Deep learning-based burned forest areas mapping via Sentinel-2 imagery: a comparative study

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 31; no. 4; pp. 5304 - 5318
• Main Authors: Atasever, Ümit Haluk, Tercan, Emre
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.01.2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Accuracy; Algorithms; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Bayes Theorem; Classification; Comparative studies; Correlation coefficient; Correlation coefficients; Decision analysis; Decision trees; Deep Learning; Discriminant analysis; Dynamic structural analysis; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecosystem; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Error analysis; Forest fires; Image classification; Image quality; Image resolution; Machine learning; Mapping; Noise measurement; Qualitative analysis; Research Article; Satellite imagery; Signal to noise ratio; Structure-function relationships; Supervised learning; Support vector machines; Unsupervised learning; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Wildfires; Deep learning; Stacked Autoencoders; Burned area mapping; Remote sensing; Sentinel-2
• ISSN: 1614-7499; 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-023-31575-5

In order to evaluate the effects of forest fires on the dynamics of the function and structure of ecosystems, it is necessary to determine burned forest areas with high accuracy, effectively, economically, and practically using satellite images. Extraction of burned forest areas utilizing high-resolution satellite images and image classification algorithms and assessing the successfulness of varied classification algorithms has become a prominent research field. This study aims to indicate on the capability of the deep learning-based Stacked Autoencoders method for the burned forest areas mapping from Sentinel-2 satellite images. The Stacked Autoencoders, used in this study as an unsupervised learning method, were compared qualitatively and quantitatively with frequently used supervised learning algorithms (k-Nearest Neighbors (k-NN), Subspaced k-NN, Support Vector Machines, Random Forest, Bagged Decision Tree, Naive Bayes, Linear Discriminant Analysis) on two distinct burnt forest zones. By selecting burned forest zones with contrasting structural characteristics from one another, an objective assessment was achieved. Manually digitized burned areas from Sentinel-2 satellite images were utilized for accuracy assessment. For comparison, different classification performance and quality metrics (Overall Accuracy, Mean Squared Error, Correlation Coefficient, Structural Similarity Index Measure, Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio, Universal Image Quality Index, and KAPPA metrics) were used. In addition, whether the Stacked Autoencoders method produces consistent results was examined through boxplots. In terms of both quantitative and qualitative analysis, the Stacked Autoencoders method showed the highest accuracy values.