Evaluating Sentinel-2 for Lakeshore Habitat Mapping Based on Airborne Hyperspectral Data

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Remote Sensing
• Geospatial Analysis

Background:

• Lakeshore ecosystems demand fine-scale monitoring due to high biodiversity in land-water ecotones.
• Sentinel-2 offers high spatial/spectral resolution and frequent revisits, promising for habitat mapping.
• Assessing Sentinel-2's spatial and spectral capabilities is crucial for complex lakeshore ecosystem analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To simulate Sentinel-2's high spatial resolution bands (10m and 20m) for lakeshore mapping.
• To evaluate the potential and output quality of Sentinel-2 for habitat classification.
• To analyze information loss from spectral aggregation and spatial upscaling.

Main Methods:

• Utilized hyperspectral airborne data from Lake Balaton, Hungary (August 2010).
• Simulated Sentinel-2's 10m and 20m bands using the satellite's Spectral Response Function.
• Performed supervised classifications on simulated Sentinel-2 products.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated the feasibility of simulating Sentinel-2 bands for lakeshore mapping.
• Compared classification performance using simulated Sentinel-2 data.
• Quantified spectral aggregation and spatial upscaling effects on vegetation classification.

Conclusions:

• Sentinel-2 imagery exhibits significant potential for monitoring fine-scale lakeshore habitats.
• Reed beds and similar detailed habitats can be effectively mapped using Sentinel-2 data.
• The study provides insights into the optimal use of Sentinel-2 for ecological applications.