Philippine Journal of Science

2nd Draft: 14 pages

150 (S1): 361-374, Special Issue on Biodiversity Corrected: 17 Feb 2021
ISSN 0031 - 7683 04:12 PM
Date Received: 02 Sep 2020
26_MS_20-207B

Detection of Forest Cover Disturbances Using Synthetic

Aperture Radar (SAR) Time Series Data in the Mount Pulag
National Park: A Key Biodiversity Area in Luzon, Philippines

Bernard Peter O. Daipan*

Department of Forest Biological Sciences

College of Forestry, Benguet State University
La Trinidad, Benguet 2601 Philippines

Forest cover disturbances continue to occur at a very alarming rate, which greatly contributes
to the loss of biodiversity resources. Therefore, an approach to detect and measure historical
deforestation would be of utmost importance – particularly in the near real-time forest
monitoring and management, biodiversity conservation, and estimation of carbon emissions.
This study introduced a simple approach using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) time-series data,
primarily the C-band Sentinel-1A (S1A) VH-polarization with a 10-m resolution, in detecting
forest cover disturbances from 2016–2019 in Mount Pulag National Park (MPNP), a protected
area (PA) within the island of Luzon and a priority biodiversity conservation area. The process
involved using codes in Google Earth Engine (GEE) to produce a forest cover disturbance map;
a grid-based geospatial and statistical analysis using the geographic information system; and
data validation, and determination of possible causes of disturbances using Google Earth Pro
(GEP). The results derived from Sentinel-1 data were also compared to existing optical data,
which is a Landsat-based generated disturbance map. The output of this paper revealed that
a total of 577 forest disturbances, with an equivalent area of 154.58 ha, were detected from a
three-year period. For Landsat-generated data, 402 disturbances were detected with an area
of 176.07 ha. However, based on the accuracy assessment using positive predictive value (PPV),
the radar data produced higher accuracy (80%) compared to the optical data (73%). The visual
observation and interpretation of satellite imageries made it clear that the primary drivers of
forest cover disturbances in Mount Pulag are agricultural expansion (48%), forest clearings
(26%), landslides (12%), slash-and-burn or “kaingin” (12%), and forest fires (2%).

Keywords: forest disturbances, geospatial techniques, Google Earth Engine,

Mount Pulag National Park, Sentinel-1A, time-series analysis

INTRODUCTION gas emissions such as carbon (Whittle et al. 2012) and

In this study, the term forest cover disturbance was used to
denote all forest changes as a result of both deforestation
and forest degradation (Hirschmugl et al. 2020). Forest
cover disturbance is the major source of greenhouse
*Corresponding Author: bp.daipan@bsu.edu.ph
it is estimated that approximately 20% of the global
CO2 emissions emanated from these disturbances (van
der Werf 2009). According to the State of the World’s
Forests of 2020 (FAO and UNEP 2020), deforestation
and forest degradation continue to occur at alarming
rates, which threaten biodiversity resources. Agricultural

361
Philippine Journal of Science
Vol. 150 No. S1, Special Issue on Biodiversity
expansion remains to be one of the leading drivers of
this problem. Thus, a mechanism was developed by
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) for reducing emissions from
deforestation and forest degradation, plus the sustainable
forest management, and the enrichment of carbon stocks
(REDD+) by compensating developing countries to
protect forest resources (Mitchell et al. 2017). To qualify
for the compensation, the REDD+ strategy requires all
developing countries to establish a national measurement,
reporting, and verification (MRV) system to quantify
changes in forest cover (FCPC 2016).
Likewise, detecting and measuring forest cover
disturbances and developing early warning systems are
imperative (Kellndorfer 2019) to understanding the carbon
cycle, near real-time forest monitoring, biodiversity
conservation and protection, and sustainable forest
management because it provides reliable spatiotemporal
data and information of deforestation activities (Finer et
al. 2018). Therefore, an approach to detect and measure
historical deforestation and track forest cover disturbances
would be of utmost importance.
Different approaches have been proposed and implemented
to detect changes in forest cover and the most common is
through optical Landsat time-series data (Shimizu et al.
2019). Other optical data such as Moderate Resolution
Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) has also been used
to detect forest disturbances due to forest fires (Olpenda
2019); however, the use of optical remote sensing for
detecting forest cover disturbances can be challenging
in tropical regions because of the continuous cloud
cover (Kellndorfer 2019). Conversely, radar remote
sensing such as the SAR has the ability to penetrate
through clouds regardless of time and weather conditions
(Arellano et al. 2019). Moreover, the SAR signal can also
penetrate through the forest canopy and gather important
information like forest structure and density, which are
very useful in forest biomass estimation (Monzon et al.
2015). The L-band SAR data are more suitable for forest
change assessment because of its longer wavelength
compared to the C-band data (Bouvet et al. 2018),
but the availability of L-band data is very limited in
many countries (Shimizu et al. 2019). Nonetheless, the
launched of Copernicus S1A and 1B satellites in 2014
– developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) –
provides an opportunity in many tropical regions for free
and accessible C-Band SAR data that can systematically
monitor forest and detect disturbances for a cycle of 6–12
d globally (Hirschmugl et al. 2020).
In the Philippines, the use of SAR data for forest
disturbance detection and mapping is relatively new
compared to optical data, perhaps due to difficulties in
data processing and analyzing. Thus, this study introduced
362
Daipan: Detection of Forest Cover Disturbances
Using SAR in Mount Pulag
a simple approach using highly accessible open-source
software with SAR time-series data to detect forest cover
disturbances in one of the PAs in the Philippines that
needs immediate intervention in conserving its dwindling
forest cover due to unlawful activities. It further identified
the causes of deforestation through visual observation
and interpretation of historical satellite imageries using
GEP. Satellite images from GEP are imperative tools in
producing precise and detailed maps of various forest
types and are very useful in the identification, mapping,
and monitoring of these forest ecosystems (Garcia 2019).
According to the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP), the GEP helps to see and evaluate the natural
resource and environmental changes in a way that makes
them coherent and meaningful, therefore allowing
development planners and policymakers to decide on
taking constructive intervention on the causative factors.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Description of the Study Site
The MPNP is the highest peak in Luzon, with 2,922
masl, and is known as the third highest mountain in the
Philippines next to Mount Apo and Mount Dulang-dulang
(Misachi 2019). It is one of the PAs in the region that
encompasses portions of the provinces of Benguet and
Ifugao in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR),
and the Province of Nueva Vizcaya in Region 2 (Figure
1). The park has a total land area of 11,550 ha and it is
home to diverse endemic flora and fauna. Coniferous
forests are found in the lower elevations, mossy forests
can be found in the higher elevations, while the summit is
normally covered with grassland and dwarf bamboos. It
is also recognized as a key biodiversity area, biodiversity
conservation priority area, center of plant diversity, and a
priority important bird area (Fernando and Cereno 2010).
The study area was declared as a national park (NP) in
1987 through Presidential Proclamation number 75.
Data
The data used in the study are remotely-sensed imagery
collections of C-band SAR-S1A ground range detected
(GRD) scenes from GEE with an acquisition or instrument
mode of the interferometric wide swath (IWS) or
routine collections for land and processed to backscatter
coefficient, or sigma naught, expressed in decibels (dB).
The GRD scenes used for the time-series analysis in the
study site were cross-polarization transmitter-receiver
VH (vertical-horizontal) dual bands with a 10-meter
resolution. The VH polarization bands were selected
because of their applicability to change detection and
high sensitivity to volume scattering caused by branches
Philippine Journal of Science
Vol. 150 No. S1, Special Issue on Biodiversity
Figure 1. Location of the study area.
and leaves in a forest canopy (NASA 2020). Compared
to raw S1A data from the ESA website, the S1A image
collections from GEE were already pre-processed using
Sentinel-1 Toolbox for each scene (Arellano et al. 2019).
Furthermore, the data used were already terrain corrected
using a digital elevation model, radiometric calibrated,
and the thermal noise was already removed. The S1A
image collections used in this study have two time-series
datasets, the first image was acquired from 01 Jan 2016 to
31 Mar 2016 (first VH) and 01 Jan 2019 to 31 Mar 2019
(second VH) for the second image.
Data Processing
The processing of acquired data was carried out through
the JavaScript Code Editor in GEE. The GEE is an open-
source cloud computing platform with functionalities of
storing, displaying, processing, and extracting massive
map-based and remotely-sensed data sets for analysis
and decision-making (Kumar and Mutanga 2018). An
overview of the methodologies performed in this study
is presented in Figure 2.
In this study, the MPNP boundary served as the region
of interest (ROI) for downloading the scene collections
in the GEE platform. After ingesting the assets in the
GEE platform, the ROI was imported into the script and
displayed in the map layers (Figure 3). Prior to loading
and processing the SAR data collections in the GEE
platform, necessary filters were applied using the script
in the code editor. To filter the bounds, the ROI was used
or the shapefile of MPNP boundary; for the metadata,
Daipan: Detection of Forest Cover Disturbances
Using SAR in Mount Pulag
10 m x 10 m resolution was applied; the orbit properties
was descending; for the polarization, the VH band was
selected; finally, the filtered instrument mode is IWS. To
remove the speckle noise, a smoothing radius of 50 was
performed using a speckle filtering code. The filtered
VH bands for the multi-temporal datasets (2016 and
2019) were displayed in the GEE platform (Figure 3).
Calculation codes in the GEE script were performed in
determining the difference in vegetation from the filtered
datasets of the first VH (2016) to the second VH (2019).
A map layer was generated reflecting the difference in
vegetation from the two data sets (Figure 4), then the
uploaded ROI was used to subset the result. Further, the
mean, standard deviation, and histogram for the study site
were determined. Finally, to generate a vegetation or forest
cover disturbance mask, a threshold was applied based on
values greater than the standard deviation to identify areas
where vegetation loss occurred (Podest et al. 2020). All
data were exported and downloaded for further processing
and statistical analysis using geospatial techniques.
Geospatial and Statistical Analysis
The Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS)
is an open-source software for GIS applications and
operations. The version used in this study was QGIS 3.14
(pi); it is the latest version, released in Jun 2020, developed
by the Open Source Geospatial Foundation with the
purposes of creating, editing, visualizing, analyzing, and
publishing geospatial data and information on Windows
(Daipan 2020). QGIS can perform various geospatial
363
Philippine Journal of Science Daipan: Detection of Forest Cover Disturbances
Vol. 150 No. S1, Special Issue on Biodiversity Using SAR in Mount Pulag

applications such as watershed and hydrological analysis

(Kwast and Menke 2019), natural hazard assessment and
mapping (Sansare and Mhaske 2020), and monitoring of
forest change (Brovelli et al. 2020), among others.
To determine the area and the number of occurrences or
counts of forest cover disturbances, various algorithms
from the Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL)
in QGIS were used. The forest cover disturbance map
was clipped using the MPNP shapefile as a mask layer
then these were converted from raster to vector using
the polygonize algorithm in GDAL in order to edit and
perform statistical computations from the attribute tables
conveniently. Areas (ha) were calculated using the field
calculator tools from the attribute table of the generated
forest disturbance map for MPNP. Using the built-in
statistical tool in the software, the count and sum of
the total area – including the mean, standard deviation,
and minimum and maximum area of the forest cover
disturbances – were determined.
To provide a more systematic analysis and detailed
structure for clustering the generated map information, a
4 km x 4 km grid was created from vector creation tools
to determine relevant information such as the number of
forest disturbances per area (ha) per grid in the study site.

Accuracy Assessment and Validation

To assess the accuracy of the generated forest disturbance
map of the study site using the GEE platform, two different
approaches were performed. The first approach is through
Figure 2. Overview of the methodology. comparative analysis with a 30 m-spatial resolution global

Figure 3. The filtered SAR S1A VH bands of the ROI in GEE: a) 2016 and b) 2019 images.

364
Philippine Journal of Science
Vol. 150 No. S1, Special Issue on Biodiversity
Figure 4. a) Difference of SAR S1A VH 2016 and 2019, b) generated
forest cover disturbance mask (red polygons), and c)
histogram values for SAR S1A forest disturbance map
generated from GEE platform.
maps of 21st-century forest cover change data developed
by Hansen and colleagues (2013). The Hansen forest cover
loss, from 2000–2019, are the results from time-series
analysis of Landsat images characterizing forest extent
and change. The data can be downloaded and extracted
from the Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD)
website or at the earth engine partners’ app-spot website.
To compare the detected forest disturbance data from
SAR-S1A, the Hansen Landsat GLAD data with the same
time series (2016–2019) was extracted.
For the second approach, visual observation and
interpretation process were carried out using Earth
Observation, GEP, satellite imagery from 2016–2019,
and probabilities for forest disturbance were compared;
however, the historical images with cloud covers were
adjusted to earlier or later dates/years to visualize the
possible status of the forest cover either disturbed or
undisturbed. Broadly speaking, the first approach is a
method validation, while the second approach is a map
validation. For the coordinate reference system (CRS) – all
Daipan: Detection of Forest Cover Disturbances
Using SAR in Mount Pulag
maps produced from GEE, GIS, and GPE – were projected
to the World Geodetic System-84.
The precision rate was computed using the Bayes' theorem
of PPV equation (James 2003), as presented below:
where:
PPV – positive predictive value
TP – true positive
FP – false positive
The TP values in this study are the areas where detected
forest disturbances have an accurate prediction based on
the result of validation in GEP, while the FP values are
the detected disturbances but have negative or inaccurate
results in the GEP validation. The ideal value of the
precision rate is equal to 1 (100%), which means a perfect
and very accurate detection (James 2003).
RESULTS
Forest Cover Disturbance Detection from SAR-S1A data
The distribution values based on the histogram (Figure 4)
shows the changes in vegetation cover using the VH band.
The negative (–) values that range from –0.563 to–7.875
dB reflect the vegetation re-growth from 2016–2019,
while the positive (+) values (0.563 to 7.313 dB) reflect the
vegetation loss for the study site. Using a statistical code in
the GEE script, the computed mean and standard deviation
for the vegetation loss are 0.63 and 1.05, respectively.
The forest cover disturbance mask was created using a
threshold by multiplying the standard deviation (1.05) to
1.5, then the mean (0.63) was added. The threshold applied
is 2.205 and anything that is above the threshold is set to
1, which will represent the vegetation loss in the study
area, below the threshold is set to 0. From GEE, the map
was exported as a raster file (.tif) for further processing
to QGIS. After converting the raster file of detected
forest cover disturbances in the study area to a vector file,
statistical calculations were performed.
Based on the result, there are 577 polygon counts of
forest disturbances detected with a total of 154.58 ha
(1.33 % of the total land area of the study site) with
minimum and maximum values of 0.01 ha and 3.68 ha,
respectively (Table 1). Compared to forest disturbances
detected through the Hansen Landsat GLAD (2013) data
with 402 counts, the SAR S1A data forest disturbance
detection rate is higher; this is consistent with what has
been found in the study of Bouvet and colleagues (2018).
On the contrary, the minimum, maximum, and total area
365
Philippine Journal of Science Daipan: Detection of Forest Cover Disturbances
Vol. 150 No. S1, Special Issue on Biodiversity Using SAR in Mount Pulag

Table 1. Results of the comparative assessment of forest cover Grid-based Comparative Analysis of Sentinel-1A
disturbances in the study area. and Landsat
Data SAR S1A Hansen Landsat GLAD
The detected forest cover disturbances from VH
polarization SAR data (2016–2019) were compared with
Polygon count 577 402
Landsat GLAD forest loss generated by Hansen and
Area 154.58 ha 176.07 ha colleagues (2013). Using a 4 km x 4 km grid, a total of
Minimum area 0.01 ha 0.08 ha 13 grids were created, which covers the entire study area
Maximum area 3.68 ha 4.49 ha (Figure 5). The grid with the highest detected values for
Mean area 0.27 ha 0.45 ha
both data is Grid 4, which suggests that this part of the
NP is more prone to forest disturbances compared to other
Standard deviation 0.46 0.54
areas of the study site. A notable difference was observed
Detection count in Grid 6, wherein the forest cover disturbances detected
per area
by SAR-S1A is higher with around 36 counts, whereas the
< 0.2 ha 374 157 Hansen dataset has no recorded value (Figure 5). In terms
0.2–0.5 ha 110 133 of differences in area per grid, there was a slight difference
0.5–1 ha 54 65 observed for each grid except for Grids 2, 4, and 6.
> 1 ha 39 47 The two forest disturbance maps were also compared
Accuracy using four different area sizes (< 0.2, 0.2–0.5, 0.5–1, > 1
assessment ha) to assess even the small and patchy forest disturbances.
Disturbed area 123.73 ha 127.9 ha Many studies only consider areas larger or equal to 0.5 ha
(forest) and, thus, focus on deforestation only (Hirschmugl et al.
Undisturbed area 30.85 ha 48.17 ha 2020); in this study, however, the considered minimum
(forest/non-forest) value for forest disturbances is 0.01 ha. Based on the
Precision rate 80% 73% result presented in Table 1, there is a high detection rate
with polygon sizes less than 0.2 ha from SAR S1A data
compared to the Hansen Landsat GLAD data. This means
detected were comparatively lower than that of the Hansen
that SAR data can detect smaller patches of disturbances
dataset, partly because of the higher spatial resolution (10
compared to the Landsat data. A t-test was performed to
m) of the SAR data.

Figure 5. Grid-based (4 km x 4 km) forest cover disturbances from 2016–2019: a) polygon count and b) area in ha.

366
Philippine Journal of Science Daipan: Detection of Forest Cover Disturbances
Vol. 150 No. S1, Special Issue on Biodiversity Using SAR in Mount Pulag

determine if the detected disturbances of the two datasets

with more than 0.2 ha are statistically significant. Based
on the result, the p-value is equal to 0.7012, which is
higher than the significance level (0.05). This suggests
that disturbances above 0.2 ha detected by SAR S1A and
Hansen Landsat GLAD have no significant differences.

Validation Using Historical Satellite Imageries

The detected forest cover disturbances of the two datasets
were validated using the historical satellite imageries from
GEP to identify the disturbed and undisturbed forest areas
using each grid of the study site. Results showed that out
of the 154.58 ha forest disturbances detected through
SAR S1A data from 2016–2019 in MPNP, 134.73 ha were
disturbed forest areas while 19.85 ha were undisturbed
forest and non-forest areas. In contrast, out of the 176.07-
ha forest disturbances detected by Hansen Landsat GLAD
for the three-year period, a total of 127.9 ha disturbed areas
and 48.17 ha undisturbed areas were identified (Table
1). This implies that the former dataset performs better
because of its higher accuracy using the PPV equation with
a 0.80 precision rate compared to the forest disturbances
detected by the latter dataset with a 0.73 precision rate.
Figure 6. Validation of disturbed and undisturbed areas per grid in
Based on the forest disturbances in each grid, the most
satellite imageries.
critical area in the study site – with the highest detected
forest loss from 2016–2019 – is Grid 4 (Figure 6) with 28
ha from SAR S1A and 30 ha from Hansen Landsat GLAD data acquisition because of the continuous cloud cover in
data. This is followed by Grids 13 and 2 with the highest the tropical countries (Mitchell et al. 2017). Hence, SAR
disturbances. On the other hand, the grids with the least S1A data can produce promising results for detecting
forest cover disturbances are found in Grids 9, 10, and forest cover disturbances not only in MPNP but in other
11, which indicate that most of its forests are still intact, tropical regions as well (Bouvet et al. 2018).
but there is still a need for intensive protection activities
to avoid future disturbances. Based on the result of this study, the most vulnerable grid
to forest disturbances is Grid 4. The reason for this is that
Grid 4 has the highest concentration of built-up areas
within the NP with 34.11 ha (this data is based on the
DISCUSSION extracted built-up areas from NAMRIA Land Cover Map
of 2015), followed by Grid 2 with 26.16 ha. Also, Grid 4
has the longest road network based on the open street map
Forest Cover Disturbance Detection Using SAR S1A road network data, which makes it more susceptible to
Recently, there have been studies conducted like the study timber poaching/illegal logging and agricultural expansion
of Bouvet and colleagues (2018), and Hirschmugl and compared to other grids (Figure 7).
colleagues (2020), in detecting forest degradation and
mapping deforestation with the use of SAR time-series,
particularly the S1A data because of its strong sensitivity Comparison of SAR Sentinel-1 and Landsat Data in
to forest disturbances. Their findings suggest that the SAR Forest Disturbance Detection
time-series analysis approach is one of the most feasible Sentinel-1 satellite performs a synthetic aperture with
methods for the near real-time forest monitoring, mapping, radar imaging that allows it to acquire images regardless of
and detecting forest cover changes or disturbances in the weather conditions. In contrast, Landsat is an optical remote
tropical regions such as the Philippines, particularly in sensory device that provides images through a multichannel
the Cordillera Region, because of its capability to sense scanning radiometer, which is limited by a continuous cloud
and observe data in all-weather conditions. Also, SAR cover (EOS 2020). A study was conducted in Myanmar to
can detect changes in forest structure through backscatter investigate the use of Sentinel-1 and Landsat 8 time series
variations even with cloud covers, unlike the optical data data in detecting tropical forest disturbances through a
such as Landsat and Sentinel 2, which severely limits the machine learning algorithm in GEE. The results showed that

367
Philippine Journal of Science
Vol. 150 No. S1, Special Issue on Biodiversity
Figure 7. Built-up areas (extracted from the NAMRIA land cover map of 2015) and the road
network (based on the open street map road network data) within the MPNP.
combining the Sentinel-1 and Landsat 8 in forest disturbance
detection improved the overall accuracy (83.6%), compared
to disturbance detection using Sentinel-1 only with 75.5%
accuracy or Landsat 8 only with 78.3% accuracy (Shimizu
et al. 2019). A similar pattern of results was obtained in the
study of Hirschmugl and colleagues (2020), which revealed
that combining the SAR data Sentinel-1 and optical data
(Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8) for forest disturbance mapping
will increase the overall detection accuracy of around
3%. SAR Sentinel-1 and optical data like Landsat-8 offer
complementary information for near real-time forest
monitoring (Kellndorfer 2019).
Although in the study of Shimizu and colleagues (2019),
Sentinel-1 alone has lower detection accuracy than the
Landsat-8 data, this is contrary to the finding of Bouvet
and colleagues (2018), wherein the SAR data approach
was found to perform better than the Landsat-based data
from Hansen UMD-GLAD Forest Alert both in terms
of temporal and spatial forest disturbance detection. In
this study, SAR data has also recorded higher accuracy
compared to the Landsat-based data. The varying result
may be attributed to the different approaches and software
used in processing the data.
There is no one single approach that can be applied to
detect and monitor forest disturbances (Mitchell et al.
2017) due to the complexity of its causes. Nevertheless,
as proven by many previous studies, combining the SAR-
S1A data with Landsat-based data approach will give
more accurate and timely data in forest cover disturbance
monitoring, which are very helpful in sustainable forest
management, conservation, and protection of NPs in the
country, including the MRV systems for REDD+.
368
Daipan: Detection of Forest Cover Disturbances
Using SAR in Mount Pulag
Identification of Possible Causes of Forest Cover
Disturbances in GEP
Apart from the validation of the forest cover disturbances
detected by SAR S1A and Hansen Landsat GLAD in GEP,
this study also attempted to determine the probable causes
of forest disturbances in the study area using the same
software through optical observation and interpretation
of past satellite imageries. Parameters in evaluating the
forest disturbances in the study area caused by agricultural
expansion, forest clearings, landslides, slash-and-burn,
and forest fires through the GEP satellite imageries are
presented in Appendix I. The grid-based GEP image
of forest cover disturbances detected by SAR-S1A and
Hansen Landsat GLAD within the study area is presented in
Appendix II. From the results, it is clear that the expansion
of agricultural areas is the major cause of forest cover
disturbances in Mount Pulag (Figure 8). Unless there is a
transformational change in the management approach of
MPNP, forest degradation will continue at an alarming rate.
CONCLUSION
At present, MPNP faces a tremendous threat both from
agricultural expansion and illegal logging. It can be
considered as one of the most critical PAs in the Philippines
due to unprecedented deforestation and forest degradation
observed in the last three years. If left unprotected, its
biodiversity and other forest resources may be threatened
with extinction. In this paper, an attempt to detect the
forest cover disturbances in MPNP using SAR time-series
data – particularly Sentinel-1 – from 2016–2019 was
conducted. The study used three platforms: 1) the GEE
Philippine Journal of Science
Vol. 150 No. S1, Special Issue on Biodiversity
Figure 8. Causes of forest cover disturbances in MPNP from 2016–2019.
for data acquisition and processing; 2) the GIS for data
analysis and comparative assessment; and 3) the GEP for
data validation and determination of causal factors of the
disturbances. As revealed in this study, and as supported
by many literary works, the SAR data produced promising
results in detecting forest cover disturbances, especially
in the tropical regions because of its ability to penetrate
through clouds irrespective of weather conditions and
time of the day. The results of this study may be utilized
by concerned organizations and government agencies for
near real-time monitoring of Mount Pulag’s remaining
forest cover. The grid-based approach may help the forest
rangers/guards on where to focus their patrolling efforts
and protection activities. Furthermore, this may also serve
as baseline data in quantifying the changes of carbon
emission in the study area to qualify for the REDD+
mechanism of the UNFCCC.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Daipan: Detection of Forest Cover Disturbances
Using SAR in Mount Pulag
The author acknowledges the support of the DENR-CAR
for the data and information about the study area; the
faculty and staff of the College of Forestry–Benguet State
University; the ESA for the open-source SAR data; the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
for the free online Applied Remote Sensing Training; and
Ms. Sarah Jane Daipan and Mr. Paul Isaac Daipan for the
invaluable help in carrying out this research.
NOTE ON APPENDICES
The complete appendices section of the study is accessible
at http://philjournsci.dost.gov.ph.
STATEMENT ON CONFLICT OF
INTEREST
The author declares no conflicts of interest.
369
Philippine Journal of Science
Vol. 150 No. S1, Special Issue on Biodiversity
REFERENCES
ARELLANO CM, MARALIT AA, PARINGIT EC,
SARMIENTO CJ, FAELGA RA, TANDOC FA,
VIDAD C, LOPEZ R, PAMITTAN FJ. 2019. Multi-
temporal analysis of dense and sparse forests’ radar
backscatter using Sentinel-1A collection in Google
Earth Engine, Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens.
Spatial Inf Sci XLII-4/W19: 23–30.
BOUVET A, MERMOZ S, BALLÈRE M, KOLECK T,
LE TOAN T. 2018. Use of the SAR shadowing effect
for deforestation detection with Sentinel-1 time series.
Remote Sens 10(8): 1250.
BROVELLI MA, SUN Y, YORDANOV V. 2020. Monitor-
ing forest change in the Amazon using multi-temporal
remote sensing data and machine learning classification
on Google Earth Engine. ISPRS Int J Geo-Inf 9(10): 580.
DAIPAN BP. 2020. Geomorphometric characterization
and analysis of the Bued Watershed using advanced
spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer
(ASTER) global digital elevation model (GDEM) v3
through geospatial techniques. Philippine Journal of
Science 149 (3-a): 993–1003.
[EOS] Earth Observation System. 2020. About Sentinel-1
and Landsat-8. Retrieved on 23 Dec 2020 from https://
eos.com
[FAO] Food and Agriculture Organization, [UNEP]
United Nations Environment Program. 2020. The state
of the world’s forests 2020: forests, biodiversity and
people. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca8642en
[FCPC] Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. 2016. Carbon
fund methodological framework. Retrieved on 20 Jun
2020 from https://www.forestcarbonpartnership.org
FERNANDO ES, CERENO RP. 2010. Biodiversity
and natural resources management in the Mt. Pulag
National Park. In: Biodiversity and natural resources
conservation in protected areas of Korea and the Philip-
pines, Chapter 4. Lapitan PG, Fernando ES, Suh MH
et al. eds. ASEAN-Korea Environmental Cooperation
Unit, Seoul National University, Korea. p. 120–177.
FINER M, NOVOA S, WEISSE M, PETERSEN R,
MASCARO J, SOUTO T, STEARNS F, MARTINEZ
RG. 2018. Combating deforestation: From satellite to
intervention. Science 360(6395): 1303–1305.
GARCIA CL, GOLUBOV J, MANDUJANO MC,
LARA-DOMÍNGUEZ L, LÓPEZ-PORTILLO J. 2019.
Assessing google earth pro images for detailed conser-
vation diagnostics of mangrove communities. In: Inte-
grating biophysical components in coastal engineering
practices. Silva R, Martínez ML, Chávez V, Lithgow
D. eds. Journal of Coastal Research 92: 33–43.
370
Daipan: Detection of Forest Cover Disturbances
Using SAR in Mount Pulag
[GLAD] Global Land Analysis and Discovery. n/d. Re-
trieved on 30 May 2020 from https://glad.umd.edu
HANSEN MC, POTAPOV PV, MOORE R, HANCHER
M, TURUBANOVA SA, TYUKAVINA A, THAU D,
STEHMAN SV, GOETZ SJ, LOVELAND TR, KOM-
MAREDDY A, EGOROV A, CHINI L, C. JUSTICE
CO, TOWNSHEND JRG. 2013. High-resolution
global maps of 21st-century forest cover change. Sci-
ence 342(6160): 850–853.
HIRSCHMUGL M, DEUTSCHER J, SOBE C, BOUVET
A, MERMOZ S, SCHARDT M. 2020. Use of SAR
and optical time series for tropical forest disturbance
mapping. Remote Sens 12(4): 727.
JAMES J. 2003. Bayes' theorem. In: The Stanford Ency-
clopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2019 ed.). Zalta EN
ed. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.
KELLNDORFER J. 2019. Using SAR data for map-
ping deforestation and forest degradation. In: SAR
Handbook: comprehensive methodologies for forest
monitoring and biomass estimation. Flores A, Herndon
K, Thapa R, Cherrington E eds. NASA.
KUMAR L, MUTANGA O. 2018. Google Earth Engine
applications since inception: usage, trends, and poten-
tial. Remote Sens 10(10): 1509.
KWAST HVD, MENKE K. 2019. QGIS for hydrologi-
cal applications: recipes for catchment hydrology and
water management. Chugiak, AK: Locate Press.
MISACHI J. 2019. Tallest mountains In the Philippines.
World Atlas. Retrieved on 23 Dec 2020 from https://
www.worldatlas.com/articles/tallest-mountains-in-the-
philippines.html
MITCHELL AL, ROSENQVIST A, MORA B. 2017.
Current remote sensing approaches to monitoring for-
est degradation in support of countries measurement,
reporting and verification (MRV) systems for REDD+.
Carbon Balance and Management 12(1): 9.
MONZON AK, VERIDIANO RK, MENDOZA G, VIN-
LUAN R, AGONCILLO O, DE ALBAN JD. 2015.
Estimating forest biomass of northern Sierra Madre
Natural Park using SAR data. Proceedings of the 36th
Asian Conference on Remote Sensing, Quezon City,
Metro Manila, Philippines.
[NASA] National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
2020. EarthData: what is synthetic aperture radar?
Retrieved on 25 May 2020 from https://earthdata.nasa.
gov/learn/what-is-sar
Philippine Journal of Science Daipan: Detection of Forest Cover Disturbances
Vol. 150 No. S1, Special Issue on Biodiversity Using SAR in Mount Pulag

OLPENDA AS. 2019. Space technology for policy-

making and management of protected mountain range
in Southern Philippines. International Journal of Geo-
informatics 15(3): 45–53.
PODEST E, MCCULLUM A, PEREZ JLT, MCCART-
NEY S. 2020. Forest mapping and monitoring with
SAR data: time series analysis. NASA ARSET (Ap-
plied Remote Sensing Training). Retrieved on 25 May
2020 from https://arset.gsfc.nasa.gov/land/webinars/
forest-mapping-sar
SANSARE DA, MHASKE SY. 2020. Natural hazard
assessment and mapping using remote sensing and
QGIS tools for Mumbai city, India. Nat Hazards 100:
1117–1136.
SHIMIZU K, OTA T, MIZOUE N. 2019. Detecting forest
changes using dense Landsat 8 and Sentinel-1 time
series data in tropical seasonal forests. MDPI Remote
Sens 11(16): 1899.
[UNEP] United National Environmental Programme. n/d.
UNEP’s atlas of our changing environment. Retrieved
on 20 Jun 2020 from https://www.google.com/earth/
outreach/success-stories/unep-atlas-of-changing-
environment/
[UNFCCC] United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change. n/d. Reducing emissions from defor-
estation and forest degradation (REDD+). Retrieved
on 20 Jun 2020 from https://redd.unfccc.int/fact-sheets/
redd-mrv-and-results-based-payments.html
VAN DER WERF GR, MORTON DC, DEFRIES RS,
OLIVIER JGJ, KASIBHATLA PS, JACKSON RB,
COLLATZ GJ, RANDERSON JT. 2009. CO2 emis-
sions from forest loss. Nat Geosci 2009(2): 737–738.
WHITTLE M, QUEGAN S, URYU Y, STÜEWE M,
YULIANTO K. 2012. Detection of tropical defores-
tation using ALOS-PALSAR: a Sumatran case study.
Remote Sens Environ 2012(124): 83–98.

371
Philippine Journal of Science Daipan: Detection of Forest Cover Disturbances
Vol. 150 No. S1, Special Issue on Biodiversity Using SAR in Mount Pulag

APPENDICES

Appendix I. Parameters used in evaluating and interpreting the GEP satellite imageries of the potential causes of forest disturbances in the MPNP.
Before After Causes of disturbances

Agricultural expansion – the encroachment of

agricultural activities in the forest areas. As
observed from the satellite image, the expanded
agricultural areas have been tilled and have
terraces.

Forest clearing – the removal of a stand of trees

from the forest (most probably from timber
poaching or illegal logging), leaving it with a
non-forest state such as grassland areas but not
necessarily agricultural areas, as observed in the
image on the left.

Landslide – a mass wasting that may include

slope failures, rock falls, debris flows, and
mudflows turning the forest into an open and
degraded area. The image on the left is an
example of a landslide observed using the
satellite image with exposed soil area.

372
Philippine Journal of Science Daipan: Detection of Forest Cover Disturbances
Vol. 150 No. S1, Special Issue on Biodiversity Using SAR in Mount Pulag

Before After Causes of disturbances

Slash-and-burn – the cutting or slashing and
burning of a forest or wooded land to pave
the way for swidden agriculture. The satellite
image shows evidence of burnt areas with trees
removed. Compared to a forest fire, the burnt
trees were absent in the slash-and-burn areas.

Forest fires – disturbance of a forest caused by

uncontrolled fire (most often from anthropogenic
causes). These fires often reach the canopy layer
which turns a conglomeration of trees from green
to brown while the ground was turned black as
observed in the image on the left. Usually, forest
fires occurred in the pine forest areas and rarely
in the mossy forests of the study site.

373
Philippine Journal of Science Daipan: Detection of Forest Cover Disturbances
Vol. 150 No. S1, Special Issue on Biodiversity Using SAR in Mount Pulag

Appendix II. Grid-based GEP image of forest cover disturbances in the MPNP from 2016–2019.

374