Making Earth Observation Work (MEOW) for UK Biodiversity Monitoring and Surveillance, Phase 4: Testing applications in habitat condition assessment Final Report 29/04/2016 Making Earth Observation Work (MEOW) for UK Biodiversity Monitoring and Surveillance, Phase 4: Testing applications in habitat condition assessment A report to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, prepared by: Dr. Johanna Breyer Samuel Pike AFRSPSoc Dr. Katie Medcalf, CIEEM Environment Systems Ltd. 11 Cefn Llan Science Park Aberystwyth Ceredigion SY23 3AH Tel: +44 (0)1970 626688 www.envsys.co.uk and Jacqueline Parker Team Projects Ltd. 6 Holly Meadows Salters Lane Winchester SO22 5FQ When referring to this report please use the following citation: Breyer, J., Pike, S., Medcalf, K. and Parker J. (2016) Making Earth Observation Work (MEOW) for UK Biodiversity Monitoring and Surveillance, Phase 4: Testing applications in habitat condition assessment. A report to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, prepared by Environment Systems, Ltd.. 1 Making Earth Observation Work (MEOW) for UK Biodiversity Monitoring and Surveillance, Phase 4: Testing applications in habitat condition assessment Acknowledgements The project team would like to thank Paul Robinson (JNCC) and Helen Pontier (Defra) and the rest of the Steering Group for all their input and support during the running of the project. Our thanks also go to staff of Natural England for collating field survey data. 2 Making Earth Observation Work (MEOW) for UK Biodiversity Monitoring and Surveillance, Phase 4: Testing applications in habitat condition assessment Executive summary Making Earth Observation Work (MEOW) for UK Biodiversity, Phase 4: Testing applications in habitat condition assessment is the fourth in a series of projects under the MEOW umbrella, commissioned by Defra and the JNCC. This project examines the usefulness of Earth observation (EO) for the assessment of habitat condition and change in condition, focusing on grassland habitats, which are a major element of the new Countryside Stewardship Scheme and European Commission (EC) Habitats Directive. The project has concentrated on scoping which EO techniques can be developed into a workable system for aspects of condition assessment, taking into account: the increasing availability of EO, in particular from the Copernicus programme; the wider context of the use of EO within Defra, including how delivery of EO indices of habitat condition can be developed in conjunction with other mapping initiatives, in particular the Living Map and EODIP activities; the current status of field condition monitoring approaches. The Crick approach, developed as part of MEOW, has been used to compile and extend our understanding of the EO requirements for mapping habitat condition of specific grassland habitats. There is scope to further develop the Crick tables for habitat condition to identify for any given habitat which EO indices are of relevance and why. Four specific condition measures were examined for grasslands which can be identified by EO (‘extent of woody vegetation’, ‘presence of dead material’, ‘presence of bare ground’ and ‘seasonal productivity’). The study also considered which EO techniques could be used to distinguish the main condition measures within a given grassland type. We concluded that spectral reflectance values, the use of EO indices (photosynthetic vegetation and non- photosynthetic vegetation) and NDVI could all play an important part in a future monitoring scheme. There is also the potential of satellite radar imagery to give useful information on structure and heterogeneity within an individual grassland parcel. The appropriate EO measures to use are very much dependent on the specific grassland type and further development of the Crick framework has begun to show how the specific grasslands and their condition relate to EO features. The way in which an EO based system could be developed, structured and used is described, and illustrative examples are provided to demonstrate how user needs would be translated to mapped EO outputs relevant at the scale of individual sites but also informative at landscape scales. The importance of drawing on, and working in conjunction with other data-driven initiatives is highlighted, in particular, using the Living Map for its content on habitat extent and location will be essential. It is suggested therefore, that there is co-ordination of effort with products being developed alongside each other (e.g., region by region). A roadmap identifying the next steps in the development of EO tools, systems and approaches to support habitat condition assessment and monitoring has been produced and recommendations made on how the interface between EO and fieldwork can be strengthened by further structured investigations. 3 Making Earth Observation Work (MEOW) for UK Biodiversity Monitoring and Surveillance, Phase 4: Testing applications in habitat condition assessment Table of contents Executive summary .................................................................................................................................. 3 Table of contents ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Table of figures ......................................................................................................................................... 6 List of tables ............................................................................................................................................... 8 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 9 1.1 Policy context ........................................................................................................................ 10 1.2 Aims and objectives .............................................................................................................. 11 1.3 Headline questions ................................................................................................................ 12 2 Earth Observation and condition monitoring ............................................................................. 12 2.1 How is habitat condition monitored? ..................................................................................... 12 2.2 Key EO concepts .................................................................................................................. 13 2.3 Optical remote sensing ......................................................................................................... 14 2.4 Radar remote sensing ........................................................................................................... 14 2.5 Key EO techniques ................................................................................................................ 14 2.6 The Copernicus programme ................................................................................................. 17 2.7 EO Data Integration Pilot (EODIP) ......................................................................................... 17 3 Selection of measures, test sites and data acquisition ............................................................. 18 3.1 Building on previous research ............................................................................................... 18 3.2 Test sites and data acquisition .............................................................................................. 20 3.3 Preliminary analysis of CSM data .......................................................................................... 30 4 EO case studies ............................................................................................................................... 33 4.1 Boundaries and extent of features ......................................................................................... 33 4.2 Productivity characteristics of features (NDVI) ...................................................................... 35 4.1 Basis of evaluation ................................................................................................................ 35 4.2 SAR radar .............................................................................................................................. 46 5 Using the Crick approach to consider EO needs for condition monitoring ........................... 49 5.1 The Crick Framework ............................................................................................................ 49 5.2 Additional complexity of an EO approach to habitat condition monitoring ............................ 50 5.3 Summarising EO needs ......................................................................................................... 51 6 Assessment of practical applications: ......................................................................................... 55 6.1 Limitations encountered by the project ................................................................................. 55 6.2 Addressing the headline questions ....................................................................................... 56 6.3 Considerations of scale ......................................................................................................... 65 6.4 EO condition concept prerequisites .....................................................................................