ABSTRACT Adaptive forest management strategies require accurate detection of forest disturbance, in various spatial scales. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data can provide information about the forest attributes, penetrating the canopy at different levels under any weather and lighting conditions. ICEYE consists of the largest constellation of SAR satellites, enabling very high spatial and temporal resolution. In this study, ICEYE data were investigated in the detection of storm damage, in a fir forest with complex topography which was recently hit by the Daniel storm, resulting in severe damage to the forest structure (FS) and alluvium depositions (AD). To identify the best potential for storm damage detection using ICEYE data, an unsupervised change detection approach was employed combining wavelet transform and adaptive thresholds at spatial scales of 0.5 m (R05), 1 m (R1), 2 m (R2) and 3 m (R3). Additionally, two morphological filters were applied in best-performing resolutions to assess the impact of post-processing on the detection accuracy. Finally, FS and AD damage were investigated separately in order to provide detailed information about the detection capabilities of ICEYE. The results showcased that R1 (UA = 32.35, PA = 18.34 and K = 0.31) provided the best detection performance, followed by R05 (UA = 20.62, PA = 20.12 and K = 0.19). Furthermore, the employment of morphological filters slightly increased UA and Kappa metrics in both R1(UA = 33.40 and K = 0.32) and R05 (UA = 25.60 and K = 0.24), suggesting that post-processing is necessary to mitigate false detections. Regarding the investigation of AD and FS damage, it was revealed that post-processed ICEYE data in both R05 and R1 are capable of identifying AD with satisfying accuracy (UA = 47.41, PA = 22.36, K = 0.47), while FS damage detection is more challenging (UA = 10.15%-14.40%, PA = 14.55%-15.11%, and Kappa = 0.10-0.17). Overall, this study demonstrated that ICEYE can be used to detect storm-affected areas in mountainous forest ecosystems, especially in cases where detection with other methods is not feasible.
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