Forest biomass from combined ecosystem and radar backscatter modeling

    Authors

    K. J. Ranson; G. Sun; J. F. Weishampel;R. G. Knox

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Remote Sens. Environ.

    Keywords

    BOREAL FORESTS; VEGETATION CANOPIES; SAR DATA; SOIL; SUCCESSION; INVERSION; Environmental Sciences; Remote Sensing; Imaging Science & Photographic; Technology

    Abstract

    Above-ground woody biomass ii nn important parameter for describing the function and productivity of forested ecosystems. Recent studies have demonstrated that synthetic aperture radar (SAR) can be used to estimate above-ground standing biomass. To date, these studies have relied on extensive ground-truth measurements to construct relationships between biomass and SAR backscatter. In this article toe discuss the use of models to help develop a relationship between biomass and radar backscatter and compare the predictions ruth measurements. A gap-type forest succession model was used to simulate growth and development of a northern hardwood-boreal transitional Sorest typical of central Maine, USA. Model results of species, and bole diameter at breast height (dbh) of individual trees in a 900 m(2) stand I were used to run discontinuous canopy backscatter models to determine radar backscatter coefficients for a wide range of simulated forest stands. Using model results, relationships of copolarized backscatter to forest biomass were developed and applied to an airborne SAR (AIRSAR) image over a forested area in Maine. A relationship derived totally from model results was found to underestimate biomass. Calibrating the modeled backscatter with limited AIRSAR backscatter measurements improved the biomass estimation when compared to field measurements. The approach of rising a combination of forest succession and remote sensing models to develop algorithms for inferring forest attributes produced comparable results with techniques using only measurements. Applying the model derived algorithm to SAR imagery produced reasonable results when mapped biomass was limited to 15 kg/m(2) or less. (C) Elsevier Science Inc., 1997.

    Journal Title

    Remote Sensing of Environment

    Volume

    59

    Issue/Number

    1

    Publication Date

    1-1-1997

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    118

    Last Page

    133

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:A1997VY61600009

    ISSN

    0034-4257

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