Exploring the Use of MODIS NDVI-Based Phenology Indicators for Classifying Forest General Habitat Categories.docVIP

Remote Sens. 2012, 4, 1781-1803; doi:10.3390/rs4061781 OPEN ACCESS Remote Sensing ISSN 2072-4292 /journal/remotesensing Article Exploring the Use of MODIS NDVI-Based Phenology Indicators for Classifying Forest General Habitat Categories Nicola Clerici 1,*, Christof J. Weissteiner 1 and France Gerard 2 1 Institute for Environment and Sustainability, European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Via E. Fermi 2749, I-21027 Ispra (VA), Italy; E-Mail: christof.weissteiner@ext.jrc.ec.europa.eu 2 Earth Observation Group, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, OX10 8BB, UK; E-Mail: ffg@ceh.ac.uk * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: nicola.clerici@jrc.ec.europa.eu. Received: 20 April 2012; in revised form: 12 June 2012 / Accepted: 13 June 2012 / Published: 18 June 2012 Abstract: The cost effective monitoring of habitats and their biodiversity remains a challenge to date. Earth Observation (EO) has a key role to play in mapping habitat and biodiversity in general, providing tools for the systematic collection of environmental data. The recent GEO-BON European Biodiversity Observation Network project (EBONE) established a framework for an integrated biodiversity monitoring system. Underlying this framework is the idea of integrating in situ with EO and a habitat classification scheme based on General Habitat Categories (GHC), designed with an Earth Observation-perspective. Here we report on EBONE work that explored the use of NDVI-derived phenology metrics for the identification and mapping of Forest GHCs. Thirty-one phenology metrics were extracted from MODIS NDVI time series for Europe. Classifications to discriminate forest types were performed based on a Random Forests? classifier in selected regions. Results indicate that date phenology metrics are generally more significant for forest type discrimination. The achieved class accuracies are generally not satisfac