Abstract
This article describes an agricultural application of remote sensing methods. The idea is to aid in eradicating an invasive plant called Sosnowskyi borscht (H. sosnowskyi). These plants contain strong allergens and can induce burning skin pain, and may displace native plant species by overshadowing them, meaning that even solitary individuals must be controlled or destroyed in order to prevent damage to unused rural land and other neighbouring land of various types (mostly violated forest or housing areas). We describe several methods for detecting H. sosnowskyi plants from Sentinel-2A images, and verify our results. The workflow is based on recently improved technologies, which are used to pinpoint exact locations (small areas) of plants, allowing them to be found more efficiently than by visual inspection on foot or by car. The results are in the form of images that can be classified by several methods, and estimates of the cross-covariance or single-vector auto-covariance functions of the contaminant parameters are calculated from random functions composed of plant pixel vector data arrays. The correlation of the pixel vectors for H. sosnowskyi images depends on the density of the chlorophyll content in the plants. Estimates of the covariance functions were computed by varying the quantisation interval on a certain time scale and using a computer programme based on MATLAB. The correlation between the pixels of the H. sosnowskyi plants and other plants was found, possibly because their structures have sufficiently unique spectral signatures (pixel values) in raster images. H. sosnowskyi can be identified and confirmed using a combination of two classification methods (using supervised and unsupervised approaches). The reliability of this combined method was verified by applying the theory of covariance function, and the results showed that H. sosnowskyi plants had a higher correlation coefficient. This can be used to improve the results in order to get rid of plants in particular areas. Further experiments will be carried out to confirm these results based on in situ fieldwork, and to calculate the efficiency of our method.
Highlights
The spectral characteristics of the classes were calculated based on the values of the pixels in the region of interest (ROI) using minimum distance algorithms
The inter-covariance function was calculated between pairs of plants: H. sosnowskyi and other plants; other plants and agricultural land; and H. sosnowskyi and agricultural land
The values vary with the absorption of red light by plant chlorophyll and the reflection of infrared radiation by water-filled leaf cells, they will be very close to those of other plants in the early vegetation period
Summary
Sosnowskyi borscht (Heracleum sosnowskyi) plants were widespread only in the Caucasus region before they were cultivated in the Soviet Union as a silage crop. The plant has spread to Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic States as an invasive species. All parts of the plant accumulate a strong allergen called furanocoumarin, and the juice contains substances that sensitise the skin to the sun and can cause first- to third-degree skin burns. H. sosnowskyi displace native plant species by overshadowing them, and are difficult to eradicate from rivers since floods carry the seeds. They spread very fast, at a rate of 60 m per year along river banks and roadsides, in large inflorescences
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