Perspective: Improving the accuracy of plant phenology observations and land-cover and land-use detection by optical satellite remote-sensing in the Asian tropics

Abstract

Recent advances in satellite-borne optical sensors led to important developments in the monitoring of tropical ecosystems in Asia, which have been strongly affected by recent anthropogenic activities and climate change. Based on our feasibility analyses conducted in Indonesia in Sumatra and Sarawak, Malaysia in Borneo, we discuss the current situation, problems, recent improvements, and future tasks regarding plant phenology observations and land-cover and land-use detection. We found that the Multispectral Instrument (MSI) on board the Sentinel-2A/2B satellites with a 10-m spatial resolution and 5-day observational intervals could be used to monitor phenology among tree species. For the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) on board the Himawari-8 geostationary satellite with a 1,000-m spatial resolution and 10-min observational intervals, we found that the time-series in vegetation indices without gaps due to cloud contamination may be used to accurately detect the timing and patterns of phenology among tree species, although the spatial resolution of the sensor requires further improvement. We also found and validated that text and pictures with geolocation information published on the Internet, and historical field notes could be used for ground-truthing land cover and land use in the past and present time. The future development of both high frequency (≤ 10 min) and high spatial resolution (≤ 10 m) optical sensors aboard satellites is expected to dramatically improve our understanding of ecosystems in the tropical Asia.