Utilization of spectral measurements and phenological observations to detect grassland-habitats with a RapidEye intra-annual time-series

The presented study aims at developing methods of a seasonal correction with the help of phenological observations of the German Weather Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst) and spectral field measurements for classifying grassland habitats. Therefore, spectral measurements were taken between 2007 and 2010 in a study heathland area of 60 km². These measurements were phenological corrected by a long-term time series. Each measurement date was corrected to a phonological date. With this information, the measurements could be used independently to a specific year. Finally, the measurements were combined in a phonological curve per class. This curve was applied to a time-series of RapidEye images to classify grassland habitats. First results indicate that a wide-range phonological curve is required to achieve results with an increasing accuracy.