Estimating splash pine biomass using radar backscatter

Estimating forest biomass using small footprint LiDAR data: An individual tree-based approach that incorporates training data

“…Advantages of estimating biomass using remote sensing include the ability to obtain measurements from every location in the forest, the speed with which remotely sensed data can be collected and processed, the relatively low cost of many remote sensing data types, and the ability to collect data easily in areas that are difficult to access on the ground. Data types used successfully for estimating biomass include medium-and high-resolution passive optical (Meeuwig et al, 1979;Alemdag, 1986;Franklin, 1986;Shugart et al, 2000;Steininger, 2000;Lefsky et al, 2001), radar (Wu, 1987;Hussin et al, 1991;Le Toan et al, 1992), and LiDAR (Nelson et al, 1988(Nelson et al, , 2004Naesset, 1997;Hyyppä and Inkinen, 1999;Lefsky et al, 1999aLefsky et al, ,b, 2001Lefsky et al, , 2002aMeans et al, 1999;Drake et al, 2002Drake et al, , 2003Lim et al, 2003;Popescu et al, 2003Popescu et al, , 2004Lim and Treitz, 2004).…”

Research Pathways of Forest Above-Ground Biomass Estimation Based on SAR Backscatter and Interferometric SAR Observations

“…So far, only few studies have attempted to verify the hypotheses that are formulated above with actual SAR data and even fewer have developed retrieval algorithms that seek to optimize the retrieval of total above-ground biomass through a combined use of multi-frequency and multi-polarization SAR data for estimating the biomass in different compartments of trees [46,47,49,55,[72][73][74][75][76]. All studies were conducted at temperate and boreal forest sites across North America, almost exclusively with data acquired by AIRSAR and SIR-C/X-SAR during the 1990s.…”

“…Under the assumption that L-HV backscatter is more closely related to basal area and height, AGB was estimated by first estimating these two attributes from L-band radar data and then applying allometric equations to convert the height and basal area to biomass [72]. The advantage of estimating biomass indirectly via basal area and height was however not demonstrated.…”

Observations on the sensitivity of ERS-1 SAR image intensity to changes in aboveground biomass in young loblolly pine forests

“…Past studies using aircraft and spaceborne SAR data sets have shown that at longer radar wavelengths (L and P-bands), radar image intensity or the radar backscattering coefficient (UO) is highly correlated to total stand or bole biomass (Hoffer et al 1986, Wu 1987, Sader 1987, Wu and Sader 1987, Sun and Simonett 1988, Ahmed and Richards 1989, Hussin et al 1991, Dobson et al 1992a, Kasischke and Christensen 1993, Le Toan et al 1992. More recently, using airborne SAR data showed that .,-0 at the HH, VH and VV polarizations at Land P-bands and at the VH polarization at C-band were highly correlated with various components of biomass (e.g., bole biomass, stem biomass, needle biomass) within stands of loblolly pines (Pinus taeda L.).…”