Sensor-Independent LAI/FPAR CDR: Reconstructing a Global Sensor-Independent Climate Data Record of MODIS and VIIRS LAI/FPAR from 2000 to 2022

Abstract

Abstract. Leaf area index (LAI) and fraction of photosynthetically active radiation (FPAR) are critical biophysical parameters for the characterization of terrestrial ecosystems. Long-term global LAI/FPAR products, such as MODIS&VIIRS, provide the fundamental dataset for accessing vegetation dynamics and studying climate change. However, existing global LAI/FPAR products suffer from several limitations, including spatial-temporal inconsistencies and accuracy issues. Considering these limitations, this study develops a Sensor-Independent (SI) LAI/FPAR climate data record (CDR) based on Terra-MODIS/Aqua-MODIS/VIIRS LAI/FPAR standard products. The SI LAI/FPAR CDR covers the period from 2000 to 2022, at spatial resolutions of 500m/5km/0.05 degrees, 8-day/bimonthly temporal frequencies and available in sinusoidal and WGS1984 projections. The methodology includes (i) comprehensive analyses of sensor-specific quality assessment variables to select high quality retrievals, (ii) application of the spatial-temporal tensor (ST-Tensor) completion model to extrapolate LAI and FPAR beyond areas with high quality retrievals, (iii) generation of SI LAI/FPAR CDR in various projections, spatial and temporal resolutions, and (iv) evaluation of the CDR by direct comparisons to ground data and indirectly through reproducing results of LAI/FPAR trends documented in literature. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of each step involved in the generation of the SI LAI/FPAR CDR, as well as evaluation of the ST-Tensor completion model. Comparisons of SI LAI (FPAR) with ground truth data suggest a RMSE of 0.84 LAI (0.15 FPAR) units with R2 of 0.72 (0.79), which are improvements of the standard Terra/Aqua/VIIRS LAI (FPAR) products by 0.02~0.19 LAI (0.01~0.02 FPAR) units with the R2 decreased by 0.02~0.16 (0.05~0.09). The SI LAI/FPAR CDR is characterized by a low time series stability (TSS) value, suggesting a more stable and less noisy data set than their sensor-dependent counterparts. Furthermore, the mean absolute error (MAE) of the CDR is also lower, suggesting that SI LAI/FPAR CDR is comparable in accuracy with high-quality retrievals. LAI/FPAR trend analyses based on the SI LAI/FPAR CDR agrees with previous studies, which indirectly provides enhanced capabilities to utilize this CDR for studying vegetation dynamics and climate change. Overall, the integration of multiple satellite data sources and the use of advanced gap-filling modelling techniques improve the accuracy of the SI LAI/FPAR CDR, ensuring the reliability of long-term vegetation studies, global carbon cycle modelling and land policy development for informed decision-making and sustainable environmental management.

Sensor-independent LAI/FPAR CDR: reconstructing a global sensor-independent climate data record of MODIS and VIIRS LAI/FPAR from 2000 to 2022

“…The SI LAI/FPAR CDR is openly available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8076540 , https://code.earthengine.google.com/?asset=projects/sat-io/ open-datasets/BU_LAI_FPAR/wgs_500m_8d , only available for logged-in users), and https://code.earthengine.google.com/?asset=_projects/ sat-io/open-datasets/BU_LAI_FPAR/wgs_500m_bimonthly (Pu and Roy, 2023b, only available for logged-in users).…”