Use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in a multi-scale vegetation index study of arctic plant communities in Adventdalen on Svalbard
Use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) gives the opportunity to carry out research with a re-duced environmental footprint. Unmanned aircraft, including both fixed wing and multi rotor types (helicopters) allow us to collect very high resolution image data for vegetation mapping without the need for...
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European Association of Remote Sensing Laboratories
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/6651 https://doi.org/10.12760/02-2014-1-09 |
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/6651 2023-05-15T13:05:41+02:00 Use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in a multi-scale vegetation index study of arctic plant communities in Adventdalen on Svalbard Tømmervik, Hans Karlsen, Stein-Rune Nilsen, Lennart Johansen, Bernt Storvold, Rune Zmarz, Anna Beck, Pieter S. Høgda, Kjell Arild Goetz, Scott Park, Taejin Zagajewski, Bogdan Myneni, Ranga B. Bjerke, Jarle W. 2014 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/6651 https://doi.org/10.12760/02-2014-1-09 eng eng European Association of Remote Sensing Laboratories EARSeL eProceedings 13(2014) nr. S1 s. 47-52 FRIDAID 1152957 http://dx.doi.org/10.12760/02-2014-1-09 1729-3782 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/6651 URN:NBN:no-uit_munin_6254 openAccess VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Plant geography: 496 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Plantegeografi: 496 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed 2014 ftunivtroemsoe https://doi.org/10.12760/02-2014-1-09 2021-06-25T17:53:59Z Use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) gives the opportunity to carry out research with a re-duced environmental footprint. Unmanned aircraft, including both fixed wing and multi rotor types (helicopters) allow us to collect very high resolution image data for vegetation mapping without the need for any personnel walking into the site and thereby potentially disturbing the sensitive Arctic ecosystems. The main aim of this project was to explore the feasibility of UAS-based vegetation mapping and extraction of vegetation indices (NDVI) for a range of different Arctic plant communi-ties including dense marshes, moss tundra communities and different tundra heaths. The study area of Adventdalen valley on Svalbard, Arctic Norway, is located at 71.2°N 16°E and experiences a dry Arctic climate with a mean July temperature of about 6°C. The UAS was a fixed wing aircraft instrumented with a Red, Green, Blue (RGB) compact camera and a Normalized Difference Vege-tation Index (NDVI) camera taking pictures from 100 metres altitude with highest ground resolution of 2.5 cm capable of mapping 2-3 km2 per flight. The study area’s two main plant communities; the Arctic bell heath and a graminoid rich Polar Willow heath were easily detected both in the NDVI and RGB images. In addition, wet moss tundra and mires were separated from the heath commu-nities. In the NDVI image the moss-dominated mires were difficult to separate from the graminoid dominated mires in most cases, but they were well separable in RGB colour space. Also in situ NDVI measurements by a handheld passive proximal sensor were simultaneously done during the flight campaign. These measurements were analysed in order to correlate the species level NDVI and community level NDVI measurements with the NDVI images acquired at a variety of spatial resolutions by the UAS. The analysis shows that NDVIs of four main plant species at in situ leaf and community levels were significantly correlated (R2 = 0.60, p<0.01). The correlation between the surface (in situ) NDVI community level and the UAS NDVI community level acquired from 100 metres above the surface of four main plant communities was R2 = 0.75 (p<0.01), and these two scales are considered to be best for extraction of NDVI observations in Arctic areas like Svalbard. Article in Journal/Newspaper Adventdalen Arctic Polar willow Svalbard Tundra University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Arctic Svalbard Norway Adventdalen ENVELOPE(16.264,16.264,78.181,78.181) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
topic |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Plant geography: 496 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Plantegeografi: 496 |
spellingShingle |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Plant geography: 496 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Plantegeografi: 496 Tømmervik, Hans Karlsen, Stein-Rune Nilsen, Lennart Johansen, Bernt Storvold, Rune Zmarz, Anna Beck, Pieter S. Høgda, Kjell Arild Goetz, Scott Park, Taejin Zagajewski, Bogdan Myneni, Ranga B. Bjerke, Jarle W. Use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in a multi-scale vegetation index study of arctic plant communities in Adventdalen on Svalbard |
topic_facet |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Plant geography: 496 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Plantegeografi: 496 |
description |
Use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) gives the opportunity to carry out research with a re-duced environmental footprint. Unmanned aircraft, including both fixed wing and multi rotor types (helicopters) allow us to collect very high resolution image data for vegetation mapping without the need for any personnel walking into the site and thereby potentially disturbing the sensitive Arctic ecosystems. The main aim of this project was to explore the feasibility of UAS-based vegetation mapping and extraction of vegetation indices (NDVI) for a range of different Arctic plant communi-ties including dense marshes, moss tundra communities and different tundra heaths. The study area of Adventdalen valley on Svalbard, Arctic Norway, is located at 71.2°N 16°E and experiences a dry Arctic climate with a mean July temperature of about 6°C. The UAS was a fixed wing aircraft instrumented with a Red, Green, Blue (RGB) compact camera and a Normalized Difference Vege-tation Index (NDVI) camera taking pictures from 100 metres altitude with highest ground resolution of 2.5 cm capable of mapping 2-3 km2 per flight. The study area’s two main plant communities; the Arctic bell heath and a graminoid rich Polar Willow heath were easily detected both in the NDVI and RGB images. In addition, wet moss tundra and mires were separated from the heath commu-nities. In the NDVI image the moss-dominated mires were difficult to separate from the graminoid dominated mires in most cases, but they were well separable in RGB colour space. Also in situ NDVI measurements by a handheld passive proximal sensor were simultaneously done during the flight campaign. These measurements were analysed in order to correlate the species level NDVI and community level NDVI measurements with the NDVI images acquired at a variety of spatial resolutions by the UAS. The analysis shows that NDVIs of four main plant species at in situ leaf and community levels were significantly correlated (R2 = 0.60, p<0.01). The correlation between the surface (in situ) NDVI community level and the UAS NDVI community level acquired from 100 metres above the surface of four main plant communities was R2 = 0.75 (p<0.01), and these two scales are considered to be best for extraction of NDVI observations in Arctic areas like Svalbard. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Tømmervik, Hans Karlsen, Stein-Rune Nilsen, Lennart Johansen, Bernt Storvold, Rune Zmarz, Anna Beck, Pieter S. Høgda, Kjell Arild Goetz, Scott Park, Taejin Zagajewski, Bogdan Myneni, Ranga B. Bjerke, Jarle W. |
author_facet |
Tømmervik, Hans Karlsen, Stein-Rune Nilsen, Lennart Johansen, Bernt Storvold, Rune Zmarz, Anna Beck, Pieter S. Høgda, Kjell Arild Goetz, Scott Park, Taejin Zagajewski, Bogdan Myneni, Ranga B. Bjerke, Jarle W. |
author_sort |
Tømmervik, Hans |
title |
Use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in a multi-scale vegetation index study of arctic plant communities in Adventdalen on Svalbard |
title_short |
Use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in a multi-scale vegetation index study of arctic plant communities in Adventdalen on Svalbard |
title_full |
Use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in a multi-scale vegetation index study of arctic plant communities in Adventdalen on Svalbard |
title_fullStr |
Use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in a multi-scale vegetation index study of arctic plant communities in Adventdalen on Svalbard |
title_full_unstemmed |
Use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in a multi-scale vegetation index study of arctic plant communities in Adventdalen on Svalbard |
title_sort |
use of unmanned aircraft systems (uas) in a multi-scale vegetation index study of arctic plant communities in adventdalen on svalbard |
publisher |
European Association of Remote Sensing Laboratories |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/6651 https://doi.org/10.12760/02-2014-1-09 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(16.264,16.264,78.181,78.181) |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard Norway Adventdalen |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard Norway Adventdalen |
genre |
Adventdalen Arctic Polar willow Svalbard Tundra |
genre_facet |
Adventdalen Arctic Polar willow Svalbard Tundra |
op_relation |
EARSeL eProceedings 13(2014) nr. S1 s. 47-52 FRIDAID 1152957 http://dx.doi.org/10.12760/02-2014-1-09 1729-3782 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/6651 URN:NBN:no-uit_munin_6254 |
op_rights |
openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.12760/02-2014-1-09 |
_version_ |
1766391032112480256 |