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Evaluation of MODIS NDVI product in a heterogeneous urban environment using five upscaling methods and Landsat 8 product

Luan, Haijun LU ; Lin, Zhenhong ; Xing, Chenshuo ; Wang, Lanhui LU orcid ; Deng, Jian ; Thapa, Shangharsha LU orcid ; Zhang, Jiajin ; Wang, Weibin ; Yao, Hongyi and Duan, Zheng LU (2025) In Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment 39.
Abstract

In order to accurately assess the quality of low-resolution biogeophysical parameter products, accurate scale transformations are essential. However, different scaling models often lead to inconsistent transformation results. More worryingly, many biogeophysical parameters are not scale-invariant, such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which makes the quality assessment of low-resolution products even more challenging. Therefore, we propose an integrated approach that utilizes multiple upscaling methods and high-quality, moderate-resolution surface reflectance products to evaluate the quality of low-resolution MODIS NDVI products, eliminating the need for extensive in-situ observation data. In this study, the... (More)

In order to accurately assess the quality of low-resolution biogeophysical parameter products, accurate scale transformations are essential. However, different scaling models often lead to inconsistent transformation results. More worryingly, many biogeophysical parameters are not scale-invariant, such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which makes the quality assessment of low-resolution products even more challenging. Therefore, we propose an integrated approach that utilizes multiple upscaling methods and high-quality, moderate-resolution surface reflectance products to evaluate the quality of low-resolution MODIS NDVI products, eliminating the need for extensive in-situ observation data. In this study, the full-scale transformation of Landsat 8 OLI NDVI in heterogeneous urban environments is realized using five upscaling methods, including two reflectance-level Taylor series expansion (TSE) models, the simple averaging method, the Chen NDVI model, and the point spread function (PSF) method. Finally, the overall quality of the MOD13Q1 product in the study area was evaluated based on the upscaled NDVI images. Our study provides quantitative insights into the underlying causes of scale effects in NDVI, including the spatial heterogeneity of the surface and the nonlinearity of the NDVI model. Furthermore, the TSE method, which integrates land cover types, and the PSF method were first practically applied to the study of upscaling NDVI. The integration of land cover types in the TSE method and the consideration of specific weights for “small pixels” in the PSF method offer nuanced insights. Our findings affirm the overall high quality of the MOD13Q1 product and the overall bias between the MOD13Q1 images and the corresponding upscaled NDVI images for the entire study area, Xiamen city, which ranged from 0.0176 to 0.0225 in absolute value (mean difference) and from 0 to 0.0071 in absolute value (standard deviation difference). This study advances our understanding of NDVI scale effects and demonstrates that the proposed method serves as an efficient and effective way to evaluate the overall quality of low-resolution constructed biogeophysical parameters that lack scale-invariant characteristics in expansive areas with insufficient in-situ observation data.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Heterogeneity, Landsat 8 OLI reflectance product, MOD13Q1, Quality evaluation, Upscaling
in
Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment
volume
39
article number
101687
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:105013247529
ISSN
2352-9385
DOI
10.1016/j.rsase.2025.101687
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2025 Elsevier B.V.
id
dcc41a65-07f1-4174-a096-02f5f1eb5799
date added to LUP
2025-09-26 09:08:09
date last changed
2025-09-27 03:33:04
@article{dcc41a65-07f1-4174-a096-02f5f1eb5799,
  abstract     = {{<p>In order to accurately assess the quality of low-resolution biogeophysical parameter products, accurate scale transformations are essential. However, different scaling models often lead to inconsistent transformation results. More worryingly, many biogeophysical parameters are not scale-invariant, such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which makes the quality assessment of low-resolution products even more challenging. Therefore, we propose an integrated approach that utilizes multiple upscaling methods and high-quality, moderate-resolution surface reflectance products to evaluate the quality of low-resolution MODIS NDVI products, eliminating the need for extensive in-situ observation data. In this study, the full-scale transformation of Landsat 8 OLI NDVI in heterogeneous urban environments is realized using five upscaling methods, including two reflectance-level Taylor series expansion (TSE) models, the simple averaging method, the Chen NDVI model, and the point spread function (PSF) method. Finally, the overall quality of the MOD13Q1 product in the study area was evaluated based on the upscaled NDVI images. Our study provides quantitative insights into the underlying causes of scale effects in NDVI, including the spatial heterogeneity of the surface and the nonlinearity of the NDVI model. Furthermore, the TSE method, which integrates land cover types, and the PSF method were first practically applied to the study of upscaling NDVI. The integration of land cover types in the TSE method and the consideration of specific weights for “small pixels” in the PSF method offer nuanced insights. Our findings affirm the overall high quality of the MOD13Q1 product and the overall bias between the MOD13Q1 images and the corresponding upscaled NDVI images for the entire study area, Xiamen city, which ranged from 0.0176 to 0.0225 in absolute value (mean difference) and from 0 to 0.0071 in absolute value (standard deviation difference). This study advances our understanding of NDVI scale effects and demonstrates that the proposed method serves as an efficient and effective way to evaluate the overall quality of low-resolution constructed biogeophysical parameters that lack scale-invariant characteristics in expansive areas with insufficient <i>in-situ</i> observation data.</p>}},
  author       = {{Luan, Haijun and Lin, Zhenhong and Xing, Chenshuo and Wang, Lanhui and Deng, Jian and Thapa, Shangharsha and Zhang, Jiajin and Wang, Weibin and Yao, Hongyi and Duan, Zheng}},
  issn         = {{2352-9385}},
  keywords     = {{Heterogeneity; Landsat 8 OLI reflectance product; MOD13Q1; Quality evaluation; Upscaling}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment}},
  title        = {{Evaluation of MODIS NDVI product in a heterogeneous urban environment using five upscaling methods and Landsat 8 product}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rsase.2025.101687}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.rsase.2025.101687}},
  volume       = {{39}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}