Substituting landsat TM/ETM + data with ALOS AVNIR-2 imagery for forest cover change detection assessment in the tropics

Abstract

The Tropical Ecosystem Environment Observation by Satellite (TREES) project aims at assessing the changes of forest cover within the pan-tropical belt. Statistics on the forest cover and changes for the monitoring target periods 1990, 2000 and 2010 are derived from analyzing a systematic sample set covered with satellite imagery mainly from the Landsat TM and ETM+ sensors. To reach full coverage of all sample sites for the year 2010 epoch and to ensure data continuity for possible future epochs the usage of alternative satellite data needed to be tested. In this study the replacement of Landsat data with Alos AVNIR-2 data was tested. The necessary adaptations of the standard processing chain are presented as well as the results of the accuracy assessment.