Bare Land Referenced Algorithm from Hyper-Temporal Data (BRAH) for Land Use and Land Cover Age Estimation

Determining the age of land use and land cover (LULC) using satellite imagery has long been one of the challenging tasks in remote sensing research. Accurately determining age, especially crop age, is essential for plot management, biomass calculations, and carbon sequestration. This research proposes a method for determining the age of LULC using hyper-temporal satellite data. The method is based on the assumption that “the starting point for the age count is when the latest bare land status disappears at any location”. To create a geospatial layer (referred to as the BR layer) that can be used to determine the age of any land cover at a specific location, we conditionally stacked such statuses obtained from the analysis of numerous satellite imagery data. The algorithm was tested at two study sites in Thailand, where rubber plantations dominated land use. The study revealed that all the rubber ages determined using BRAH fell accurately within the range of the local government survey data. The manuscript provides a straightforward explanation of the algorithm, including the pseudocode, accuracy assessment, implementations, robustness, and limitations.