Monitoring forest disturbances based on NFI field inventory and Sentinel2 time series imagery

Spectral libraries are generated based on NFI field inventory data for different phenological phases and conditions of forests (e.g. spring / early summer / summer / autumn / dry condition K ). The spectral libraries are based on absolutely calibrated (atmospherically corrected and topographically normalized) satellite time series and field inventory plot data from national forest inventories. As the statistics are based on absolutely calibrated optical imagery, they can be fully automatically applied for estimation of forest parameters at the pixel level. The pixel level results are then aggregated according a user defined minimum mapping unit, e.g. minimum mapping unit of changes of 0.5 ha. The approach was applied both in Serbia as well as in the Black Forest - Upper Rhine Valley - Vosges region. Limitations and opportunities for this fully automated monitoring approach are discussed, e.g. near real time versus annual change monitoring with special emphasis on applicability at the continental, e.g. European level.