Use of a super‐resolution method in interpretation of forests from multiple NOAA/AVHRR images

Super‐resolution methods take several images from the same location and fuse them into one, called a super‐resolution image. If the fusion is carried out correctly, it is possible to recognize details from the super‐resolution image which are not visible in the original images. In this study, a super‐resolution technique is applied to sequences of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (NOAA/AVHRR) scenes using a varying number of images and acquisition times, in order to determine whether it is possible to recognize forested and non‐forested areas from NOAA/AVHRR images more accurately using a super‐resolution method than with the original images. The overall proportion of forest and the proportion of forest with a growing stock volume of over 50 m3/ha were calculated for each pixel, and the results evaluated using landscape indices, r.m.s. error (RMSE) and a parameter showing how large a proportion of the estimates are closer to the ground truth in the ...