Northern Congo forests phenology analyzed by satellite

CESBIO project entitled 'Spot-4 (Take-5) is dedicated applications' preparation of future satellite constellation Sentinel-2 (http://www.ptsc.fr/fr/produits/spot4-take5) . During the first workshop held at CNES in Toulouse early October, acquisitions led by Valéry Gond on the northeast Congo site were presented.

This study aims to analyze the start of the photosynthetic activity of tropical rainforests of northern Congo between January and June. In this region were mapped using MODIS, two main types of forest formations in the CoForChange project (http://www.coforchange.eu/), one in evergreen trend (less than 30% species are deciduous), the other in semi-deciduous trend (over 40 % of species are deciduous).
The analysis of 10 years of MODIS NDVI 500m resolution allowed to reconstruct synthetic annual temporal patterns reflecting the phenology of observed forest formations, and to separate these two types of forests. It seems that these variations in leaf phenology are partly related to the geology of the land.
The chosen site for the SPOT4 (Take- 5) experience is located on transition between these two areas . 6 very clear images were obtained between February and June 2013, which is exceptional in this highly clouded area. These data will help to analyze temporal patterns of photosynthetic activity at a level of detail far superior to those of MODIS, to better understand how work these contrasting forests.

News written by Valéry Gond

Published: 04/11/2013