Detecting bark beetle-induced changes in coniferous alpine forests using Sentinel-2 time series and in-situ felling data

Potočnik Buhvald, Ana (author), Oštir, Krištof (author), Skudnik, Mitja (author)

Mapping forest areas affected by bark beetle infestation using remote sensing imagery is crucial for effective hazard management and risk assessment. This study evaluates the potential of Sentinel-2 satellite image time series (SITS) in combination with in-situ felling data to detect bark beetle infestation in coniferous forests in Pokljuka, Slovenia. The analysis uses the CuSum method, all Sentinel-2 spectral bands and key spectral indices such as NDVI and NBSI to identify changes and areas of forest loss in the period 2017–2021. The resulting geospatial dataset, which integrates these remote sensing results with field data, serves as a basis for further analyses using advanced machine and deep learning methods and various remote sensing data such as hyperspectral datasets. In addition, we found that the most useful bands for detecting the loss of alpine coniferous forests are SWIR (B11, B12), Red (B04) and Red-Edge (B05) as well as the two spectral in dices used, NDVI and NBSI.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Norway Spruce, CUSUM, Pokljuka, Slovenia, deep learning dataset
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.08 - Published Scientific Conference Contribution
• Organization: FGG - Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering; BF - Biotechnical Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 283-289
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-169524
• UDC: 004.8:630*0(497.4)
• ISSN on article: 2194-9034
• COBISS.SI-ID: 237911555
• Publication date in RUL: 02.06.2025

Record is a part of a proceedings

• Title: 44th EARSeL Symposium
• COBISS.SI-ID: 237899011

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: International archives of the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences
• Shortened title: Int. arch. photogramm. remote sens. spat. inf. sci.
• Publisher: Copernicus Publications
• ISSN: 2194-9034
• COBISS.SI-ID: 524697881

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian

Abstract

Kartiranje gozdnih območij, ki jih je napadel lubadar, s pomočjo posnetkov daljinskega zaznavanja je ključnega pomena za učinkovito obvladovanje nevarnosti in oceno tveganja. Ta študija ocenjuje možnosti časovnih serij satelitskih posnetkov Sentinel-2 (SITS) v kombinaciji s podatki o sečnji na kraju samem za odkrivanje napada lubadarja v iglastih gozdovih na Pokljuki v Sloveniji. Analiza uporablja metodo CuSum, vse spektralne pasove Sentinel-2 in ključne spektralne indekse, kot sta NDVI in NBSI, za ugotavljanje sprememb in območij izgube gozdov v obdobju 2017-2021. Nastali geoprostorski podatkovni niz, ki združuje te rezultate daljinskega zaznavanja s terenskimi podatki, služi kot podlaga za nadaljnje analize z uporabo naprednih metod strojnega in globokega učenja ter različnih podatkov daljinskega zaznavanja, na primer hiperspektralnih podatkovnih nizov. Poleg tega smo ugotovili, da so najbolj uporabni spektralni kanali za zaznavanje izgube alpskih iglastih gozdov kratkovalovna infrardeča kanala (B11, B12), rdeči kanal (B04) in kanal rdečega roba (B05) ter uporabljena spektralna indeksa, NDVI in NBSI.

• Keywords: navadna smreka, CUSUM, Pokljuka, Slovenija, set podatkov za globoko učenje

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: J2-3055
• Name: ROVI – Združevanje in obdelava radarskih in optičnih časovnih vrst satelitskih posnetkov za spremljanje naravnega okolja

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P2-0406
• Name: Opazovanje Zemlje in geoinformatika