title: UAV-Based Estimation of Carbon Exports from Heterogeneous Soil Landscapes--A Case Study from the CarboZALF Experimental Area.
abstract: The advantages of remote sensing using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are a high spatial resolution of images, temporal flexibility and narrow-band spectral data from different wavelengths domains. This enables the detection of spatio-temporal dynamics of environmental variables, like plant-related carbon dynamics in agricultural landscapes. In this paper, we quantify spatial patterns of fresh phytomass and related carbon (C) export using imagery captured by a 12-band multispectral camera mounted on the fixed wing UAV Carolo P360. The study was performed in 2014 at the experimental area CarboZALF-D in NE Germany. From radiometrically corrected and calibrated images of lucerne (Medicago sativa), the performance of four commonly used vegetation indices (VIs) was tested using band combinations of six near-infrared bands. The highest correlation between ground-based measurements of fresh phytomass of lucerne and VIs was obtained for the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) using near-infrared band b899. The resulting map was transformed into dry phytomass and finally upscaled to total C export by harvest. The observed spatial variability at field- and plot-scale could be attributed to small-scale soil heterogeneity in part.
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Institute of Soil Landscape Research, Eberswalder Straße 84, Müncheberg 15374, Germany. wehrhan@zalf.de.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wehrhan
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Institute of Landscape Hydrology, Eberswalder Straße 84, Müncheberg 15374, Germany. philipp.rauneker@zalf.de.
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rauneker
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Institute of Soil Landscape Research, Eberswalder Straße 84, Müncheberg 15374, Germany. sommer@zalf.de.|University of Potsdam, Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, Potsdam 14476, Germany. sommer@zalf.de.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sommer
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis*; D058998:Remote Sensing Technology / Q000379:methods*; D012987:Soil; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D002244:Carbon
keywords: UAV; VI; agriculture; carbon export; multispectral; soil landscape