Recommended Layers for Monitoring Scenarios

Overview

You are likely familiar with using truecolor imagery for remote monitoring -- this is the imagery you can purchase at high resolution from commercial vendors in your Lens account, for instance. Did you know that you also have access to robust datasets that can take your remote monitoring to the next level? These datasets are visualized as layers in the Lens Library and can be used in addition to truecolor imagery to provide a more well-rounded view of events or changes on your properties.

Monitoring Scenarios

Assessing Wildfire Impact

  • Vegetation: This layer can help you monitor wildlife impact on vegetation by showing photosynthetic activity levels. Areas with little to no vegetation will show as white or yellow, whereas areas with vigorous vegetation will show as green. This layer used in conjunction with the Analysis tool can provide useful information about the timing and severity of impact of a fire.
  • Burn Index (ESA Sentinel-2): This layer can provide insight into the timing and intensity of a fire. The brighter yellows and oranges correspond to more intense burns, whereas darker areas indicate healthy vegetation. When used with the Analysis tool, this layer can provide useful information about the timing and severity of a fire.
  • SWIR, NIR, Green: Use this layer to gain more insight into the timing of a wildfire. Recently burned land will show as dark red. Hot areas (like lava or an active burn) will appear "glowing" in orange / bright red.
  • Global Forest Loss: Use this layer to understand years in which a property experienced forest loss, which would be indicated by a decline in the Trees value. This could be further investigated using the Burn Index or SWIR, NIR, Green layers.
  • Landcover: This layer can help you assess how landcover has changed from a fire. For instance, you could assess how much forest was lost or if any developed areas were lost. This data is also useful for monitoring forest regrowth in the years after a fire.

Forest Monitoring

  • Vegetation: This layer can help you monitor changes in vegetation health. Areas with little to no vegetation will show as white or yellow, whereas areas with vigorous vegetation will show as green. Using this layer with the Analysis tool can show you typical seasonal patterns and point you towards any disturbances such as logging or fire.
  • NIR, Red, Green: Use this layer to distinguish between deciduous and coniferous vegetation. Deciduous vegetation will show as a lighter red color and coniferous vegetation will appear as a darker red.
  • Global Forest Loss: Use this layer to see areas that have transitioned from forest to non-forest during a given year -- they will be displayed in red.
  • Landcover: Similar to Global Forest Loss data, Landcover data can be used to assess changes in forest loss. This data is also useful for monitoring forest regrowth in the years after a fire or logging event.
  • Biodiversity Intactness: This layer covers the years 2017-2020 and is at a 100-meter resolution, so is most helpful for large properties and providing context on the property and surrounding areas. This layer can help identify areas of critical remaining intact habitat to support spatial planning and management.
  • Flowlines: This data is available in the Overlays section of the Lens Library and is helpful to ensure that forest stream buffers remain intact during logging and other forest activities.

Monitoring Floods

  • Surface Water: This layer is ideal for assessing water conditions in areas with significant cloud cover or storms, or for post-disaster assessments. Surface water is displayed on a spectrum from dry to water, with dry areas displayed as white and areas of water displayed as blue.
  • Surface Moisture: This layer is best used in areas with bare ground or minimal vegetation -- it identifies moist bare soil and very shallow water.
  • SWIR, NIR, Green: Water and wet soil stand out in this layer, making it valuable for monitoring floods. Saturated soil and sediment-laden water will appear blue.

Monitoring Bodies of Water

  • Chlorophyll: Use this layer to identify areas that may have algal blooms, potentially be affected by runoff, or other indicators of water quality. When using this layer with the Analysis tool, be sure to draw a polygon that specifically covers the body of water you are intending to analyze because this layer also measures chlorophyll levels on land.
  • Surface Water: This layer can be helpful in understanding changes in bodies of water, like the course of a river, edge of a shoreline or size of a lake or pond. For example, activity from beavers could result in visible changes in the Surface Water layer.
  • Landcover: Use Landcover data to assess how water levels have changed over time. When used with the Analysis tool, this layer can show trends over time and which years may have had high water levels and which years may have been drier with low water levels.
  • SWIR, NIR, Green: This layer is helpful in identifying sediment-laden water, which will appear blue. Sedimentation can impact water quality or signal risks about surrounding areas, making this a useful tool in identifying areas that may need further follow-up.

Snow

  • Blue, SWIR: This layer can help you differentiate between snow, ice, and cloud cover. This can be particularly helpful for properties with mountainous terrain. Clouds will be shown as white/dark peach, ice will be shown as bright red, and snow will be shown as red/orange.
  • Snow (Sentinel-2): This layer can help you understand where snow is present on a property. Lower values are shown in dark blue and higher values that denote snow presence are shown in white.

Planning Field Visits

  • Surface Moisture: Use this layer to assess when and where the ground is dry and well-suited for a field visit.
  • 3D Mode: While not a layer, going into 3D mode in Lens can also be very helpful for planning field visits since you can assess the topography and plan the best access points.

Potential Easement Violation

  • Vegetation (Sentinel-2): Use this layer with the Analysis tool to help narrow down when a change was made to a property, like a building or road being built. Since Sentinel-2 data is collected about every five days, you'll be able to quickly narrow down the window during which a change happened.

Endangered Species

  • MoBI Species Richness: Use this layer to better understand the number of species on your properties that are protected by the Endangered Species Act. This data is ideal for assisting in identifying areas that may be high priority for on-the-ground biodiversity conservation.