DIAMANTE: A data-centric semantic segmentation approach to map tree dieback induced by bark beetle infestations via satellite images

Forest tree dieback inventory has a crucial role in improving forest management strategies. This inventory is traditionally performed by forests through laborious and time-consuming human assessment of individual trees. On the other hand, the large amount of Earth satellite data that are publicly available with the Copernicus program and can be processed through advanced deep learning techniques has recently been established as an alternative to field surveys for forest tree dieback tasks. However, to realize its full potential, deep learning requires a deep understanding of satellite data since the data collection and preparation steps are essential as the model development step. In this study, we explore the performance of a data-centric semantic segmentation approach to detect forest tree dieback events due to bark beetle infestation in satellite images. The proposed approach prepares a multisensor data set collected using both the SAR Sentinel-1 sensor and the optical Sentinel-2 sensor and uses this dataset to train a multisensor semantic segmentation model. The evaluation shows the effectiveness of the proposed approach in a real inventory case study that regards non-overlapping forest scenes from the Northeast of France acquired in October 2018. The selected scenes host bark beetle infestation hotspots of different sizes, which originate from the mass reproduction of the bark beetle in the 2018 infestation.