Remote estimation of shelterbelt width from SPOT5 imagery

Width is one of the key parameters of a shelterbelt. Traditional methods to acquire this width are mainly based on field measurement, which is impractical for monitoring shelterbelts at regional scale. There are many studies analyzing linear objects, but they are not directly applicable to width detection of such objects. In this paper, we analyzed relationships among vegetation fractions retrieved from SPOT5 remote sensing imagery with 10 m x 10 m spatial resolution, shelterbelt area, and shelterbelt width in one pixel. Based on this analysis, we developed a method for recognizing shelterbelt width from a remote sensing image of central western Jilin Province, China. The result was validated by field measurement data and measurement from an aerial image of 0.5 m x 0.5 m spatial resolution. Mean absolute error was 2.40 and 2.73 m respectively, suggesting that the proposed method is feasible and its accuracy is acceptable. The study provides a valuable method for monitoring shelterbelt width across large spatial scales and an accurate input parameter for the recognition of shelterbelt porosity from remote sensing data in future research.