Application of Multi-periodic Harmonic Model for Classification of Multi-temporal Satellite Data: MODIS and GOCI Imagery

A multi-temporal approach using remotely sensed time series data obtained over multiple years is a very useful method for monitoring land covers and land-cover changes. While spectral-based methods at any particular time limits the application utility due to instability of the quality of data obtained at that time, the approach based on the temporal profile can produce more accurate results since data is analyzed from a long-term perspective rather than on one point in time. In this study, a multi-temporal approach applying a multi-periodic harmonic model is proposed for classification of remotely sensed data. A harmonic model characterizes the seasonal variation of a time series by four parameters: average level, frequency, phase, and amplitude. The availability of high-quality data is very important for multi-temporal analysis. An satellite image usually have many unobserved data and bad-quality data due to the influence of observation environment and sensing system, which impede the analysis and might possibly produce inaccurate results. Harmonic analysis is also very useful for real-time data reconstruction. Multiperiodic harmonic model is applied to the reconstructed data to classify land covers and monitor land-cover change by tracking the temporal profiles. The proposed method is tested with the MODIS and GOCI NDVI time series over the Korean Peninsula for 5 years from 2012 to 2016. The results show that the multi-periodic harmonic model has a great potential for classification of land-cover types and monitoring of land-cover changes through characterizing annual temporal dynamics.