Reflectance spectroscopy provides an alternate method to classical physical and chemical laboratory soil analysis for estimation of a large range of key soil properties. Techniques including ...classical chemometrics approaches and specific absorption features studies have been developed for deriving estimates of soil characteristics from visible and near-infrared (VNIR, 400–1200 nm) and shortwave infrared (SWIR, 1200–2500 nm) reflectance measurements. This paper examines the performances of two distinct methods for clay and calcium carbonate (CaCO
3) content estimation (two key soil properties for erosion prediction) by VNIR/SWIR spectroscopy: i) the Continuum Removal (CR) has been used to correlate spectral absorption bands centred at 2206 and 2341 nm with clay and CaCO
3 concentrations and ii) the partial least-squares regression (PLSR) method with leave-one-out cross-validation, which is a classical chemometrics technique, has been used to predict clay and CaCO
3 concentrations from VNIR/SWIR full spectra. We tried to respond to the question “should we use all bands in the 400–2500 nm range or should we focus our analysis on selected spectral absorption bands to determine soil properties from reflectance data?” In this paper, the CR and PLSR methods were applied to VNIR/SWIR laboratory and airborne HYMAP reflectance measurements collected over the La Peyne Valley area in southern France.
This study shows that the performance of both techniques is dependent on the spectral feature for the soil property of interest and on the level data acquisition (lab or airborne) face to the instrument specifications. When airborne HYMAP reflectance measurements are used, the PLSR technique performs better than the CR approach. As well, when the soil property of interest has no well-identified spectral feature, which is the case of clay, the PLSR technique performs better than the CR approach. In this last situation, PLSR is able to find surrogate spectral features that retain satisfactory estimations of the studied soil properties. However, parts of these spectral features remain difficult to explain or relate to area-specific correlations between soil properties, which means that extrapolation to larger pedological contexts must be envisaged with care. In the near future, VNIR/SWIR airborne hyperspectral data processed by the PLSR technique will allow for accurate mapping of clay and CaCO
3 contents, which will contribute significantly to the digital mapping of soil properties.
Mining in Tunisia generates a large amount of tailings charged with toxic minerals. As these tailings have a wide spread distribution, it is important to characterize and estimate their impact on ...soil contamination. This study examines the potential of field hyperspectral spectroscopy and SENTINEL-2 Multispectral data in estimating and mapping seven minerals content, including three toxic minerals (fluorite, barite and sphalerite), within soils around Hammam Zriba mine in Northen Tunisia. 69 soil and dike surface samples were collected, field Visible, Near InfraRed (VNIR) and Short-Wave InfraRed (SWIR) reflectance spectra were measured on these surfaces. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) method was used to identify the types of mineral and their associated contents on each collected soil samples. The mineral contents were predicted using the partial least squares regression (PLSR) method using i) field VNIR-SWIR spectra at raw spectral resolution, ii) field VNIR-SWIR spectra aggregated to the SENTINEL-2 spectral resolution and then iii) SENTINEL-2 spectra.
This study shows 1) an accurate prediction of four of the seven minerals using field VNIR-SWIR spectroscopy, 2) a slight decrease of performances due to spectral resolution degradation (SENTINEL-2 simulated spectra) and 3) a significant decrease of performances due to spatial resolution degradation, except for fluorite. This work paves the way for large-scale mapping of minerals with high pollution potential using SENTINEL-2 data. In addition, the high frequency of SENTINEL-2 data may be used to monitor the spatial distribution of some minerals with high pollution potential in soils.
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•Performances of the PLSR models using field hyperspectral spectroscopy data for mineral content prediction around mining site•A slightly decrease of the mineral prediction performances related to the spectral resolution degradation of the SENTINEL-2 simulated data•Prediction and mapping of the Fluorite content still accurate based on the SENTINEL-2 Multispectral data spectrally and spatially degraded.•Both low concentrations and heterogeneous distributions of certain minerals affect their prediction performances
Visible, near-infrared and short-wave infrared (VNIR/SWIR, 400–2500 nm) laboratory soil spectrometry is now considered to provide accurate estimations of primary soil properties (clay, calcium ...carbonate, iron, soil organic carbon, etc.). The performances of primary soil property prediction models are evaluated in regard to figures of merit calculated over calibration and validation databases but not in regard to the spatial extent of predicted soil samples. The objective of this study was to analyze regional model performances for soil property prediction at regional and within-field extents within contrasted representative geopedological situations. This study used a database of 240 soil samples collected over eight vineyard fields located in the Languedoc Region (southern France) (between 20 and 36 soil samples per field) for which VNIR/SWIR laboratory spectra were acquired and two soil physico-chemical properties (clay and calcium carbonate) were measured. Soil property prediction models were built using the classical partial least square regression (PLSR) method, which links the VNIR/SWIR laboratory spectra and the physico-chemical soil property. Our results showed that both clay and calcium carbonate prediction models are accurate at the regional extent, whereas prediction model performances at the within-field extent depend on the model robustness. Therefore, primary soil properties predicted by VNIR/SWIR laboratory spectra must be used with care at different extents.
•240 soil samples collected over 8 fields with contrasted geopedological situations.•Clay and CaCO3 prediction models built at regional extent, using PLSR method.•Both prediction models analyzed at regional and within-field extents.•Performance of clay and CaCO3 prediction models depend on the considered extent.•Potential drivers of prediction model robustness were studied and discussed.
Quickly and correctly mapping soil nutrients significantly impact accurate fertilization, food security, soil productivity, and sustainable agricultural development. We evaluated the potential of the ...new PRISMA hyperspectral sensor for mapping soil organic matter (SOM), available soil phosphorus (P2O5), and potassium (K2O) content over a cultivated area in Khouribga, northern Morocco. These soil nutrients were estimated using (i) the random forest (RF) algorithm based on feature selection methods, including feature subset evaluation and feature ranking methods belonging to three categories (i.e., filter, wrapper, and embedded techniques), and (ii) 107 soil samples taken from the study area. The results show that the RF-embedded method produced better predictive accuracy compared with the filter and wrapper methods. The model for SOM showed moderate accuracy (Rval2 = 0.5, RMSEP = 0.43%, and RPIQ = 2.02), whereas that for soil P2O5 and K2O exhibited low efficiency (Rval2 = 0.26 and 0.36, RMSEP = 51.07 and 182.31 ppm, RPIQ = 0.65 and 1.16, respectively). The interpolation of RF-residuals by ordinary kriging (OK) methods reached the highest predictive results for SOM (Rval2 = 0.69, RMSEP = 0.34%, and RPIQ = 2.56), soil P2O5 (Rval2 = 0.44, RMSEP = 44.10 ppm, and RPIQ = 0.75), and soil K2O (Rval2 = 0.51, RMSEP = 159.29 ppm, and RPIQ = 1.34), representing the best fitting ability between the hyperspectral data and soil nutrients. The result maps provide a spatially continuous surface mapping of the soil landscape, conforming to the pedological substratum. Finally, the hyperspectral remote sensing imagery can provide a new way for modeling and mapping soil fertility, as well as the ability to diagnose nutrient deficiencies.
Integrating satellite data at different resolutions (i.e., spatial, spectral, and temporal) can be a helpful technique for acquiring soil information from a synoptic point of view. This study aimed ...to evaluate the advantage of using satellite mono- and multi-sensor image fusion based on either spectral indices or entire spectra to predict the topsoil clay content. To this end, multispectral satellite images acquired by various sensors (i.e., Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), and Sentinel2-MultiSpectral Instrument (S2-MSI)) have been used to assess their potential in identifying bare soil pixels over an area in northeastern Tunisia, the Lebna and Chiba catchments. A spectral index image and a spectral bands image are generated for each satellite sensor (i.e., TM, OLI, ASTER, and S2-MSI). Then, two multi-sensor satellite image fusions are generated, one from the spectral index images and the other from spectral bands. The resulting spectral index and spectral band images based on mono-and multi-sensor satellites are compared through their spectral patterns and ability to predict the topsoil clay content using the Multilayer Perceptron with backpropagation learning algorithm (MLP-BP) method. The results suggest that for clay content prediction: (i) the spectral bands’ images outperformed the spectral index images regardless of the used satellite sensor; (ii) the fused images derived from the spectral index or bands provided the best performances, with a 10% increase in the prediction accuracy; and (iii) the bare soil images obtained by the fusion of many multispectral sensor satellite images can be more beneficial than using mono-sensor images. Soil maps elaborated via satellite multi-sensor data fusion might become a valuable tool for soil survey, land planning, management, and precision agriculture.
This paper compares predictions of soil organic carbon (SOC) using visible and near infrared reflectance (vis–NIR) hyperspectral proximal and remote sensing data. Soil samples were collected in the ...Narrabri region, dominated by Vertisols, in north western New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Vis–NIR spectra were collected over this region proximally with an AgriSpec portable spectrometer (350–2500 nm) and remotely from the Hyperion hyperspectral sensor onboard satellite (400–2500 nm). SOC contents were predicted by partial least-squares regression (PLSR) using both the proximal and remote sensing spectra. The spectral resolution of the proximal and remote sensing data did not affect prediction accuracy. However, predictions of SOC using the Hyperion spectra were less accurate than those of the Agrispec data resampled to similar resolution as the Hyperion spectra. Finally, the SOC map predicted using Hyperion data shows similarity with field observations. There is potential for the use of hyperspectral remote sensing for predictions of soil organic carbon. The use of these techniques will facilitate the implementation of digital soil mapping.
Visible Near infrared and Shortwave Infrared (VNIR/SWIR, 400–2500 nm) remote sensing data is becoming a tool for topsoil properties mapping, bringing spatial information for environmental modeling ...and land use management. These topsoil properties estimates are based on regression models, linking a key topsoil property to VNIR/SWIR reflectance data. Therefore, the regression model’s performances depend on the quality of both topsoil property analysis (measured on laboratory over-ground soil samples) and Bottom-of-Atmosphere (BOA) VNIR/SWIR reflectance which are retrieved from Top-Of-Atmosphere radiance using atmospheric correction (AC) methods. This paper examines the sensitivity of soil organic carbon (SOC) estimation to BOA images depending on two parameters used in AC methods: aerosol optical depth (AOD) in the FLAASH (Fast Line-of-Sight Atmospheric Analysis of Spectral Hypercubes) method and water vapor (WV) in the ATCOR (ATmospheric CORrection) method. This work was based on Earth Observing-1 Hyperion Hyperspectral data acquired over a cultivated area in Australia in 2006. Hyperion radiance data were converted to BOA reflectance using seven values of AOD (from 0.2 to 1.4) and six values of WV (from 0.4 to 5 cm), in FLAASH and ATCOR, respectively. Then a Partial Least Squares regression (PLSR) model was built from each Hyperion BOA data to estimate SOC over bare soil pixels. This study demonstrated that the PLSR models were insensitive to the AOD variation used in the FLAASH method, with R2cv and RMSEcv of 0.79 and 0.4%, respectively. The PLSR models were slightly sensitive to the WV variation used in the ATCOR method, with R2cv ranging from 0.72 to 0.79 and RMSEcv ranging from 0.41 to 0.47. Regardless of the AOD values, the PLSR model based on the best parametrization of the ATCOR model provided similar SOC prediction accuracy to PLSR models using the FLAASH method. Variation in AOD using the FLAASH method did not impact the identification of bare soil pixels coverage which corresponded to 82.35% of the study area, while a variation in WV using the ATCOR method provided a variation of bare soil pixels coverage from 75.04 to 84.04%. Therefore, this work recommends (1) the use of the FLAASH AC method to provide BOA reflectance values from Earth Observing-1 Hyperion Hyperspectral data before SOC mapping or (2) a careful selection of the WV parameter when using ATCOR.
•96Tunisian soil samples were used to calibrate and validate SIC prediction models.•MIR absorption peak-based LR and full spectra-based PLSR models were used.•Both types of model were tested on ...2178French soil samples for SIC prediction.•Peak at 2510 cm−1 on Test soils samples was used to select suitable model.•SIC was accurately predicted by a LR and PLSR coupling.
Mid-Infrared reflectance spectroscopy (MIRS, 4000–400 cm−1) is being considered to provide accurate estimations of soil inorganic carbon (SIC) contents, based on prediction models when the test dataset is well represented by the calibration set, with similar SIC range and distribution and pedological context. This work addresses the case where the test dataset, here originating from France, is poorly represented by the calibration set, here originating from Tunisia, with different SIC distributions and pedological contexts. It aimed to demonstrate the usefulness of 1) classifying test samples according to SIC level based on the height of the carbonate absorbance peak at 2510 cm−1, and then 2) selecting a suitable prediction model according to SIC level. Two regression methods were tested: Linear Regression using the height of the carbonate peak at 2510 cm−1, called Peak-LR model; and Partial Least Squares Regression using the entire MIR spectrum, called Full-PLSR model. First, our results showed that Full-PLSR was 1) more accurate than Peak-LR on the Tunisian validation set (R2val = 0.99 vs. 0.86 and RMSEval = 3.0 vs. 9.7 g kg−1, respectively), but 2) less accurate than Peak-LR when applied on the French dataset (R2test = 0.70 vs. 0.91 and RMSEtest = 13.7 vs. 4.9 g kg−1, respectively). Secondly, on the French dataset, predictions on SIC-poor samples tended to be more accurate using Peak-LR, while predictions on SIC-rich samples tended to be more accurate using Full-PLSR. Thirdly, the height of the carbonate absorbance peak at 2510 cm−1 might be used to discriminate SIC-poor and SIC-rich test samples (<5 vs. > 5 g kg−1): when this height was > 0, Full-PLSR was applied; otherwise Peak-LR was applied. Coupling Peak-LR and Full-PLSR models depending on the carbonate peak yielded the best predictions on the French dataset (R2test = 0.95 and RMSEtest = 3.7 g kg−1). This study underlined the interest of using a carbonate peak to select suitable regression approach for predicting SIC content in a database with different distribution than the calibration database.
•Soil clay content was mapped by Landsat-TM data time series.•Work dedicated to a Tunisian cultivated area with contrasted pedological structure.•Use of mean spectral reflectance along the time ...series, compared to single date.•Aims to increase both soil properties prediction accuracy and mapping coverage.•Mean spectral reflectance from Landsat-TM data time series provided best predictions.
Visible, near-infrared and short wave infrared (VNIR/SWIR, 400–2500 nm) remote sensing imagery is a useful tool for topsoil property mapping, but limited to bare soils pixels. With the increasing amount of freely available VNIR/SWIR satellite imagery (e.g. Landsat TM, ETM+, OLI and Sentinel-2A/B), extensive time series data can be exploited to increase the spatial coverage of bare soil derived information. The objective of this study was to evaluate the benefits of using a bare soil image created from the mean spectral reflectance from bare soil pixels along a time series, compared to a single-date image. The benefits were analyzed in term of (i) proportion of soil mapping and (ii) accuracy of clay content prediction. The study was conducted over the Cap-Bon region (Northern Tunisia) which is a pedologically contrasted and cultivated area. To this end, 262 topsoil samples and three Landsat-TM images acquired during the summer season were used. Multiple linear regression (MLR) models based on the multi-date and single-date Landsat-derived spectral dataset were performed to quantify clay soil content. Our results have shown that (1) a bare soil image created from only mean spectral reflectance from common bare soil pixels along a time series provided the best accuracy of clay content prediction (i.e., coefficient of determination of validation Rval2 of 0.75, a root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) of 88 g/kg) with a moderate bare soil coverage (i.e., 23% of the study area); (2) a bare soil image created from a mix of mean spectral reflectance from common bare soil pixels along a time series and of spectral reflectance from bare soil pixels of single-date images provided acceptable accuracy of clay content prediction (i.e., Rval2 = 0.64, RMSEP = 109 g/kg) with a relatively high bare soil coverage (i.e., 44% of the study area); and (3) all the bare soil images provided similar spatial structures of the clay content predictions. With the actual availability of the VNIR/SWIR satellite imagery for the entire globe, this study offer a simple and accurate method for delivering accurate soil property maps over large areas, to the geoscience community.
The cocktail of pesticides sprayed to protect crops generates a miscellaneous and generalized contamination of water bodies. Sorption, especially on soils, regulates the spreading and persistence of ...these contaminants. Fine resolution sorption data and knowledge of its drivers are needed to manage this contamination. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential of Mid-Infrared spectroscopy (MIR) to predict and specify the adsorption and desorption of a diversity of pesticides. We constituted a set of 37 soils from French mainland and West Indies covering large ranges of texture, organic carbon, minerals and pH. We measured the adsorption and desorption coefficients of glyphosate, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and difenoconazole and acquired MIR Lab spectra for these soils. We developed Partial Least Square Regression (PLSR) models for the prediction of the sorption coefficients from the MIR spectra. We further identified the most influencing spectral bands and related these to putative organic and mineral functional groups. The prediction performance of the PLSR models was generally high for the adsorption coefficients Kdads (0.4 < R2 < 0.9 & RPIQ >1.8). It was contrasted for the desorption coefficients and related to the magnitude of the desorption hysteresis. The most significant spectral bands in the PLSR differ according to the pesticides indicating contrasted interactions with mineral and organic functional groups. Glyphosate interacts primarily with polar mineral groups (OH) and difenoconazole with hydrophobic organic groups (CH2, CC, COO−, C–O, C–O–C). 2,4-D has both positive and negative interactions with these groups. Finally, this work suggests that MIR combined with PLSR is a promising and cost-effective tool. It allows both the prediction of adsorption and desorption parameters and the specification of these mechanisms for a diversity of pesticides including polar active ingredients.
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•We used MIR spectroscopy combined with PLSR to predict and specify pesticide sorption.•The prediction performance is good for the adsorption coefficients Kdads (RPIQ >1.8).•Low desorption hysteresis is challenging the performance of the PLSR models.•Both mineral and organic groups are involved in the sorption of the three pesticides.•Functional groups influencing sorption coefficients differ for the three pesticides.
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