• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.235-244
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• 2004

This study focuses on the assessment for proposed algorithm to discriminate cloudy pixels from snowy pixels through use of visible, near infrared, and short wave infrared channel data in VEGETATION-1 sensor embarked on SPOT-4 satellite. Traditional threshold algorithms for cloud and snow masks did not show very good accuracy. Instead of these independent masking procedures, K-Means clustering scheme is employed for cloud/snow discrimination in this study. The pixels used in clustering were selected through an integration of two threshold algorithms, which group ensemble the snow and cloud pixels. This may give a opportunity to simplify the clustering procedure and to improve the accuracy as compared with full image clustering. This paper also compared the results with threshold methods of snow cover and clouds, and assesses discrimination capability in VEGETATION channels. The quality of the cloud and snow mask even more improved when present algorithm is implemented. The discrimination errors were considerably reduced by 19.4% and 9.7% for cloud mask and snow mask as compared with traditional methods, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.33-43
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• 2011

This study is to make snowfall distribution map for the 4 heavy snowfall events of January 2001, March of 2004, December of 2005 and January of 2010, and compare the results for three cases of construction methods. The cases are to generate the map by applying IDW(Inverse Distance Weighting) interpolation to 76 ground measured snowfall point data (Snow Depth Map; SDM), mask out the SDM with the MODIS snow cover area (MODIS SCA) of Terra MODIS (MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) (SDM+MODIS SCA; SDM_M), and consider the snowdepth lapse rate of snowfall by elevation (Digital Elevation Model; DEM) to the second case (SDM_M+DEM; SDM_MD). By applying the MODIS SCA, the SCA of 4 events was 62.9%, 44.1%, 52.0%, and 69.0% for the area of South Korea. For the average snow depth, the SDM_M decreased 0.9cm, 1.9cm, 0.8cm, and 1.5cm compared to SDM and the SDM_MD increased 1.3cm, 0.9cm, 0.4cm, and 1.2cm respectively.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.26-29
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• 2005

In order to compute cloud coverage statistics over Asian region, an operational scheme for masking cloud-contaminated pixels in Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) daytime data was developed, evaluated and presented. Dynamic thresholding was used with channell, 2 and 3 to automatically create a cloud mask for a single image. Then the IO-day cloud coverage imagery was generated over the whole Asian region along with cloud-free composite imagery. Finally the monthly based statistics were computed based on the derived cloud coverage imagery in terms of land cover and country. As a result, it was found that 20-day is required to acquire the cloud free data over the whole Asia using NOAA AVHRR. The to-day cloud coverage and cloud-free composite imagery derived in this research is available via the web-site http://webpanda.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/CloudCover/.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.339-351
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• 2016

For the safety of sea, it is important to monitor sea fog, one of the dangerous meteorological phenomena which cause marine accidents. To detect and monitor sea fog, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data which is capable to provide spatial distribution of sea fog has been used. The previous automatic sea fog detection algorithms were focused on detecting sea fog using Terra/MODIS only. The improved algorithm is based on the sea fog detection algorithm by Wu and Li (2014) and it is applicable to both Terra and Aqua MODIS data. We have focused on detecting spring season sea fog events in the Yellow Sea. The algorithm includes application of cloud mask product, the Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI), the STandard Deviation test using infrared channel ($STD_{IR}$) with various window size, Temperature Difference Index(TDI) in the algorithm (BTCT - SST) and Normalized Water Vapor Index (NWVI). Through the calculation of the Hanssen-Kuiper Skill Score (KSS) using sea fog manual detection result, we derived more suitable threshold for each index. The adjusted threshold is expected to bring higher accuracy of sea fog detection for spring season daytime sea fog detection using MODIS in the Yellow Sea.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2015

Whilst it is clear that increasing temperatures from global environmental change will impact the positions of alpine treelines, it is likely that a range of regional and local scaled factors will mediate the overall impact of global scale climate drivers. We summarized 12 categories of abiotic and biotic factors as 4 groups determining treeline positions. First, there are global factors related to climate-induced growth limitation and carbon limitation. Second, there are seven regional and local factors related to treeline dynamics including frost stress, topography, water stress, snow, wind, fire and non-fire disturbance. Third, species-specific factors can control treeline dynamics through their influence on reproduction and life history traits. Fourth, there are positive feedbacks in structuring the dynamics of treelines. Globally, the commonly accepted growth limitation hypothesis is that growth at a treeline is limited by temperature. Meanwhile, positive feedbacks between canopy cover and tree establishment are likely to control the spatial pattern and temporal dynamics of many treelines. The presence of non-linear dynamics at treelines has implications for the use of treelines as barometers of climate change because the lagged responses and abrupt shifts inherent in non-equilibrium systems may combine to mask the overall climate trend.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.6_1
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• pp.1211-1224
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• 2023

Clouds cause many difficult problems in observing land surface phenomena using optical satellites, such as national land observation, disaster response, and change detection. In addition, the presence of clouds affects not only the image processing stage but also the final data quality, so it is necessary to identify and remove them. Therefore, in this study, we developed a new cloud detection technique that automatically performs a series of processes to search and extract the pixels closest to the spectral pattern of clouds in satellite images, select the optimal threshold, and produce a cloud mask based on the threshold. The cloud detection technique largely consists of three steps. In the first step, the process of converting the Digital Number (DN) unit image into top-of-atmosphere reflectance units was performed. In the second step, preprocessing such as Hue-Value-Saturation (HSV) transformation, triangle thresholding, and maximum likelihood classification was applied using the top of the atmosphere reflectance image, and the threshold for generating the initial cloud mask was determined for each image. In the third post-processing step, the noise included in the initial cloud mask created was removed and the cloud boundaries and interior were improved. As experimental data for cloud detection, CAS500-1 L2G images acquired in the Korean Peninsula from April to November, which show the diversity of spatial and seasonal distribution of clouds, were used. To verify the performance of the proposed method, the results generated by a simple thresholding method were compared. As a result of the experiment, compared to the existing method, the proposed method was able to detect clouds more accurately by considering the radiometric characteristics of each image through the preprocessing process. In addition, the results showed that the influence of bright objects (panel roofs, concrete roads, sand, etc.) other than cloud objects was minimized. The proposed method showed more than 30% improved results(F1-score) compared to the existing method but showed limitations in certain images containing snow.