Validation of LAI, chlorophyll and FVC biophysical estimates from sentinel-2 level 2 prototype processor over a heterogeneous savanna and grassland environment in South Africa

Abstract

The Sentinel-2 Level 2 Prototype Processor (SL2P) allows the generation of biophysical estimates at high spatiotemporal resolution from Sentinel-2 imagery and could be a solution for generating products in natural environments. This study validated the SL2P estimates of leaf area index (LAI), fractional vegetation cover (FVC) and canopy chlorophyll content (CCC) over the savanna and grassland environments using field measurements. The performance of the SL2P estimates in Marakele and Golden Gate Highlands National Parks were comparatively poor and linearly biased coupled with moderate-to-high errors. The SL2P estimates in the two study sites had low accuracy with relative root mean squared error’s in the range 61.63% to 85.26% and possible systematic underestimations with pBias's ranging from 32.17% to 63.16%. These findings gave insight about the performance of the SL2P estimates over the considered heterogenous environments, and suggest the need for extensive validation and re-calibration of the system using long-term field measurements.