Shrub forest mapping based on remote sensing data

In the past few decades, the occurrence of the two shrub forest species Green alder (Alnus viridis) and Dwarf mountain pine (Pinus mugo prostrata) has increased in the Alpine region. This influences the transition to high forest, the effectiveness of protection forests and biodiversity. Thus, up-to-date and area-wide information on their distribution is of interest to various fields of work. Statistical data are provided by the Swiss National Forest Inventory (NFI) and the Swiss 'Arealstatistik'. Due to their sampling scheme on a regular grid, these data are not spatially explicit distribution maps. Remote sensing sensors enable the production of such maps through the acquisition of data with high temporal and spatial resolution. The aim of this project is a robust workflow to produce an up-to-date, wide-area and high-resolution distribution map of the two dominant shrub forest species based on data of the Copernicus missions Sentinel-1/2 and ADS of swisstopo. The project is conducted within the framework of the Swiss National Forest Inventory (NFI).