Testing Different Methods of Forest Height and Aboveground Biomass Estimations From ICESat/GLAS Data in Eucalyptus Plantations in Brazil

The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) has provided a useful dataset for estimating forest heights in many areas of the globe. Most of the studies on GLAS waveforms have focused on natural forests and only a few were conducted over forest plantations. This work set out to estimate the stand-scale dominant height and aboveground biomass of intensively managed Eucalyptus plantations in Brazil using the most commonly used models developed for natural forests. These forest plantations are valuable case studies, with large and numerous stands that are very uniform, in which field measurements are precise compared to natural forests. The height of planted Eucalyptus forest stands estimated from waveforms acquired by GLAS were compared with in situ measurements in order to determine the model that produced the best forest height estimates. For our slightly sloping study site , the direct method defined as the difference between the signal begin and the ground peak provided forest height estimates with an accuracy of 2.2 m. The use of statistical models based on waveform metrics and digital elevation models provided slightly better results (1.89 m accuracy) in comparison with the direct method and the most relevant metrics proved to be the trailing edge extent and the waveform extent. Moreover, a power law model was used to fit in situ aboveground biomass to in situ forest height. The results using this model with GLAS-derived heights showed an accuracy for biomass of 16.1 Mg/ha.

[1]  Danny Lo Seen,et al.  Relating MODIS vegetation index time-series with structure, light absorption and stem production of fast-growing Eucalyptus plantations , 2010 .

[2]  G. Maire,et al.  Tree and stand light use efficiencies over a full rotation of single- and mixed-species Eucalyptus grandis and Acacia mangium plantations , 2013 .

[3]  W. Salas,et al.  Benchmark map of forest carbon stocks in tropical regions across three continents , 2011, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[4]  Christiane Schmullius,et al.  Influence of Surface Topography on ICESat/GLAS Forest Height Estimation and Waveform Shape , 2012, Remote. Sens..

[5]  W. Verhoef,et al.  Leaf area index estimation with MODIS reflectance time series and model inversion during full rotations of Eucalyptus plantations , 2011 .

[6]  Qi Chen.  Retrieving vegetation height of forests and woodlands over mountainous areas in the Pacific Coast region using satellite laser altimetry , 2010 .

[7]  R. Houghton,et al.  Characterizing 3D vegetation structure from space: Mission requirements , 2011 .

[8]  Michael A. Lefsky,et al.  Revised method for forest canopy height estimation from Geoscience Laser Altimeter System waveforms , 2007 .

[9]  H. Akaike,et al.  Information Theory and an Extension of the Maximum Likelihood Principle , 1973 .

[10]  S. Goetz,et al.  A meta-analysis of terrestrial aboveground biomass estimation using lidar remote sensing , 2013 .

[11]  D. Harding,et al.  ICESat waveform measurements of within‐footprint topographic relief and vegetation vertical structure , 2005 .

[12]  R. Nelson,et al.  Estimating Siberian timber volume using MODIS and ICESat/GLAS. , 2009 .

[13]  S. Goetz,et al.  Importance of biomass in the global carbon cycle , 2009 .

[14]  Wenze Yang,et al.  Physically based vertical vegetation structure retrieval from ICESat data: Validation using LVIS in White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire, USA , 2011 .

[15]  W. Cohen,et al.  Estimates of forest canopy height and aboveground biomass using ICESat , 2005 .

[16]  Yann Nouvellon,et al.  MODIS NDVI time-series allow the monitoring of Eucalyptus plantation biomass , 2011 .

[17]  P ? ? ? ? ? ? ? % ? ? ? ? , 1991 .

[18]  Norbert Pfeifer,et al.  ICESat Full-Waveform Altimetry Compared to Airborne Laser Scanning Altimetry Over The Netherlands , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[19]  M. Lefsky.  A global forest canopy height map from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer and the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System , 2010 .

[20]  Michael A. Lefsky,et al.  Validation of the ICEsat vegetation product using crown-area-weighted mean height derived using crown delineation with discrete return lidar data , 2008 .

[21]  D. Harding,et al.  ICESat validation of SRTM C‐band digital elevation models , 2004 .

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

[23]  K. Ranson,et al.  Forest vertical structure from GLAS : An evaluation using LVIS and SRTM data , 2008 .

[24]  J. Rosette.  SATELLITE LIDAR ESTIMATION OF STEMWOOD VOLUME; A METHOD USING WAVEFORM DECOMPOSITION , 2008 .

[25]  Junjie Zhang,et al.  An improved method for estimating forest canopy height using ICESat-GLAS full waveform data over sloping terrain: A case study in Changbai mountains, China , 2010, Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinformation.