Forest biomass stock and spatial distribution are still unknown parameters for many regions of the world. Today’s information is largely based on ground measurements on a plot basis without remote regions coverage. Thus, a method capable of quantifying biomass by means of Remote Sensing could help to reduce these uncertainties and contribute to a better understanding of the carbon cycle (Hought...

Regression models for above-ground and below-ground biomass were estimated for 143 sample plots in young and mature coniferous forest. Various canopy height and canopy density metrics derived from the canopy height distributions of first as well as last pulse laser scanner data with a sampling density of approximately 1.1 m were used as independent variables in the regressions. Each of the sele...

Leaf area index (LAI) is one of the most important parameter of forest structure. The study site was an isolated forest in Kyoto City in Japan and it vegetation type was mixed forest. We took fisheye photos at 102 points in the study area, and calculated the LAI and Canopy-open. We classified the laser data into 4 classes, that is, First pulse, Last pulse, Only pulse and Ground pulse. We counte...

Abstract: In this paper, a modified two-layer scattering model is applied to a three-stage algorithm for high-precision retrieval of forest parameters from Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (Pol-InSAR) data. Traditional Random-Volume-over-Ground (RVoG) model considers forest target as a two-layer combination of flat ground and volumetric canopy. However, when it comes to slop...

Lim, K. S. and Treitz, P. M. (Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts and Science, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 3N6). Estimation of above ground forest biomass from airborne discrete return laser scanner data using canopy-based quantile estimators. Received Nov. 11, 2003. Accepted Aug. 10, 2004. Scand. J. For. Res. 19: 558 /570, 2004. A conceptual model describing why las...

It has long been assumed that forests represented vast expanses of homogeneous green tissue, but this assumption is oversimplified. When walking through a forest, we usually focus our observations on a narrow band of green foliage, from ground level to about 2 m in height. This represents at most 10% of the foliage in mature forests, with the rest often high above our heads and consequently bey...

Tropical forests contribute to approximately 40% of the total carbon found in terrestrial biomass. In this context, forest/non-forest classification and estimation of forest above ground biomass over tropical regions are very important and relevant in understanding the contribution of tropical forests in global biogeochemical cycles, especially in terms of carbon pools and fluxes. Information o...

As a large carbon pool, global forest ecosystems are a critical component of the global carbon cycle. Accurate estimations of global forest aboveground biomass (AGB) can improve the understanding of global carbon dynamics and help to quantify anthropogenic carbon emissions. Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) techniques have been proven that can accurately capture both horizontal and vertical f...

A set of ERS-1 SAR images along with airborne nonimaging ranging scatterometer (HUTSCAT) measurements and in situ surveys has been obtained from the Sodankylä test site (center latitude = 67.41 N, center longitude = 26.58 E) in Northern Finland. A total of five measurement campaigns were organized during 1991–1993. Nineteen test lines have been selected from the test site to represent different...