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Title: Studying drought-induced forest mortality using high spatiotemporal resolution evapotranspiration data from thermal satellite imaging

Abstract

Drought can have pervasive and wide-spread impacts to forest health, as evidenced in several severe events occurring over the recent decades. Extensive forest die-off due to drought can impair the ecological functioning of forests, impacting habitat, water yield and quality from forested lands, and altering forest fire dynamics and intensity. Satellite remote sensing provides an effective means for detecting and monitoring spatial patterns of forest mortality over large areas, exploiting free and open long-term image archives available at a range in spatial and temporal resolutions. While remotely sensed surface reflectances and vegetation indices have been widely used to study optical response of forest canopies to drought events, retrievals of evapotranspiration (ET) derived from thermal satellite imagery – particularly at resolutions approaching crown scale - can provide insights into cumulative tree stresses that can incite disease and trigger mortality. In this study, we applied a multi-sensor satellite data fusion approach to estimate daily 30-m resolution ET and an associated Evaporative Stress Index (ESI) to study drought-induced mortality in a temperate forest at the Missouri Ozark AmeriFlux (MOFLUX) site, located in the central United States. The study covered the period from 2010 to 2014, including an exceptional drought year of 2012. Modeledmore » ET agreed well with eddy flux measurements from the MOFLUX tower, with average monthly relative errors of 15%. Plot-scale ESI, describing temporal anomalies in the ratio of actual-to-reference ET, was used as an index of relative forest health to investigate relationships between forest mortality and drought severity. ESI showed good agreement with observed predawn leaf water potential, especially during the drought year. Furthermore, plot-scale ESI was also correlated with the subsequent year's tree mortality, suggesting the importance of considering the forest health condition prior to drought when studying drought-induced forest impacts. This study demonstrates the utility of multi-year ET remote sensing data at the stand or plot scale as an indicator of forest health and as a predictor of future mortality due to drought.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [5]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States). Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center; USDA-ARS Hydrology and Remote Sensing Lab., Beltsville, MD (United States)
  2. USDA-ARS Hydrology and Remote Sensing Lab., Beltsville, MD (United States)
  3. Univ. of Missouri, Columbia, MO (United States)
  4. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  5. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Huntsville, AL (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
OSTI Identifier:
1820775
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725; NNH17ZDA001
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Remote Sensing of Environment
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 265; Journal Issue: 112640; Journal ID: ISSN 0034-4257
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; evapotranspiration; forest; drought; mortality; thermal imaging; remote sensing

Citation Formats

Yang, Yun, Anderson, Martha C., Gao, Feng, Wood, Jeffrey D., Gu, Lianhong, and Hain, Christopher. Studying drought-induced forest mortality using high spatiotemporal resolution evapotranspiration data from thermal satellite imaging. United States: N. p., 2021. Web. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2021.112640.
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Yang, Yun, Anderson, Martha C., Gao, Feng, Wood, Jeffrey D., Gu, Lianhong, & Hain, Christopher. Studying drought-induced forest mortality using high spatiotemporal resolution evapotranspiration data from thermal satellite imaging. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112640
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Yang, Yun, Anderson, Martha C., Gao, Feng, Wood, Jeffrey D., Gu, Lianhong, and Hain, Christopher. Wed . "Studying drought-induced forest mortality using high spatiotemporal resolution evapotranspiration data from thermal satellite imaging". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112640. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1820775.
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@article{osti_1820775,
title = {Studying drought-induced forest mortality using high spatiotemporal resolution evapotranspiration data from thermal satellite imaging},
author = {Yang, Yun and Anderson, Martha C. and Gao, Feng and Wood, Jeffrey D. and Gu, Lianhong and Hain, Christopher},
abstractNote = {Drought can have pervasive and wide-spread impacts to forest health, as evidenced in several severe events occurring over the recent decades. Extensive forest die-off due to drought can impair the ecological functioning of forests, impacting habitat, water yield and quality from forested lands, and altering forest fire dynamics and intensity. Satellite remote sensing provides an effective means for detecting and monitoring spatial patterns of forest mortality over large areas, exploiting free and open long-term image archives available at a range in spatial and temporal resolutions. While remotely sensed surface reflectances and vegetation indices have been widely used to study optical response of forest canopies to drought events, retrievals of evapotranspiration (ET) derived from thermal satellite imagery – particularly at resolutions approaching crown scale - can provide insights into cumulative tree stresses that can incite disease and trigger mortality. In this study, we applied a multi-sensor satellite data fusion approach to estimate daily 30-m resolution ET and an associated Evaporative Stress Index (ESI) to study drought-induced mortality in a temperate forest at the Missouri Ozark AmeriFlux (MOFLUX) site, located in the central United States. The study covered the period from 2010 to 2014, including an exceptional drought year of 2012. Modeled ET agreed well with eddy flux measurements from the MOFLUX tower, with average monthly relative errors of 15%. Plot-scale ESI, describing temporal anomalies in the ratio of actual-to-reference ET, was used as an index of relative forest health to investigate relationships between forest mortality and drought severity. ESI showed good agreement with observed predawn leaf water potential, especially during the drought year. Furthermore, plot-scale ESI was also correlated with the subsequent year's tree mortality, suggesting the importance of considering the forest health condition prior to drought when studying drought-induced forest impacts. This study demonstrates the utility of multi-year ET remote sensing data at the stand or plot scale as an indicator of forest health and as a predictor of future mortality due to drought.},
doi = {10.1016/j.rse.2021.112640},
journal = {Remote Sensing of Environment},
number = 112640,
volume = 265,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Aug 18 00:00:00 EDT 2021},
month = {Wed Aug 18 00:00:00 EDT 2021}
}
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