Exploring the Potential of the Google Earth Engine (GEE) Platform for Analysing Forest Disturbance Patterns with Big Data

Abstract

Climate change has led to various adverse consequences, with natural disasters being one of the most striking outcomes. Natural disasters negatively impact life, causing significant disruptions to the ecosystem. Prompt identification of affected areas and initiation of the rehabilitation process are imperative to address the disturbances in the ecosystem. Satellite imagery is employed for the rapid and cost-effective detection of damages caused by natural disasters. In this conducted study, the outputs of climate change wildfire, forest change detection, and drought analysis, have been examined, all of which worsens the impacts on the ecosystem. The analysis of drought involved using MODIS data, while Sentinel-2A satellite images were utilized to identify wildfire areas and changes in forested regions caused by windthrow. The research focused on Ganja, Azerbaijan, as the area for drought analysis. The driest June between 2005 and 2018 was assessed using the Vegetation Condition Index (VCI) in conjunction with data from the National Centers for Environmental Information (NOAA). At the Düzce Tatlıdere Forest Management Directorate, the Normalized Difference Red Edge Index (NDRE) was utilized between the years 2018 and 2019 to detect the changes occurring in forested areas due to windthrow. The NDRE synthetic band was added to satellite images for the years 2018 and 2019, and a Random Forest (RF) algorithm was employed to classify the data. The classification results were evaluated using Total Accuracy and Kappa statistics. The study includes the detection of the Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) applied to determine the extent of the wildfire that occurred in the Solquca village of the Qabala region in Azerbaijan in 2021. According to the analysis of the VCI and NOAA, June 2014 was identified as the driest month in Ganja. In the Tatlıdere region, the analysis indicated that 4.22 hectares experienced reforestation, while 24 hectares experienced deforestation. The NBR analysis has revealed that ~1007 hectares of land were burned in the Solquca village of Qabala. The analyses conducted provide information regarding the use of satellite imagery in relation to changes in forest areas due to drought, wildfire, and windthrow.