Comparative Verification of Leaf Area Index Products for Different Grassland Types in Inner Mongolia, China

Shen B. Guo J. Li Z. Chen J. Fang W. Kussainova M. Amarjargal A. Pulatov A. Yan R. Anenkhonov O.A. Zhou W. Xin X.
October 2023 Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)

Remote Sensing
2023 #15 Issue 19

Leaf area index (LAI) is a key indicator of vegetation structure and function, and its products have a wide range of applications in vegetation condition assessment and usually act as important input parameters for ecosystem modeling. Grassland plays an important role in regional climate change and the global carbon cycle and numerous studies have focused on the product-based analysis of grassland vegetation changes. However, the performance of various LAI products and their discrepancies across different grassland types in drylands remain unclear. Therefore, it is critical to assess these products prior to application. We evaluated the accuracy of four commonly used LAI products (GEOV2, GLASS, GLOBMAP, and MODIS) using LAI reference maps based on both bridging and cross-validation approaches. Under different grassland types, the GLASS LAI performed better in meadow steppe (R² = 0.26, RMSE = 0.41 m²/m²) and typical steppe (R² = 0.32, RMSE = 0.38 m²/m²); the GEOV2 LAI performed better in desert steppe (R² = 0.39, RMSE = 0.30 m²/m²). When we assessed their spatial and temporal discrepancies during the period from 2010 to 2019, the four LAI products overall showed a high spatial and temporal consistency across the region. Compared with GLASS LAI, the most consistent to least consistent correlations can be ordered by GEOV2 LAI (R² = 0.94), MODIS LAI (R² = 0.92), and GLOBMAP LAI (R² = 0.87). The largest differences in LAI throughout the year occurred in July for all grassland types. Limited by the location and number of sample plots, we mainly focused on spatial and temporal variations. The spatial heterogeneity of land surface is pervasive, especially in vast grassland areas with rich grassland types, and the results of this study can provide a basis for the application of the product in different grassland types. Furthermore, it is essential to develop highly accurate and reliable satellite-based LAI products focused on grassland from the regional to the global scale according to these popular approaches, which is the next step in our work plan.

bridging method , cross-validation , grassland types , Inner Mongolia , LAI products , Landsat8 OLI

Text of the article Перейти на текст статьи

National Hulunber Grassland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China
Aerospace Science and Industry (Beijing) Spatial Information Application Co., Ltd, Beijing, 100070, China
College of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, 010018, China
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology/Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Cultivation and Physiology, Agricultural College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China
Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, 48824, MI, United States
Department of Biology, Pace University, New York, 10038, NY, United States
Sustainable Agriculture Center, Kazakh National Agrarian Research University, Almaty, 050010, Kazakhstan
Department of Economics, University of the Humanities, P.O. Box 210646/53, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
EcoGIS Center, National Research University “Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers” (NRU-TIIAME), Tashkent, 100000, Uzbekistan
Institute of General and Experimental Biology, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Ulan-Ude, 670047, Russian Federation
School of Ecology, Environment and Resources, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China

National Hulunber Grassland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station
Aerospace Science and Industry (Beijing) Spatial Information Application Co.
College of Ecology and Environment
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology/Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Cultivation and Physiology
Department of Geography
Department of Biology
Sustainable Agriculture Center
Department of Economics
EcoGIS Center
Institute of General and Experimental Biology
School of Ecology

10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель

Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026