Calibration and Validation of Landsat Tree Cover in the Taiga-Tundra Ecotone

نویسندگان

  • Paul Mannix Montesano
  • Christopher S. R. Neigh
  • Joseph O. Sexton
  • Min Feng
  • Saurabh Channan
  • K. Jon Ranson
  • John R. Townshend
چکیده

Monitoring current forest characteristics in the taiga ́tundra ecotone (TTE) at multiple scales is critical for understanding its vulnerability to structural changes. A 30 m spatial resolution Landsat-based tree canopy cover map has been calibrated and validated in the TTE with reference tree cover data from airborne LiDAR and high resolution spaceborne images across the full range of boreal forest tree cover. This domain-specific calibration model used estimates of forest height to determine reference forest cover that best matched Landsat estimates. The model removed the systematic under-estimation of tree canopy cover >80% and indicated that Landsat estimates of tree canopy cover more closely matched canopies at least 2 m in height rather than 5 m. The validation improved estimates of uncertainty in tree canopy cover in discontinuous TTE forests for three temporal epochs (2000, 2005, and 2010) by reducing systematic errors, leading to increases in tree canopy cover uncertainty. Average pixel-level uncertainties in tree canopy cover were 29.0%, 27.1% and 31.1% for the 2000, 2005 and 2010 epochs, respectively. Maps from these calibrated data improve the uncertainty associated with Landsat tree canopy cover estimates in the discontinuous forests of the circumpolar TTE.

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

Assessing tundra–taiga boundary with multi-sensor satellite data

Monitoring the dynamics of the circumpolar boreal forest (taiga) and Arctic tundra boundary is important for understanding the causes and consequences of changes observed in these areas. This ecotone, the world’s largest, stretches for over 13,400 km and marks the transition between the northern limits of forests and the southern margin of the tundra. Because of the inaccessibility and large ex...

متن کامل

Spaceborne potential for examining taiga-tundra ecotone form and vulnerability

In the taiga-tundra ecotone (TTE), site-dependent forest structure characteristics can influence the subtle and heterogeneous structural changes that occur across the broad circumpolar extent. Such changes may be related to ecotone form, described by the horizontal and vertical patterns of forest structure (e.g., tree cover, density and height) within TTE 10 forest patches, driven by local site...

متن کامل

Late Quaternary variations in tree cover at the northern foresttundra ecotone

[1] Accurate land cover reconstructions are essential to understanding the past and present biogeochemical and biogeophysical interactions between the land surface and atmosphere and the impacts of these interactions on climate. Here we quantitatively reconstruct late Quaternary shifts in woody cover across the Northern Hemisphere forest‐tundra ecotone, based on a synthesis of Northern Hemisphe...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

عنوان ژورنال:
  • Remote Sensing

دوره 8  شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2016