The Uncertainty of Plot-Scale Forest Height Estimates from Complementary Spaceborne Observations in the Taiga-Tundra Ecotone

Remote Sensing

Paul M. Montesano²  Guoqing Sun²  Ralph Dubayah¹ 

[1] Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA; E-Mail:;Biospheric Sciences Laboratory, Code 618, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA; E-Mails:

关键词: ecotone;    taiga;    tundra;    spaceborne;    uncertainty;    vegetation;    structure;    LiDAR;    stereo;    photogrammetry;   

DOI  :  10.3390/rs61010070

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Satellite-based estimates of vegetation structure capture broad-scale vegetation characteristics as well as differences in vegetation structure at plot-scales. Active remote sensing from laser altimetry and radar systems is regularly used to measure vegetation height and infer vegetation structural attributes, however, the current uncertainty of their spaceborne measurements is likely to mask actual plot-scale differences in vertical structures in sparse forests. In the taiga (boreal forest)–tundra ecotone (TTE) the accumulated effect of subtle plot-scale differences in vegetation height across broad-scales may be significant. This paper examines the uncertainty of plot-scale forest canopy height measurements in northern Siberia Larix stands by combining complementary canopy surface elevations derived from satellite photogrammetry and ground elevations derived from the Geosciences Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) from the ICESat-1 satellite. With a linear model, spaceborne-derived canopy height measurements at the plot-scale predicted TTE stand height ∼5 m–∼10 m tall (R² = 0.55, bootstrapped 95% confidence interval of R² = 0.36–0.74) with an uncertainty ranging from ±0.86 m–1.37 m. A larger sample may mitigate the broad uncertainty of the model fit, however, the methodology provides a means for capturing plot-scale canopy height and its uncertainty from spaceborne data at GLAS footprints in sparse TTE forests and may serve as a basis for scaling up plot-level TTE vegetation height measurements to forest patches.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland