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oa Remote Assessment of Shelterbelts Damaged by Military Actions
- Publisher: European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers
- Source: Conference Proceedings, 18th International Conference Monitoring of Geological Processes and Ecological Condition of the Environment, Apr 2025, Volume 2025, p.1 - 5
Abstract
Shelterbelts are essential to sustainable land use, protecting agricultural landscapes against drought and dust storms, enhancing soil moisture, preventing erosion, and supporting biodiversity. However, the ongoing war in Ukraine has led to significant damage and, in some cases, complete destruction of shelterbelts. Since ground-based surveys are dangerous (due to landmines and other explosive hazards) and do not allow a rapid assessment of large areas, the use of remotely sensed data is indispensable. Thus, this study aims to assess the impact of military actions on shelterbelts using remotely sensed data, providing information for evaluating environmental damage and planning post-war restoration. The proposed approach is based on three vegetation indicators with the appropriate spectral indices derived from Sentinel-2 imagery, namely biomass (EVI), chlorophyll content (S2REP), and moisture (NDMI). To prove the effectiveness of the approach, an experiment was conducted on the shelterbelts near Opytne, Ukraine. The results indicate that most of the affected shelterbelt areas could be considered for post-war restoration, as the damage levels were primarily medium or low. Further research should focus on mapping shelterbelts using classification methods and applying radar data to establish continuous data series, since they are not affected by clouds.