Fusing Sentinel-2 Imagery and ALS Point Clouds for Defining LULC Changes on Reclaimed Areas by Afforestation

The study was performed on two former sulphur mines located in Southeast Poland: Jeziórko, where 216.5 ha of afforested area was reclaimed after borehole exploitation and Machów, where 871.7 ha of dump area was reclaimed after open cast strip mining. The areas were characterized by its terrain structure and vegetation cover resulting from the reclamation process. The types of reclamation applied in these areas were forestry in Jeziórko and agroforestry in the Machów post-sulphur mine. The study investigates the possibility of applying the most recent Sentinel-2 (ESA) satellite imageries for land cover mapping, with a primary focus on detecting and monitoring afforested areas. Airborne laser scanning point clouds were used to derive precise information about the spatial (3D) characteristics of vegetation: the height (95th percentile), std. dev. of relative height, and canopy cover. The results of the study show an increase in afforested areas in the former sulphur mines. For the entire analyzed area of Jeziórko, forested areas made up 82.0% in the year 2000 (Landsat 7, NASA), 88.8% in 2009 (aerial orthophoto), and 95.5% in 2016 (Sentinel-2, ESA). For Machów, the corresponding results were 46.1% in 2000, 57.3% in 2009, and 60.7% in 2016. A dynamic increase of afforested area was observed, especially in the Jeziórko test site, with the presence of different stages of vegetation growth.