Forests 2014, 5, 1284-1303; doi:10.3390/f5061284 OPEN ACCESS
forests ISSN 1999-4907 www.mdpi.com/journal/forests Article
Forest Cover Database Updates Using Multi-Seasonal RapidEye Data—Storm Event Assessment in the Bavarian Forest National Park Alata Elatawneh 1,*, Adelheid Wallner 1, Ioannis Manakos 2, Thomas Schneider 1 and Thomas Knoke 1 1
2
Institute of Forest Management, Center of Life and Food Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, Freising 85354, Germany; E-Mails:
[email protected] (A.W.);
[email protected] (T.S.);
[email protected] (T.K.) Information Technologies Institute, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Building A, 6th km Harilaou-Thermi, P.O. Box 60361, Thessaloniki 57001, Greece; E-Mail:
[email protected]
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +49-8161-71-4272; Fax: +49-71-8161-4545. Received: 26 February 2014; in revised form: 19 May 2014 / Accepted: 29 May 2014 / Published: 11 June 2014
Abstract: This study is a part of a research program that investigates the potential of RapidEye (RE) satellite data for timely updates of forest cover databases to reflect both regular management activities and sudden changes due to bark beetle and storms. Applied here in the Bavarian Forest National Park (BFNP) in southeastern Germany, this approach detected even small changes between two data takes, thus, facilitating documentation of regular management activities. In the case of a sudden event, forest cover databases also serve as a baseline for damage assessment. A storm event, which occurred on 13 July, 2011, provided the opportunity to assess the effectiveness of multi-seasonal RE data for rapid damage assessment. Images of sufficient quality (
