Polarimetric scattering model for estimation of above ground biomass of multilayer vegetation using ALOS-PALSAR quad-pol data

Abstract Forests are important biomes covering a major part of the vegetation on the Earth, and as such account for seventy percent of the carbon present in living beings. The value of a forest’s above ground biomass (AGB) is considered as an important parameter for the estimation of global carbon content. In the present study, the quad-pol ALOS-PALSAR data was used for the estimation of AGB for the Dudhwa National Park, India. For this purpose, polarimetric decomposition components and an Extended Water Cloud Model (EWCM) were used. The PolSAR data orientation angle shifts were compensated for before the polarimetric decomposition. The scattering components obtained from the polarimetric decomposition were used in the Water Cloud Model (WCM). The WCM was extended for higher order interactions like double bounce scattering. The parameters of the EWCM were retrieved using the field measurements and the decomposition components. Finally, the relationship between the estimated AGB and measured AGB was assessed. The coefficient of determination (R2) and root mean square error (RMSE) were 0.4341 and 119 t/ha respectively.

[1]  T. Dawson,et al.  Synthesis of remote sensing approaches for forest carbon estimation: reporting to the Kyoto Protocol , 2005 .

[2]  R. Nelson,et al.  Regional aboveground forest biomass using airborne and spaceborne LiDAR in Québec. , 2008 .

[3]  T. Le Toan,et al.  Tropical forest parameters retrieved from airborne multifrequency radar images , 1998, IGARSS '98. Sensing and Managing the Environment. 1998 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing. Symposium Proceedings. (Cat. No.98CH36174).

[4]  S. G. Champion,et al.  A revised survey of the forest types of India. , 1968 .

[5]  Christiane Schmullius,et al.  Seasonal dynamics and stem volume retrieval in boreal forests using JERS-1 backscatter , 2003, SPIE Remote Sensing.

[6]  Jong-Sen Lee,et al.  Review of existing monographs and books on radar polarimetry and polariemtric SAR with the aim of justifying the need of updates , 2007, 2007 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium.

[7]  Haipeng Wang,et al.  A Simple Moment Method of Forest Biomass Estimation From Non-Gaussian Texture Information by High-Resolution Polarimetric SAR , 2010, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters.

[8]  D. Burslem,et al.  Estimating aboveground biomass in forest and oil palm plantation in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo using ALOS PALSAR data , 2011 .

[9]  I. Woodhouse,et al.  Using satellite radar backscatter to predict above‐ground woody biomass: A consistent relationship across four different African landscapes , 2009 .

[10]  Thuy Le Toan,et al.  Relating forest biomass to SAR data , 1992, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[11]  Jong-Sen Lee,et al.  Measurement of topography using polarimetric SAR images , 1996, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[12]  Thomas L. Ainsworth,et al.  The Effect of Orientation Angle Compensation on Coherency Matrix and Polarimetric Target Decompositions , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[13]  Lei Li,et al.  Biomass related parameter retrieving from quad-pol images based on Freeman-Durden decomposition , 2011, 2011 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium.

[14]  Shashi Kumar,et al.  Aboveground biomass estimation of tropical forest from Envisat advanced synthetic aperture radar data using modeling approach , 2012 .

[15]  Wolfgang-Martin Boerner,et al.  POLSAR data compensation for terrain azimuth slope variation , 1999, IEEE 1999 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium. IGARSS'99 (Cat. No.99CH36293).

[16]  R. Dubayah,et al.  Estimation of tropical forest structural characteristics using large-footprint lidar , 2002 .

[17]  Urs Wegmüller,et al.  Retrieval of growing stock volume in boreal forest using hyper-temporal series of Envisat ASAR ScanSAR backscatter measurements , 2011 .

[18]  Yoshio Yamaguchi,et al.  General Four-Component Scattering Power Decomposition With Unitary Transformation of Coherency Matrix , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[19]  Maurizio Santoro,et al.  Mapping forest aboveground biomass in the Northeastern United States with ALOS PALSAR dual-polarization L-band , 2012 .

[20]  Stephen L. Durden,et al.  A three-component scattering model for polarimetric SAR data , 1998, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[21]  Thomas L. Ainsworth,et al.  The effect of orientation angle compensation on polarimetric target decompositions , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium.

[22]  Armando Marino,et al.  See the forests with different eyes , 2011, 2011 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium.

[23]  F. Ulaby,et al.  Michigan Microwave Canopy Scattering Models (MIMICS) , 1988, International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 'Remote Sensing: Moving Toward the 21st Century'..

[24]  Hiroyoshi Yamada,et al.  A four-component decomposition of POLSAR images based on the coherency matrix , 2006, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters.

[25]  Vinay Kumar Dadhwal,et al.  Growing stock-based forest biomass estimate for India , 2002 .

[26]  F. Ulaby,et al.  Vegetation modeled as a water cloud , 1978 .

[27]  Sandra A. Brown,et al.  Monitoring and estimating tropical forest carbon stocks: making REDD a reality , 2007 .

[28]  J. Buiteveld.  First National Report on Forest Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture,The Netherlands : country report for the FAO first state of the world's forest genetic resources for food and agriculture, Ministry of Economic Affairs, The Hague, November 2012 , 2012 .

[29]  Hiroyoshi Yamada,et al.  Four-component scattering model for polarimetric SAR image decomposition , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[30]  Manabu Watanabe,et al.  Forest Structure Dependency of the Relation Between L-Band$sigma^0$and Biophysical Parameters , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[31]  John Richards,et al.  L-Band Radar Backscatter Modeling of Forest Stands , 1987, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[32]  C. Schmullius,et al.  Assessment of stand‐wise stem volume retrieval in boreal forest from JERS‐1 L‐band SAR backscatter , 2006 .