Intercomparison of Leaf Area Index Products Derived from Satellite Data over the Heihe River Basin
The leaf area index (LAI) is a crucial parameter for climate change research, agricultural management, and ecosystem monitoring. Despite extensive use of remote sensing data to estimate the LAI, comprehensive evaluations of product consistency and uncertainty remain limited. This study evaluated the...
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MDPI AG
2025-03-01
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| author | Pan Zhou Liying Geng Jun Li Haibo Wang |
| author_facet | Pan Zhou Liying Geng Jun Li Haibo Wang |
| author_sort | Pan Zhou |
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| description | The leaf area index (LAI) is a crucial parameter for climate change research, agricultural management, and ecosystem monitoring. Despite extensive use of remote sensing data to estimate the LAI, comprehensive evaluations of product consistency and uncertainty remain limited. This study evaluated the uncertainties of four LAI products—GLASS, MCD15A2H, VNP15A2H, and CLMS—across diverse land cover types in the Heihe River Basin through two triple collocation approaches, innovatively. Each approach, respectively, focused on achieving more precise temporal characteristics and spatial characteristics of product uncertainties. The results indicate that all products generally met the Global Climate Observing System’s precision requirement (±0.5) for most biomes during the growing season. When comparing monthly uncertainties within grid cells, GLASS demonstrates superior performance, particularly in grasslands and croplands, whereas CLMS exhibits a slightly weaker ability to represent the spatial distribution of the LAI, especially in regions with high LAI values. When time series data are used to analyze the seasonal uncertainties of the products, MCD15A2H and VNP15A2H show more pronounced distortions, indicating their limited capability in capturing the temporal dynamics of the LAI. Correlation analyses revealed strong product agreement in regions with a low LAI, but discrepancies increased during the growing season and in heterogeneous land covers like croplands. These findings provide critical insights into the reliability of LAI products, offering a robust reference for validating their performance and ensuring their alignment with user requirements across diverse applications. The study highlights the importance of addressing spatial and temporal variability in uncertainties to improve the practical utility of LAI datasets in ecological and climate-related research. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-00a3d3ea40cf45708e3ce91a15985311 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| spelling | doaj-art-00a3d3ea40cf45708e3ce91a159853112025-08-20T02:15:42ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922025-03-01177123310.3390/rs17071233Intercomparison of Leaf Area Index Products Derived from Satellite Data over the Heihe River BasinPan Zhou0Liying Geng1Jun Li2Haibo Wang3School of Computer Science, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430078, ChinaKey Laboratory of Remote Sensing of Gansu Province, Heihe Remote Sensing Experimental Research Station/State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science and Frozen Soil Engineering, Norhtwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, ChinaSchool of Computer Science, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430078, ChinaKey Laboratory of Remote Sensing of Gansu Province, Heihe Remote Sensing Experimental Research Station/State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science and Frozen Soil Engineering, Norhtwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, ChinaThe leaf area index (LAI) is a crucial parameter for climate change research, agricultural management, and ecosystem monitoring. Despite extensive use of remote sensing data to estimate the LAI, comprehensive evaluations of product consistency and uncertainty remain limited. This study evaluated the uncertainties of four LAI products—GLASS, MCD15A2H, VNP15A2H, and CLMS—across diverse land cover types in the Heihe River Basin through two triple collocation approaches, innovatively. Each approach, respectively, focused on achieving more precise temporal characteristics and spatial characteristics of product uncertainties. The results indicate that all products generally met the Global Climate Observing System’s precision requirement (±0.5) for most biomes during the growing season. When comparing monthly uncertainties within grid cells, GLASS demonstrates superior performance, particularly in grasslands and croplands, whereas CLMS exhibits a slightly weaker ability to represent the spatial distribution of the LAI, especially in regions with high LAI values. When time series data are used to analyze the seasonal uncertainties of the products, MCD15A2H and VNP15A2H show more pronounced distortions, indicating their limited capability in capturing the temporal dynamics of the LAI. Correlation analyses revealed strong product agreement in regions with a low LAI, but discrepancies increased during the growing season and in heterogeneous land covers like croplands. These findings provide critical insights into the reliability of LAI products, offering a robust reference for validating their performance and ensuring their alignment with user requirements across diverse applications. The study highlights the importance of addressing spatial and temporal variability in uncertainties to improve the practical utility of LAI datasets in ecological and climate-related research.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/17/7/1233leaf area indextriple collocationuncertaintyremote sensing products |
| spellingShingle | Pan Zhou Liying Geng Jun Li Haibo Wang Intercomparison of Leaf Area Index Products Derived from Satellite Data over the Heihe River Basin Remote Sensing leaf area index triple collocation uncertainty remote sensing products |
| title | Intercomparison of Leaf Area Index Products Derived from Satellite Data over the Heihe River Basin |
| title_full | Intercomparison of Leaf Area Index Products Derived from Satellite Data over the Heihe River Basin |
| title_fullStr | Intercomparison of Leaf Area Index Products Derived from Satellite Data over the Heihe River Basin |
| title_full_unstemmed | Intercomparison of Leaf Area Index Products Derived from Satellite Data over the Heihe River Basin |
| title_short | Intercomparison of Leaf Area Index Products Derived from Satellite Data over the Heihe River Basin |
| title_sort | intercomparison of leaf area index products derived from satellite data over the heihe river basin |
| topic | leaf area index triple collocation uncertainty remote sensing products |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/17/7/1233 |
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