Project name: Professional paper “Application of High Definition Multispectral Satellite Surveys in Determining the Degree of Productivity of Various Forest Owner’s Forests in the Mediterranean and Sub-Mediterranean”
Client: Ministry of Agriculture
Period: 05/2016 – 05/2018
Funding: State budget
Location: Croatia
This project was designed to produce models for assessing the yield and age of the uneven aged forest stands of forest owner’s forests in the Mediterranean and Sub-Mediterranean, primarily oak forests based on data from satellite images, which would greatly accelerate and optimize operational forestry management and inventory, monitoring and prediction of forest ecosystem states.
It was financed from the general forest functions Compensation Grant for Scientific Grants for Scientific Research and Professional Activities and Forestry Publications in the field of Forestry.
Satellite images from Sentinel 2a satellites were used. Imagery data were used to calculate various vegetation indices (NDVI, EVI, LAI, etc). Field data collected in forests of forest owner’s in the Mediterranean and Sub-Mediterranean areas of the Republic of Croatia was used for modeling and validation. Plot placement was designed to gather enough data for all possible geographical, climatic, orographic and pedological conditions in these forests.
Data on the plots was collected for: tree species, diameter, height and growth via standard procedures used in forestry management. The age of the trees on the surface was determined by drilling the core to the center of the tree, with a manual or motor Pressler drill bit.
In total, over 1500 samples were taken from approximately 400 locations in the entire Croatian Mediterranean and Sub-Mediterranean in these types of forests. Office analysis and statistical and mathematical methods were used to produce curves and incremental percentages, and the mean age of the plots was calculated. Analyzing within the annual time series of satellite recordings and extracting the data from satellite images and statistical methods established the connection of field and satellite data and produced the models for assessment with the highest possible degree of correlation and the smallest error.
Services provided:
- Imagery data calculation
- Field data collection
- Modeling and validation
- Plot placement design
- Tree age determination
- Sampling
- Curve and incremental percentage production
- Satellite recordings analysis
- Model design and testing
- Project management
- Reporting
