findings are particularly relevant given the increasing rates of deforestation in this region.

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New generation geostationary satellite observations support seasonality in greenness of the Amazon evergreen forests

Cited by 58 publications

References 67 publications

Reviews and syntheses: Ongoing and emerging opportunities to improve environmental science using observations from the Advanced Baseline Imager on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites

Reviews and syntheses: Ongoing and emerging opportunities to improve environmental science using observations from the Advanced Baseline Imager on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites

The influence of vegetation water dynamics on the ASCAT backscatter-incidence angle relationship in the Amazon

On the Hydroclimate-Vegetation Relationship in the Southwestern Amazon During the 2000–2019 Period

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