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ANALYSIS OF CHANGES IN VEGETATION BIOMASS USING MULTITEMPORAL 
AND MULTISENSOR SATELLITE DATA 
A. Akkartal””, O. Türüdü*, and F.S. Erbek® 
“Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Geodesy and Photogrammetry Engineering Department, 
Undergraduate Program, 34469, Maslak, Istanbul, Turkey 
maggie06@tnn.net, ozanturudu@yahoo.com 
"istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Remote Sensing Division, 34469, Maslak, istanbul, Turkey 
fsunar@ins.itu.edu.tr 
KEY WORDS: Agriculture, Biomass, Vegetation Indices, Remote Sensing, Satellite Image, Multitemporal data 
ABSTRACT: 
Turkey has always been one of the major agricultural countries in the world. The importance of agriculture is increasing due to the 
growing of population in Turkey and in the world. Although the importance of agriculture in Turkish economy has been declined 
relatively in the time with respect to GNP (Gnoss National Product) and export, this issue keeps its importance since the high number 
of workforce and direct relationship between food resources and agriculture. Turkey can make its place stable among the world 
countries by defining the potential of harvest. Today, new technologies such as remote sensing and GIS can be used for crop 
estimation and crop mapping. The analyses of the changes in vegetation biomass over years is also so important and will assist in 
taking stable decisions for national agricultural policies. 
In this study, which was also undergraduate final project, changes in the vegetation biomass at the Lüleburgaz district, Kirklareli, 
Thrace region in Turkey was analysed using three multitemporal Landsat TM scenes and one Spot XS scene. In the analyses, 
different vegetation indices for observing the biomass were evaluated with the help of ground truth data. Based on the results 
obtained, the effectiveness of the use of multitemporal satellite imagery was outlined. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
The importance of agriculture all around the world is known with geographic information systems, complex analyses of the 
through the ages. Even the civilisation began with agriculture state and changes in the vegetation biomass, help the country in 
when first settlements appeared. Parallel to the population increasing the amount and the quality of agricultural products. 
growth, needs for living (foods and raw materials) have been 
increased and force them to show much more care on the issue In this study, vegetation biomass in Lüleburgaz district, 
of agriculture. Besides, the economical dimension also affects Kirklareli, Thrace region was analysed by using different 
its importance. Knowing the amount of the total harvest, the vegetation indexes and the changes in biomass through 1987 to 
countries can easily determine their needs and also take stable 2003 years was monitored by multitemporal and multisensor 
decisions in their agricultural policies. Today, most of the satellite data. 
developed countries indicate the importance of agriculture over 
the economy by taking the resources made surplus by increasing 2. STUDY AREA AND DATA USED 
agricultural productivity as a key to economic development 
(Baker, 1987). Ground truth data was collected from the Türkgeldi State 
Production Farm, which is in the boundaries of Lüleburgaz 
Turkey has the 9635 of agricultural lands in a total of its 78 district, Kirklareli (41.24 latitude, 27.21 longitude). This farm 
million-hectare area and the climate of the country is a great has a total area of 19.050-decare agricultural usage and a height 
advantage for agricultural activities. In the year of 2000 the of 46m above sea level. 
value of the agricultural profit was 9.5 quadrillion TL and in 
these years the part of agricultural products in export was nearly 
7650 - 9960. Although known as a country that has the potential 
of being an agricultural country instead of an industrial one, 
agriculture lost its importance over time (Ministry of 
Agriculture, 2004). Furthermore, for developing countries like 
Turkey, facing with powerful countries in the market, to 
estimate the value of the agricultural products has a vital 
importance. 
As the technology takes part more and more in our lives, space 
technology gives us the opportunity to observe land and help us 
to predict very reliable and almost true information about the 
land use and land cover. These help us to predict about the 
amount and the quality of the harvest in a higher precision and 
quicker than terrestrial measurements. The use of remote P 
sensing technologies over agricultural issues and integration Figure 1. The map and Landsat TM image of the study area. 
    
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