Estimation of a New Canopy Structure Parameter for Rice Using Smartphone Photography.

Rapid and accurate estimation of leaf area index (LAI) is of great significance for the precision agriculture because LAI is an important parameter to evaluate crop canopy structure and growth status. In this study, 20 vegetation indices were constructed by using cotton canopy spectra. Then, cotton LAI estimation models were constructed based on multiple machine learning (ML) methods extreme learning machine (ELM), random forest (RF), back propagation (BP), multivariable linear regression (MLR), support vector machine (SVM)], and the optimal modeling strategy (RF) was selected. Finally, the vegetation indices with a high correlation with LAI were fused to construct the VI-fusion RF model, to explore the potential of multi-vegetation index fusion in the estimation of cotton LAI. The RF model had the highest estimation accuracy among the LAI estimation models, and the estimation accuracy of models constructed by fusing multiple VIs was higher than that of models constructed based on single VIs. Among the multi-VI fusion models, the RF model constructed based on the fusion of seven vegetation indices (MNDSI, SRI, GRVI, REP, CIred-edge, MSR, and NVI) had the highest estimation accuracy, with coefficient of determination (R2), rootmean square error (RMSE), normalized rootmean square error (NRMSE), and mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.90, 0.50, 0.14, and 0.26, respectively. Appropriate fusion of vegetation indices can include more spectral features in modeling and significantly improve the cotton LAI estimation accuracy. This study will provide a technical reference for improving the cotton LAI estimation accuracy, and the proposed method has great potential for crop growth monitoring applications.

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 1988-2013年基于BP神经网络的植被叶面积指数遥感定量反演 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201703290547 作者: 作者单位: 南京林业大学,南京林业大学,南京林业大学,南京林业大学,南京林业大学,南京林业大学 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 国家重点研发计划资助项目（2017YFC0505505）；国家自然科学基金项目（31200534）；江苏高校优势学科建设工程资助项目；2014年江苏省普通高校学术学位研究生科研创新计划项目 Quantitative inversion of long sequential leaf area index using remote sensing based on BP neural network from 1988 to 2013 Author: Affiliation: Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Conservation and Ecological Restoration in Jiangsu Province,Collaborative Innovation Center of Sustainable Forestry in Southern China of Jiangsu Province,Nanjing Forestry University,Nanjing,Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Conservation and Ecological Restoration in Jiangsu Province,Collaborative Innovation Center of Sustainable Forestry in Southern China of Jiangsu Province,Nanjing Forestry University,Nanjing,Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Conservation and Ecological Restoration in Jiangsu Province,Collaborative Innovation Center of Sustainable Forestry in Southern China of Jiangsu Province,Nanjing Forestry University,Nanjing,Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Conservation and Ecological Restoration in Jiangsu Province,Collaborative Innovation Center of Sustainable Forestry in Southern China of Jiangsu Province,Nanjing Forestry University,Nanjing,Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Conservation and Ecological Restoration in Jiangsu Province,Collaborative Innovation Center of Sustainable Forestry in Southern China of Jiangsu Province,Nanjing Forestry University,Nanjing,Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Conservation and Ecological Restoration in Jiangsu Province,Collaborative Innovation Center of Sustainable Forestry in Southern China of Jiangsu Province,Nanjing Forestry University,Nanjing Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:叶面积指数（Leaf Area Index，LAI）高度综合了植被水平覆盖状况和垂直结构，以及枯枝落叶层厚薄和地下生物量多少，是植被影响土壤侵蚀的主要方面。区域尺度的时间序列叶面积指数揭示了区域土壤侵蚀的演化过程。因此，及时准确地掌握区域尺度上长时间序列的植被LAI，对研究土壤侵蚀动态变化与植被的关系至关重要。选择南京市1988-2013年10期遥感影像，基于反向传播（Back Propagation，BP）神经网络构建LAI反演模型，进行了长时间序列的叶面积指数反演。结合2009和2010年LAI实测值，验证与探讨了该模型的评价精度与适应性。结果表明：（1）该模型拟合度较高，2009和2010年平均相对误差、均方根误差、相关系数分别是0.2395和0.2174，0.2962和0.2581，0.7713和0.6844，各项精度评价指标均较好；（2）统计分析去除耕地后全市LAI变化，低植被覆盖（LAI<2）面积不断增加，高植被覆盖区（LAI>3）面积先减少后增加，耕地面积不断减少，符合南京市的发展变化规律；（3）主城区LAI年际变化与其他学者得到的南京市植被盖度变化趋势一致，反演结果的时序性较高。本文提出的基于反向传播神经网络模型反演长时间序列LAI是可行的，为区域尺度土壤侵蚀定量遥感监测提供新途径。 Abstract:Leaf Area Index(LAI) can reflect the horizontal coverage, vertical structure of vegetation, the thickness of the litter layer and the amount of underground biomass, which is the main aspect of vegetation affecting soil erosion. It is very important to monitor the changes in the amount of soil erosion, for useful information to guide the planning of soil and water conservation, protect the soil and water resources and control the soil erosion. Therefore, the method by which we obtain high quality and long sequential LAI at a regional scale is very important for analyzing the relationship between the dynamic changes in soil erosion and vegetation. Previous studies showed that the neural network had an incomparable superiority in terms of complex, nonlinear data fitting and pattern recognition, and had been successfully applied to inverse the LAI in Nanjing based on the multi-spectral remote sensing data derived from the Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager(OLI), four types of vegetation indices(Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, NDVI; Ratio Vegetation Index, RVI; Soil-adjusted Vegetation Index, SAVI; Modified Soil adjusted Vegetation Index, MSAVI), and measured LAI data. The results showed that the accuracy of retrieval was good. In this paper, we used the Back Propagation(BP) neural network model to inverse the LAI in Nanjing during 1988-2013 based on the data derived from Landsat 8 OLI and Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper(TM). Based on the measured values of LAI in 2009 and 2010, the evaluation accuracy and adaptability of the model were verified and discussed. The results showed that:(1) The model had a fitting of higher degree, and average relative errors(MAPE), root mean square errors(RMSE), and correlation coefficients(R) in 2009 and 2010 of 0.2395 and 0.2174, 0.2962 and 0.2581, and 0.7713 and 0.6844, respectively. Each accuracy evaluation index was good.(2) Following statistical analysis, we found that the low vegetation coverage area(LAI < 2) exhibited an increasing trend, the high vegetation coverage area(LAI > 3) presented a first decreasing and then increasing trend, while the cultivated land area decreased with the rapid development in Nanjing.(3) To analyze accurately the LAI, we extracted the LAI in the main urban area, and found that there was a relatively high inversion value, and the inter-annual change in LAI was consistent with the change in vegetation coverage in Nanjing reported by other studies. Therefore, we could see that the BP neural network model had a high accuracy for the time series LAI inversion. It provides a new way for quantitative remote sensing monitoring of regional soil erosion. Moreover, because of other potential limiting factors, such as the errors produced by the BP neural network model, the large area of the inversion area, the complexity of vegetation types and community structure, etc., the inversion accuracy of LAI through remote sensing still needs to be explored, and the inversion method improved. We will try to establish a multi-angle LAI inversion method to construct the coupling model of LAI and soil erosion or quantitative fusion of multi-source remote sensing images in the future study. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Improving estimation of maize leaf area index by combining of UAV-based multispectral and thermal infrared data: The potential of new texture index

Leaf Area Index (LAI) and biomass (BIO) are essential agronomic parameters that reflect the growth of potatoes and are related to their biomass. Their precise estimation is capable of monitoring crop growth, guiding field management, and optimizing planting spatial patterns. Traditional potato leaf area indexing and biomass estimation primarily rely on field sampling surveys. This method is low in efficiency, high in cost, and limited by the number of samples. It cannot accurately reflect potato growth and meet the real-time estimation needs of large areas. Compared to the use of satellite remote sensing data (RSD) for estimating LAI and biomass, research on estimating these two phenotypic parameters using crewless aerial vehicle (UAV) RSD is relatively immature. Research on estimating crop growth index parameters by remote sensing primarily focuses on data obtained from specific types of sensors, targeting specific growth stages to compare and analyze the accuracy of different methods. However, there are few estimates of the impact of optimizing the best data types and optimal growth stage for LAI and biomass estimation by comparing and analyzing different sensor data and different growth stages. Multi-sensor integration technology has made it possible to study different crop phenotype information and estimate the best data type and optimal growth stage in crop phenotypic data estimation, establishing it as a new hot spot in the field. This paper integrates high-definition digital cameras and imaging hyperspectrometers on the UAV platform to obtain digital images and hyperspectral data simultaneously, along with ground-measured potato leaf area index and biomass data. Using the partial least squares regression (PLSR), random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), and backpropagation (BP) neural network methods, we got digital images and hyperspectral data from different stages of growth, put together a digital image index and a vegetation index, and looked at how they related to LAI and BIO. Then, we chose the index that had the strongest correlation. To establish LAI and biomass estimation models at various growth phases, this paper compared and analyzed the estimation impacts of various data types and models at various growth phases. It then selected the best data types for LAI estimation and biomass estimation at different growth stages, as well as the best growth phases for LAI and biomass estimation. The outcomes indicated that when potato LAI was estimated, the mean values of R 2 and RMSE of the four estimation models were 0.75 and 0.30 Kg/mu at the tuber growth stage, respectively, and the estimation effect was the best, indicating that this was the best growth phase for LAI estimation. The average values of R 2 and RMSE in the LAI estimation model using the hyperspectral vegetation index were 0.73 and 0.33 Kg/mu, respectively, indicating that hyperspectral data was the best data type for LAI estimation. When potato biomass was estimated, the mean values of R 2 and RMSE of the four methods were 0.67 and 15.25 Kg/mu, respectively, at the tuber growth stage, which were better than other growth phases, demonstrating that this was the best growth phase for biomass estimation. The average values of R 2 and RMSE of the biomass estimation model using the hyperspectral vegetation index were 0.67 and 20.08 Kg/mu, respectively, indicating that the hyperspectral data was the best data type for biomass estimation. The average values of R 2 of the LAI and biomass estimation model at the maturity stage were only 0.56 and 0.36, both of which indicated poor estimation effects. Our study can serve as a guide to selecting the most effective method for estimating parameters for essential indexes in crop growth monitoring.

The availability of canopy height information in the Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2’s (ICESat-2’s) land and vegetation product, or ATL08, presents opportunities for developing full-coverage products over broad spatial scales. The primary goal of this study was to develop a 30-meter canopy height map over the southeastern US, for the Southeastern Plains ecoregion and the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plains ecoregion. More specifically, this work served to compare well-known modeling approaches for upscaling canopy information from ATL08 to develop a wall-to-wall product. Focusing on only strong beams from nighttime acquisitions, the h_canopy parameter was extracted from ATL08 data. Landsat-8 bands and derived vegetation indices (normalized difference vegetation index, enhanced vegetation index, and modified soil-adjusted vegetation index) along with National Land Cover Database’s canopy cover and digital elevation models were used to extrapolate ICESat-2 canopy height from tracks to the regional level. Two different modeling techniques, random forest (RF) and regression kriging (RK), were applied for estimating canopy height. The RF model estimated canopy height with a coefficient of determination (R2) value of 0.48, root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 4.58 m, mean absolute error (MAE) of 3.47 and bias of 0.23 for independent validation, and an R2 value of 0.38, RMSE of 6.39 m, MAE of 5.04 and bias of −1.39 when compared with airborne lidar-derived canopy heights. The RK model estimated canopy heights with an R2 value of 0.69, RMSE of 3.49 m, MAE of 2.61 and bias of 0.03 for independent validation, and an R value of 0.68, R2 value of 0.47, RMSE of 5.96m, MAE of 4.52 and bias of −1.81 when compared with airborne lidar-derived canopy heights. The results suggest feasibility for the implementation of the RK method over a larger spatial extent and potential for combining other remote sensing and satellite data for future monitoring of canopy height dynamics.

This study aims to address the challenge of monitoring Plant Height (PH), SPAD, Leaf Area Index (LAI), and Above-Ground Biomass (AGB) in Gerbera under greenhouse cultivation conditions. We initially gathered multi-spectral images and corresponding ground truth data of these parameters at various growth stages using a low-altitude UAV. From the collected images, we derived five Vegetation Indices (VIs): NDVI, GNDVI, LCI, NDRE, and OSAVI, and extracted their textural features as fusion features. An adaptive ensemble model, OBM-RFEcv, was then developed by integrating six base models (Linear Regression, Decision Tree Regressor, Random Forest Regressor, XGBoost Regressor, and Support Vector Regressor) with Recursive Feature Elimination (RFE) to predict the key growth indicators. The results indicate that the OBM-RFEcv model outperforms the other models when using the fusion of the five VIs, particularly in the test dataset, where it achieved the highest accuracy for PH (NDVI), SPAD (GNDVI), LAI (GNDVI), and AGB (NDRE) with R2 values of 0.92, 0.90, 0.89, and 0.93, respectively. The root mean square error (RMSE) values were 0.04, 0.07, 0.08, and 0.07, respectively, showing improvements over the best individual model by 0.01, 0.03, 0.01, and 0.09 in R2, and reductions in RMSE by 0.01, 0.07, 0.08, and 0.03, respectively. These findings confirm that the OBM-RFEcv model, based on multi-spectral image fusion, effectively monitors key growth indicators in Gerbera, providing a non-invasive and precise method for greenhouse crop monitoring.

Hyperspectral remote sensing for growth-stage-specific water use in wheat

Leaf inclination angle distribution is an important canopy structure characteristic which directly impacts the fraction of the intercepted solar radiation. Together with the leaf area index (LAI) it determines the structure and fractional cover of a homogeneous crop canopy. Unfortunately, this key canopy parameter has usually been ignored when applying common multispectral vegetation indices to the mapping of LAI, although its impact is known from model simulations. Therefore, we measured leaf angles and determined their distribution (quantified using the leaf mean tilt angle, MTA) for six crop species with different structures growing on 162 plots with a broad range of LAI (1.1–5.0) and leaf chlorophyll content (26–94 μg cm−2). Next, we calculated six vegetation indices widely used for LAI monitoring—the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), the enhanced vegetation index (EVI), the two band enhanced vegetation index (EVI2), the modified triangular vegetation index (MTVI2), the optimized soil adjusted vegetation index (OSAVI) and the wide dynamic range vegetation index (WDRVI)—from airborne imaging spectroscopy data. We calculated the Spearman’s correlation coefficient R s , a non-parametric statistic chosen because of the non-normal distribution of canopy parameters. All studied indices depended on the LAI ( 0.50 ≤ R s ≤ 0.71 ) , but the dependence on the MTA was of similar magnitude ( − 0.83 ≤ R s ≤ − 0.53 ) with EVI, EVI2, OSAVI and MTVI2 depending more strongly on MTA than on LAI. All studied indices were good proxies ( 0.78 ≤ R s ≤ 0.88 ) for vegetation fractional cover (Fcover) which, for homogeneous crop canopies, is a nonlinear function of LAI and MTA. EVI2 and MTVI2 were the most strongly correlated with Fcover, although the difference to the other studied indices was small. This first study involving a large range of crop structures confirms the results from canopy reflectance simulations and emphasizes the necessity of leaf angle information for the successful mapping of LAI with Earth observation data.

Leaf area index (LAI) is a key structural characteristic of vegetation and plays a significant role in global change research. Several methods and remotely sensed data have been evaluated for LAI estimation. This study aimed to evaluate the suitability of the look-up-table (LUT) approach for crop LAI retrieval from Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre (SPOT)-5 data and establish an LUT approach for LAI inversion based on scale information. The LAI inversion result was validated by in situ LAI measurements, indicating that the LUT generated based on the PROSAIL (PROSPECT+SAIL: properties spectra + scattering by arbitrarily inclined leaves) model was suitable for crop LAI estimation, with a root mean square error (RMSE) of ∼0.31m2 / m2 and determination coefficient (R2) of 0.65. The scale effect of crop LAI was analyzed based on Taylor expansion theory, indicating that when the SPOT data aggregated by 200 × 200 pixel, the relative error is significant with 13.7%. Finally, an LUT method integrated with scale information was proposed in this article, improving the inversion accuracy with RMSE of 0.20 m2 / m2 and R2 of 0.83.

Leaf area index (LAI) serves as a critical indicator for evaluating crop growth and guiding field management practices. While spectral information (vegetation indices and texture features) extracted from multispectral sensors mounted on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) holds promise for LAI estimation, the limitations of single-texture features necessitate further exploration. Therefore, this study conducted field experiments over two consecutive years (2021-2022) to collect winter oilseed rape LAI ground truth data and corresponding UAV multispectral imagery. Vegetation indices were constructed, and canopy texture features were extracted. Subsequently, a correlation matrix method was employed to establish novel randomized combinations of three-dimensional texture indices. By analyzing the correlations between these parameters and winter oilseed rape LAI, variables with significant correlations (p < 0.05) were selected as model inputs. These variables were then partitioned into distinct combinations and input into three machine learning models-Support Vector Machine (SVM), Backpropagation Neural Network (BPNN), and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost)-to estimate winter oilseed rape LAI. The results demonstrated that the majority of vegetation indices and texture features exhibited significant correlations with LAI (p < 0.05). All randomized texture index combinations also showed strong correlations with LAI (p < 0.05). Notably, the three-dimensional texture index NDTTI exhibited the highest correlation with LAI (R = 0.725), derived from the spatial combination of DIS5, VAR5, and VAR3. Integrating vegetation indices, texture features, and three-dimensional texture indices as inputs into the XGBoost model yielded the highest estimation accuracy. The validation set achieved a determination coefficient (R2) of 0.882, a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.204 cm2cm-2, and a mean relative error (MRE) of 6.498%. This study provides an effective methodology for UAV-based multispectral monitoring of winter oilseed rape LAI and offers scientific and technical support for precision agriculture management practices.

Improving estimation of LAI dynamic by fusion of morphological and vegetation indices based on UAV imagery

Current economic development in tropical regions (especially in India, China, and Brazil) is putting tremendous pressure on tropical forest cover. Some of the dominant and economically important species are planted at large scale in these countries. Teak and bamboo are two important species of tropical regions because of their commercial and conservation values. Accurate estimates of foliar chemistry can help in evaluating the health status of vegetation in these regions. An attempt has been made to derive canopy level estimation of chlorophyll and leaf area index (LAI) for these species utilizing Hyperion data. Partial least square (PLS) regression analysis was carried out to identify the correlation between measured parameters (chlorophyll and LAI) and Hyperion reflectance spectra. PLS regression identified 600–750 nm as a sensitive spectral region for chlorophyll and 1000–1507 nm for LAI. The PLS regression model tested in this study worked well for the estimation of chlorophyll (R 2 = 0.90, root mean square error (RMSE) = 0.182 for teak and R 2 = 0.84, RMSE = 0.113 for bamboo) and for the estimation of LAI (R 2 = 0.87, RMSE = 0.425). The lower predictive error obtained indicates the robustness of the data set and also of the applicability of the PLS regression analysis. Wavelengths recognized by the PLS regression model were utilized for the development of vegetation indices for estimating chlorophyll and LAI. Predictive performances of the developed simple ratios (SRs) were evaluated using the cross-validation method. SR 743/692 gave the best results for the prediction of chlorophyll with the leave-one-out cross-validation (LOO-CV) method (R 2 = 0.73, RMSE = 0.28 for teak and R 2 = 0.71, RMSE = 0.15 for bamboo). The normalized difference ratio (ND 1457/1084) gave the best results for the prediction of LAI with LOO-CV (R 2 = 0.66, RMSE = 0.57). Ratios developed here can be tested for teak and bamboo cover spread in tropical regions with similar environmental conditions.

Monitoring crop growth and estimating crop yield are essential for managing agricultural production, ensuring food security, and maintaining sustainable agricultural development. Combining the mechanistic framework of a crop growth model with remote sensing observations can provide a means of generating realistic and spatially detailed crop growth information that can facilitate accurate crop yield estimates at different scales. The main objective of this study was to develop a robust estimation methodology of within-field winter wheat yield at a high spatial resolution (20 m × 20 m) by combining a light use efficiency-based model and Sentinel-2 data. For this purpose, Sentinel-2 derived leaf area index (LAI) time series were assimilated into the Simple Algorithm for Yield Estimation (SAFY) model using an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF). The study was conducted on rainfed winter wheat fields in southern Sweden. LAI was estimated using vegetation indices (VIs) derived from Sentinel-2 data with semi-empirical models. The enhanced two-band vegetation index (EVI2) was found to be a useful VI for LAI estimation, with a coefficient of determination (R2) and a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.80 and 0.65 m2/m2, respectively. Our findings demonstrate that the assimilation of LAI derived from Sentinel-2 into the SAFY model using EnKF enhances the estimation of within-field spatial variability of winter wheat yield by 70% compared to the baseline simulation without the assimilation of remotely sensed data. Additionally, the assimilation of LAI improves the accuracy of winter wheat yield estimation by decreasing the RMSE by 53%. This study demonstrates an approach towards practical applications of freely accessible Sentinel-2 data and a crop growth model through data assimilation for fine-scale mapping of crop yield. Such information is critical for quantifying the yield gap at the field scale, and to aid the optimization of management practices to increase crop production.

Predicting crop yield at preharvest is pivotal for agricultural policy and strategic decision making. Despite global agricultural targets, labour-intensive surveys for yield estimation pose challenges. Using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based multispectral sensors, this study assessed crop phenology and biotic stress conditions using various spectral vegetation indices. The goal was to enhance the accuracy of predicting key agricultural parameters, such as leaf area index (LAI), soil and plant analyser development (SPAD) chlorophyll, and grain yield of maize. The study’s findings demonstrate that during the kharif season, the wide dynamic range vegetation index (WDRVI) showcased superior correlation coefficients (R), coefficients of determination (R2), and the lowest root mean square errors (RMSEs) of 0.92, 0.86, and 0.14, respectively. However, during the rabi season, the atmospherically resistant vegetation index (ARVI) achieved the highest R and R2 and the lowest RMSEs of 0.83, 0.79, and 0.15, respectively, indicating better accuracy in predicting LAI. Conversely, the normalised difference red-edge index (NDRE) during the kharif season and the modified chlorophyll absorption ratio index (MCARI) during the rabi season were identified as the predictors with the highest accuracy for SPAD chlorophyll prediction. Specifically, R values of 0.91 and 0.94, R2 values of 0.83 and 0.82, and RMSE values of 2.07 and 3.10 were obtained, respectively. The most effective indices for LAI prediction during the kharif season (WDRVI and NDRE) and for SPAD chlorophyll prediction during the rabi season (ARVI and MCARI) were further utilised to construct a yield model using stepwise regression analysis. Integrating the predicted LAI and SPAD chlorophyll values into the model resulted in higher accuracy compared to individual predictions. More exactly, the R2 values were 0.51 and 0.74, while the RMSE values were 9.25 and 6.72, during the kharif and rabi seasons, respectively. These findings underscore the utility of UAV-based multispectral imaging in predicting crop yields, thereby aiding in sustainable crop management practices and benefiting farmers and policymakers alike.

Globally, wind energy if properly harnessed, could serve as a source of energy generation in Africa. This study compared the performance of two Machine Learning (ML) algorithms (Linear regression and Random Forest) in predicting wind speed in five major cities in Africa (Yaoundé, Pretoria, Nairobi, Cairo and Abuja). Wind data were collected between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2022, using the Solar Radiation Data Archive. The data preprocessing was carried out with 80% of the data used for training and 20% for validation. The performance of these ML algorithms was evaluated using Mean Square Error (MSE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) and coefficient of determination (R2). The result shows that Nairobi (3.814795 m/s) closely followed by Cairo (3.606453 m/s) has the highest mean wind speed while Yaoundé (1.090512 m/s) has the lowest. Based on the performance metrics used, the two Machine Learning algorithms were competitive. Still, the Linear Regression (LR) algorithm outperformed the Random Forest Algorithm in predicting wind speed in all the selected major African cities. In Yaoundé (RMSE = 0.3892, MAE= 0.3001, MAPE =0.5030), Pretoria (RMSE=1.2339, MAE=0.9480, MAPE=0.7450) Nairobi (RMSE= 0.4223, MAE =0.6499, MAPE =0.1872), Nairobi (RMSE=0.6499, MAE=0.5171, MAPE =0.1872), Cairo (RMSE =1.0909, MAE =0.8544, MAPE =0.3541) and Abuja (RMSE = 0.70245, MAE =0.5441, MAPE= 0.4515) the Linear regression algorithms was found to outperformed Random Forest Regression. Therefore, the Linear regression algorithm is more reliable in predicting wind speed compared with the Random Forest regression.