AEROSPACE MAPPING OF THE STATUS AND POSITION OF NORTHERN FOREST LIMIT
https://doi.org/10.24057/2071-9388-2012-5-3-28-47
Abstract
We study changes in the position of the northern forest limit and state of vegetation in the taiga-tundra ecotone through aerial and satellite imagery in the context of climate variability and of the projected advance of forests to the north. Our research of reference sites in Kola Peninsula and in Central Siberia has been part of PPS Arctic project of the International Polar Year. Studying the dynamics of ecotones by remote sensing is difficult due to poor display of ecotone vegetation in satellite images, and this required a range of techniques, regionally adapted and based on remotely sensed data of different spatial resolution. We characterize the newly developed techniques that enabled to identify vegetation change in recent decades: advance of forest up the slopes by 30 m in the Khibiny Mountains; advance of lichen-dwarf shrub tundra into lichen tundra in the north of Kola Peninsula; increasing stand density in sparse larch forests in the Khatanga River basin in the Taimyr Peninsula.
About the Authors
Valentina KravtsovaRussian Federation
Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Olga Tutubalina
Russian Federation
Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Annika Hofgaard
Norway
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Trondheim, Norway
References
1. Ary-mas. Natural environment, flora and vegetation of the world’s northernmost forest
2. massif (1978) Leningrad: Nauka, 192 pp.
3. Golubeva E.I., Plyushkyavichyute Yu.A., Rees G.W., Tutubalina O.V. (2010) Remote sensing
4. methods for phytomass estimation and mapping of tundra vegetation. Geography, Environment,
5. Sustainability, v. 3, N 3, pp. 4–13.
6. Henning E. (2007) Climate. Greenhouse effect. GEO, N 5, p. 110–120.
7. Kharuk V.I., Ranson K., Im S., Naurzbaev M.M. (2006) Larch forests of forest-tundra and climatic
8. trends. Ekologiya, N 5, pp. 323–331.
9. Kislov A.V., Evstigneev V.M., Malkhazova S.M. and others. (2008) Forecast of climatic resourse
10. provision for East-European plain in the context of warming in 21st century. Moscow:
11. MAKS Press. 292 pp.
12. Kravtsova V.I. (2012) Spatial structure of tundra-taiga ecotone at Putorana plateau as
13. defined from very high resolution images. Vestnik Moskovskogo Unversiteta, Ser. 5, Geografiya,
14. N 1, pp. 67–74.
15. Kravtsova V.I., Loshkareva A.R. (2009) Dynamics of forest-tundra vegetation in the northern
16. part of Kola peninsula in the context of climatic changes: investigation by multitemporal
17. aerospace images. Proceedings of the International Conference “InterCarto-InterGIS – 15.
18. Across the lands of Europe.” June 29 – July 1, 2009: Perm, Russia; July 3 – July 6, 2009: Ghent,
19. Belgium. Vol. 1. pp. 297–307.
20. Kravtsova V.I., Loshkareva A.R. (2010а) Study of northern forest boundary using satellite
21. images of different resolution. Vestnik Moskovskogo Unversiteta, Ser. 5, Geografiya, N 6,
22. pp. 49–57.
23. Kravtsova V.I., Loshkareva A.R. (2010b) Assessment of interpretation potential for northern
24. vegetation in 30-meter satellite images on the basis of very high resolution satellite images.
25. Geodezia i kartografia, N 8, pp. 33–41.
26. Kravtsova V.I., Tutubalina O.V. (2012) Circumpolar satellite map of the taiga-tundra ecotone,
27. compiled in the U.S.: assessment with Russian data. Proceedings of the International
28. Conference “InterCarto-InterGIS” – 18: 27–29 July 2012, Smolensk. Vol. 1.
29. Loshkareva A.R. (2011) Study of tundra-taiga ecotone dynamics in Kola Peninsula using
30. satellite images and NDVI differencing. Global climatic processes and their influence on
31. ecosystems of arctic and subarctic regions. Abstracts of international scientific conference,
32. Murmansk, 9–11 November 2011. Apatity: Kola Science Centre RAS.
33. Makunina G.S. (2004) Specific features of delineation of the forest-tundra zone and north
34. and temperate taiga subzones in Central and North-Eastern Siberia. Geografia i prirodnye
35. resursy, N 3, pp. 115–120.
36. Mathisen I.E.,, Mikheeva A.I., Tutubalina O.V., Aune S., Hofgaard A. (2012) 50 years of treeline
37. change in the Khibiny Mountains, Russia. Advantages of a combined remote sensing and
38. dendroecological approach. In review by Advances in Vegetation Science.
39. Mikheeva A.I. (2011a) Study of the altitudinal treeline change with aerospacwe images
40. Geodezia i kartografia, N 1, pp. 31–36.
41. Mikheeva A.I. (2011b) Methods of spectroradiometry and aerospace image interpretation
42. for mapping state and dynamics of the tundra-taiga ecotone vegetation [case study of
43. Khibiny mountains. Executive summary of Cand. Sci. Geog. dissertation. Moscow: Faculty
44. of Geography, Moscow State University, 24 pp. http://www.geogr.msu.ru/science/diss/
45. oby/mikheeva.pdf
46. Mikheeva A.I., Mathisen I.E., Tutubalina O., Hofgaard A. (2010) Change of the treeline ecotone
47. in Khibiny Mountains, Kola Peninsula, Russia, over the last 50 years. International Polar
48. Year Oslo Scientific Conference, June 8–12 2010. http://ipy-osc.no/abstract/37381
49. Mikheeva A., Novichikhin A., Tutubalina O. (2012) Linear spectral mixture modelling of
50. arctic vegetation using ground spectroradiometry. Polar Record 48 (244), pp. 63–74.
51. Novichikhin A. (2011) Development of object-oriented image classification technique
52. with a tree heights and species interpretation using 8-band VHR satellite imagery. Digital-
53. Globe 8-band Challenge Research report. April 2011. 15 pp. http://dgl.us.neolane.net/res/
54. img/3c5687076c2379877a695dbbeddc6a11.pdf
55. Novichikhin A.E., Tutubalina O.V. (2009) Integration of image processing algorithms to
56. interpret forest vegetation in very high resolution satellite imagery. Zemlya iz kosmosa –
57. naibolee effektivnye resheniya. N 3, pp. 40–42.
58. Novichikhin A.E., Tutubalina O.V. (2010) Interpretation of tree stands using detailed satellite
59. imagery. Methods of object delineation, maps of spatial structure. Saarbrucken: LAP
60. LAMBERT Academic Publishing, 129 pp.
61. Ranson K.J., Montesano P.M., Nelson R. (2011) Object-based mapping of the circumpolar
62. taiga–tundra ecotone with MODIS tree cover. Remote Sensing of Environment, Volume
63. , Issue 12, pp. 3670–3680.
64. Rees, W.G., Tutubalina, O.V., Tømmervik, H., Zimin, M., Mikheeva, A., Golubeva, E., Dolan, K. and
65. Hofgaard, A. (2008) Mapping of the Eurasian circumboreal forest-tundra transition zone by
66. remote sensing. Circumboreal Vegetation Mapping Workshop, Helsinki, Conservation of
67. Arctic Flora and Fauna CAFF Technical Report, pp. 144–150.
68. Tyukavina A.Yu. (2011) Application of satellite images of varying resolution for mapping
69. northern forests of Taimyr. Global climatic processes and their influence on ecosystems
70. of arctic and subarctic regions. Abstracts of international scientific conference, Murmansk,
71. –11 November 2011. Apatity: Kola Science Centre RAS.
72. MAPS AND ATLASES
73. Map of landscapes of USSR, for higher education institutions (1988). Edited by
74. A.G. Isachenko (ed.). scale 1:4 000 000 Moscow: GUGK.
75. Map of vegetation of USSR, for higher education institutions (1990) Scale 1:4 000 000
76. (1990). Moscow: GUGK.
77. National Atlas of Russia (2007). Volume 2. Nature and Environment. Moscow: Ministry of
78. transport of Russian Federation, Federal agency of geodesy and cartography. 495 pp.
79. Vegetation zones and types of altitudinal zonality for Russia and adjacent territories (1999)
80. Edited by G.N. Ogureeva. Scale 1:8 000 000. Moscow: Moscow State University.
Review
For citations:
Kravtsova V., Tutubalina O., Hofgaard A. AEROSPACE MAPPING OF THE STATUS AND POSITION OF NORTHERN FOREST LIMIT. GEOGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENT, SUSTAINABILITY. 2012;5(3):28-47. https://doi.org/10.24057/2071-9388-2012-5-3-28-47
Views: 684
Email this article 