Boreal Shrubification

Boreal Shrubification

1. Large spatio-temporal study needed

   • Methods of Assessment
     • LANDSAT
       • Pros
         • Limitless Spatial Scale
         • Long Time series (~1970s on)
         • Well established data products
       • Cons
         • Only gives very vague understanding of ground level changes
         • Relatively easy to do - should take on more
         • Difficult to assess vertically distributed attributes due to radiometric saturation
       • Summary
         • Can provide a broader assessment of structural attributes on a very large spatio-temporal scale
           • Need to link both sources to capture a more detailed understanding at a large spatio-temporal scale
             • Use LiDAR data for model calibration and validation
               • Enables Supervised Machine Learning Classification
                 • Has been done to assess other attributes but not shrub cover to my knowledge
                 • RF or SVM likely would be optimal, some experimentation will be needed
                   • Potentially test algorithms using WEKA (depending on EarthEngine's capabilities)
                     • Implement in EarthEngine
                 • Determine necessary class labels
                   • How detailed does it need to be?
                   • How detailed is possible?
             • Questions
               • Will this work for understory?
                 • Not yet known
                   • = High risk, high reward study
               • What scale is appropriate/accomplishable for a 2 year MSc?
               • Is LiDAR data availability adequate to capture full spectrum of variation needed to calibrate and at what scale?
                 • Should be - but need to confirm
               • Can this overcome issue of radiometric saturation, or does this issue persist ?
                 • Has helped for assessing canopy cover, stand height, above ground biomass (Matasci et al)
             • Supplementary data
               • Veg. indices
               • Disturbance Information (When and type)
               • Geographic position
               • Topographic variables
                 • Elevation
                 • Slope
             • LANDSAT composites
             • Questions these results could answer:
               • What is the spatial extent of boreal shrubification?
               • How is boreal shrubification changing over time?
               • What variables drive boreal shrubification?
     • LiDAR
       • Cons
         • Limited coverage
         • New - very limited time series capabilities
       • Pros
         • Very detailed capture of ground level attributes
         • Sub meter accuracy
         • Capable of assessing vertically distributed attributes
       • Summary
         • Can give a very detailed understanding of structural attributes on smaller spatio-temporal scale