SpecSAR-Former: A Lightweight Transformer-based Network for Global LULC Mapping Using Integrated Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2

Recent approaches in remote sensing have increasingly focused on multimodal data, driven by the growing availability of diverse earth observation datasets. Integrating complementary information from different modalities has shown substantial potential in enhancing semantic understanding. However, existing global multimodal datasets often lack the inclusion of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, which excels at capturing texture and structural details. SAR, as a complementary perspective to other modalities, facilitates the utilization of spatial information for global land use and land cover (LULC). To address this gap, we introduce the Dynamic World+ dataset, expanding the current authoritative multispectral dataset, Dynamic World, with aligned SAR data. Additionally, to facilitate the combination of multispectral and SAR data, we propose a lightweight transformer architecture termed SpecSAR-Former. It incorporates two innovative modules, Dual Modal Enhancement Module (DMEM) and Mutual Modal Aggregation Module (MMAM), designed to exploit cross-information between the two modalities in a split-fusion manner. These modules enhance the model's ability to integrate spectral and spatial information, thereby improving the overall performance of global LULC semantic segmentation. Furthermore, we adopt an imbalanced parameter allocation strategy that assigns parameters to different modalities based on their importance and information density. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our network outperforms existing transformer and CNN-based models, achieving a mean Intersection over Union (mIoU) of 59.58%, an Overall Accuracy (OA) of 79.48%, and an F1 Score of 71.68% with only 26.70M parameters. The code will be available at https://github.com/Reagan1311/LULC_segmentation.

UFLUX v2.0: A Process-Informed Machine Learning Framework for Efficient and Explainable Modelling of Terrestrial Carbon Uptake

Gross Primary Productivity (GPP), the amount of carbon plants fixed by photosynthesis, is pivotal for understanding the global carbon cycle and ecosystem functioning. Process-based models built on the knowledge of ecological processes are susceptible to biases stemming from their assumptions and approximations. These limitations potentially result in considerable uncertainties in global GPP estimation, which may pose significant challenges to our Net Zero goals. This study presents UFLUX v2.0, a process-informed model that integrates state-of-art ecological knowledge and advanced machine learning techniques to reduce uncertainties in GPP estimation by learning the biases between process-based models and eddy covariance (EC) measurements. In our findings, UFLUX v2.0 demonstrated a substantial improvement in model accuracy, achieving an R^2 of 0.79 with a reduced RMSE of 1.60 g C m^-2 d^-1, compared to the process-based model's R^2 of 0.51 and RMSE of 3.09 g C m^-2 d^-1. Our global GPP distribution analysis indicates that while UFLUX v2.0 and the process-based model achieved similar global total GPP (137.47 Pg C and 132.23 Pg C, respectively), they exhibited large differences in spatial distribution, particularly in latitudinal gradients. These differences are very likely due to systematic biases in the process-based model and differing sensitivities to climate and environmental conditions. This study offers improved adaptability for GPP modelling across diverse ecosystems, and further enhances our understanding of global carbon cycles and its responses to environmental changes.