Course Details

Time Series Analysis of Remote Sensing Data Training Course

Introduction

The Earth's surface is a dynamic system, constantly undergoing changes driven by natural processes and human activities. From seasonal vegetation cycles and long-term climate shifts to rapid deforestation and urban expansion, understanding these temporal dynamics is crucial for effective environmental management, resource monitoring, and climate change research. While single-snapshot remote sensing images provide valuable information at a specific point in time, it is the analysis of Time Series Remote Sensing Data that truly reveals patterns, trends, and anomalies in a dynamic world. Time series analysis involves acquiring, processing, and interpreting sequences of satellite or airborne images collected over regular intervals (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly, annually) spanning years or even decades. This approach enables the detection of subtle changes, quantification of rates of change, identification of cyclical patterns (phenology), and forecasting of future conditions, making it an indispensable tool for understanding Earth system processes and human-environment interactions. Without the specialized skills to handle and analyze these vast, multi-temporal datasets, professionals often struggle to unlock the full potential of remote sensing for monitoring dynamic phenomena, leading to incomplete insights and reactive management strategies. Many geospatial professionals are comfortable with static image analysis but find the complexities of managing and analyzing long temporal stacks of data challenging.

Conversely, mastering Time Series Analysis of Remote Sensing Data empowers professionals to track long-term environmental trends, identify drivers of change, detect disturbances in near real-time, and build robust models for prediction and early warning. This specialized skill set is crucial for transforming vast archives of satellite imagery into powerful, actionable insights that drive sustainable development, climate resilience, and informed decision-making. Our intensive 5-day "Time Series Analysis of Remote Sensing Data" training course is meticulously designed to equip GIS professionals, remote sensing analysts, environmental scientists, climate researchers, agriculturalists, foresters, urban planners, and data scientists with the essential theoretical knowledge and practical, hands-on skills required to confidently process, analyze, and interpret multi-temporal remote sensing data using various techniques and platforms, including cloud-based solutions like Google Earth Engine.

Duration

5 Days

Target Audience

The "Time Series Analysis of Remote Sensing Data" training course is ideal for a wide range of professionals and researchers who need to understand and quantify environmental and land surface changes over time using geospatial data. This includes:

• Remote Sensing Analysts: Seeking to specialize in advanced time-series methodologies.
• GIS Professionals: Working with multi-temporal datasets and dynamic mapping.
• Environmental Scientists and Ecologists: For monitoring deforestation, land degradation, ecosystem health, and biodiversity changes.
• Climate Change Researchers: Analyzing long-term trends in climate indicators, vegetation phenology, and ice cover.
• Agriculturalists and Agronomists: For crop growth monitoring, yield forecasting, and drought assessment.
• Foresters and Natural Resource Managers: For forest disturbance detection, growth monitoring, and biomass change.
• Urban Planners and Researchers: Tracking urban expansion, land conversion, and heat island dynamics.
• Hydrologists and Water Resource Managers: For monitoring water body dynamics, flood extent, and soil moisture.
• Data Scientists: Interested in applying advanced analytical techniques to spatiotemporal data.
• Researchers and Academics: In Earth sciences, environmental studies, and geography.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of the "Time Series Analysis of Remote Sensing Data" training course, participants will be able to:

• Understand the fundamental concepts, benefits, and challenges of time series analysis in remote sensing.
• Identify and access appropriate multi-temporal remote sensing datasets for various applications (e.g., Landsat, Sentinel, MODIS).
• Perform essential pre-processing steps for time series data, including radiometric normalization and cloud removal.
• Apply various time series decomposition and feature extraction techniques (e.g., Fourier analysis, trend analysis).
• Utilize advanced change detection algorithms for identifying and quantifying land surface changes over time.
• Implement vegetation phenology extraction and analysis using remote sensing indices.
• Leverage cloud-based platforms (e.g., Google Earth Engine) for efficient large-scale time series analysis.
• Formulate a comprehensive workflow for conducting a time series analysis project from data acquisition to result visualization and reporting.

 Course Modules

Module 1: Introduction to Time Series Remote Sensing

• Concepts of time series analysis: Drivers of change, temporal patterns, trends, seasonality.
• Why time series analysis is critical in remote sensing: Beyond single-date analysis.
• Overview of key satellite missions providing long-term, consistent data (e.g., Landsat archive, Sentinel constellation, MODIS).
• Understanding temporal resolution and its importance for different applications.
• Challenges in time series analysis: Data volume, atmospheric variability, sensor differences.

Module 2: Data Acquisition and Pre-processing for Time Series

• Accessing and filtering large image collections from various data providers (e.g., USGS Earth Explorer, Copernicus Open Access Hub, Google Earth Engine).
• Radiometric Normalization: Techniques to ensure radiometric consistency across time (e.g., pseudo-invariant features, darkest pixel).
• Atmospheric correction strategies for time series.
• Cloud and Cloud Shadow Masking: Advanced algorithms for automated removal of unwanted observations.
• Image compositing and gap filling for creating clean time series stacks.

Module 3: Visualizing and Exploring Time Series Data

• Displaying multi-temporal imagery: Image stacks, animations, time-lapse videos.
• Creating temporal profiles (spectral and index values over time) for specific locations.
• Interactive charting of time series data: Identifying seasonal patterns, outliers, and trends.
• Understanding data quality flags and their importance in time series.
• Introduction to time series visualization tools in GIS and cloud platforms.

Module 4: Vegetation Phenology and Indices Time Series

• Understanding vegetation phenology: Start of season, peak, end of season, length of season.
• Using vegetation indices (NDVI, EVI, NDWI) time series to characterize phenological cycles.
• Extracting phenological metrics (e.g., green-up date, senescence date) from time series data.
• Applications: Crop calendar mapping, drought monitoring, climate change impact assessment on ecosystems.
• Hands-on exercise: Analyzing vegetation phenology using a long-term vegetation index time series.

Module 5: Change Detection using Time Series Analysis

• Beyond two-date change detection: Advantages of time series for robust change analysis.
• Continuous Change Detection and Classification (CCDC) conceptual overview.
• Breathing Earth (BFAST) for detecting trends and breakpoints.
• LandTrendr for segmenting time series into temporal trajectories.
• Identifying subtle changes, disturbances, and recovery processes.

Module 6: Statistical Analysis of Time Series Data

• Trend analysis: Linear regression, Mann-Kendall test for monotonic trends.
• Seasonality analysis: Fourier transform for capturing cyclical patterns.
• Decomposition of time series: Separating trend, seasonality, and residual components.
• Anomaly detection: Identifying unusual events or deviations from normal patterns.
• Statistical significance testing for detected changes and trends.

Module 7: Cloud-Based Platforms for Time Series Analysis (Google Earth Engine)

• Leveraging Google Earth Engine (GEE) for large-scale time series analysis.
• Efficiently filtering and reducing massive ImageCollections in GEE.
• Implementing time series algorithms and custom functions in GEE's JavaScript API.
• Visualizing and charting time series directly within the GEE Code Editor.
• Exporting time series analysis results for further use and reporting.

Module 8: Advanced Topics, Applications, and Future Trends

• Introduction to machine learning for time series classification and forecasting (e.g., Random Forest for change detection).
• Integrating multi-sensor time series data (e.g., combining Landsat and Sentinel).
• Applications: Forest disturbance monitoring, urban sprawl dynamics, water resource changes, glacier melt.
• Data cube concepts and their role in time series analysis.
• Future of time series remote sensing: Higher temporal resolution, AI integration, operational monitoring systems.

CERTIFICATION

• Upon successful completion of this training, participants will be issued with Macskills Training and Development Institute Certificate

TRAINING VENUE

• Training will be held at Macskills Training Centre. We also tailor make the training upon request at different locations across the world.

AIRPORT PICK UP AND ACCOMMODATION

• Airport pick up and accommodation is arranged upon request

TERMS OF PAYMENT

Payment should be made to Macskills Development Institute bank account before the start of the training and receipts sent to info@macskillsdevelopment.com