arXiv Machine Learning

A Two-Stage Cascade for Near-Real-Time Forest Anomaly Detection from Sentinel-1 SAR Time Series

The paper presents a two‑stage cascade for near‑real‑time detection of forest anomalies using Sentinel‑1 SAR time series. The first stage applies an adaptive robust‑statistics z‑score test on co‑registered VH backscatter against a same‑season historical baseline, while the second stage uses a convolutional autoencoder’s structural similarity metric to confirm disturbances. Alerts are issued only when both stages agree, with confidence scores and risk tiers based on repeat‑occurrence history, and the system outputs area estimates compatible with MRV workflows.

arXiv Computer Vision
Sep 18

Earth Surface Immune System for Rapid Monitoring of Unknown Anomalies

The paper introduces ESIA, an Earth Surface Immune System that detects and recognizes unknown anomalies in satellite imagery without prior category knowledge. It uses a non‑specific innate stage for rapid localization and a specific adaptive stage that matches image patches to text prompts via a multi‑modal model, achieving high F1 scores. The system adapts to new scenes in seconds and has been validated on a large global dataset, with applications to farmland degradation after the Kakhovka Dam collapse and burn severity assessment from the 2025 Palisades Fire.

By Jingtao Li, Qian Zhu, Xinyu Wang, Deren Li, Liangpei Zhang, Yanfei Zhong
arXiv Machine Learning
Jun 19

Integrating national forest inventory, airborne lidar, and satellite imagery for wall-to-wall mapping of forest structure with computer vision

arXiv:2606. 20291v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Remote sensing is increasingly relied upon to deliver actionable science for forest and wildfire risk management across large landscapes.

By Luke J. Zachmann, David D. Diaz, Vincent A. Landau, Chelsey Walden-Schreiner, Tony Chang, Nathan E. Rutenbeck, Katharyn A. Duffy, Kiarie Ndegwa, Andreas Gros, Scott Conway, Guy Bayes
arXiv Machine Learning
Sep 24

Geospatial embeddings detect old-growth forests but buffered spatial validation narrows their advantage over Sentinel features

arXiv:2609.28194v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Old-growth forests develop over centuries under minimal anthropogenic disturbance, producing structurally complex and biodiverse stands. In Europe, pro...

By Thomas Ratsakatika (Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK), Mihai Zotta (Fundatia Conservation Carpathia, Brasov, Romania), Srinivasan Keshav (Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK), Emily R. Lines (Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK)
arXiv Machine Learning
Jul 31

Foundation-Model Earth Representations Enable Regional-Scale Forest Aboveground Biomass Monitoring Across the Northeastern United States

arXiv:2607. 27217v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Forest aboveground biomass (AGB) is a critical indicator of ecosystem productivity and terrestrial carbon storage, yet regional carbon monitoring remains constrained by the sparse spatial and temporal availability of field inventories and airborne structural measurements.

By Shashika Lamahewage, Chandi Witharana
arXiv Computer Vision
Aug 27

FORMSpoT: Revealing Fine-Scale Forest Disturbances from Nation-Wide 1.5 m Forest Canopy Height Time Series

FORMSpoT presents a decade-long, 1.5 m resolution mapping of forest canopy height across France using SPOT‑6/7 data and a transformer model trained on airborne laser scanning. The derived FORMSpoT‑Δ disturbance polygons reveal that most French forest disturbances are small (<0.1 ha), a scale largely missed by coarser Sentinel‑1/2 and Landsat products, and that the method achieves high detection accuracy (F1 > 0.8) for events larger than 100 m² while still capturing finer events. Nationally, the approach distinguishes contrasting disturbance regimes—clear‑cut dominated in maritime pine plantations versus diffuse events in mountain forests—and tracks temporal dynamics such as the 2017‑2022 bark beetle crisis.

By Martin Schwartz, Fajwel Fogel, Nikola Besic, Damien Robert, Louis Geist, Jean-Pierre Renaud, Jean-Matthieu Monnet, Clemens Mosig, C\'edric Vega, Alexandre d'Aspremont, Loic Landrieu, Philippe Ciais
arXiv AI
Jul 7

Phase-Preserving Trimodal Transformer for Tropical Forest Biomass Estimation Using Optical and PolInSAR Data

arXiv:2607. 03663v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: The accurate estimation of Above-Ground Biomass (AGB) in mature tropical forests remains a critical challenge in remote sensing, primarily due to the saturation of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) signals in high-density areas and persistent cloud cover affecting optical imagery.

By Luiz Felipe Parente Santiago (Institute of Computing, Brazilian Army Research Institute in the Amazon), Rosiane Rodrigues de Freitas (Institute of Computing), Daniel Rodrigues dos Santos (Military Institute of Engineering), Felipe Ferrari (Military Institute of Engineering)
arXiv AI
Jun 9

Land cover and flood type govern the detection limits of satellite-based flood mapping across diverse global flood events

arXiv:2606. 07780v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Floods are among the most destructive natural hazards, and their increasing frequency under climate change makes satellite-based inundation mapping essential for disaster response.

By Venkatesh Kolluru, Rajat Shinde, Abdelhak Marouane, Caden Helbling, Deepak Shah, Othneil Drew, Iksha Gurung, Manil Maskey, Rahul Ramachandran