Mapping forest successional stages in the Brazilian Amazon using forest heights derived from TanDEM-X SAR interferometry

REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT

卷:232

Article

Bispo, Polyanna Da Conceicao^1,2  Pardini, Matteo³  Papathanassiou, Konstantinos P.³  Kugler, Florian³  Balzter, Heiko^1,2  Rains, Dominik^4,5  dos Santos, Joao Roberto⁶  Rizaev, Igor G.⁷  Tansey, Kevin¹  dos Santos, Maiza Nara⁸  Araujo, Luciana Spinelli⁹ 

[1] Univ Leicester, Sch Geog Geol & Environm, Ctr Landscape & Climate Res, Leicester Inst Space & Earth Observat, Leicester, Leics, England

[2] Univ Leicester, Natl Ctr Earth Observat, NERC, Leicester, Leics, England

[3] German Aerosp Ctr DLR, Microwave & Radar Inst, Oberpfaffenhofen, Wessling, Germany

[4] Univ Ghent, Dept Environm, Ghent, Belgium

[5] Univ Leicester, Dept Phys & Astron, Earth Observat Sci, Leicester, Leics, England

[6] Natl Inst Space Res INPE, Remote Sensing Div, Sao Jose Dos Campos, Brazil

[7] Univ Bristol, Visual Informat Lab, Bristol, Avon, England

[8] Brazilian Agr Res Corp Embrapa, Embrapa Agr Informat, Campinas, SP, Brazil

[9] Brazilian Agr Res Corp Embrapa, Embrapa Environm, Jaguariuna, SP, Brazil

关键词: Tropical forests;    Successional stages;    Forest height;    Synthetic Aperture Radar;    Interferometry;    TanDEM-X;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.rse.2019.05.013

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Knowledge of the spatial patterns of successional stages (i.e., primary and secondary forest) in tropical forests allows to monitor forest preservation, mortality and regeneration in relation to natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Different successional stages have also different capabilities of re-establishing carbon stocks. Therefore, a successful discrimination of successional stages over wide areas can lead to an improved quantification of above ground biomass and carbon stocks. The reduction of the mapping uncertainties is especially a challenge due to high heterogeneity of the tropical vegetation. In this framework, the development of innovative remote sensing approaches is required. Forests (top) height (and its spatial distribution) are an important structural parameter that can be used to differentiate between different successional stages, and can be provided by Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) acquisitions. In this context, this paper investigates the potential of forest heights estimated from TanDEM-X InSAR data and a LiDAR digital terrain model (DTM) for separating successional stages (primary or old growth and secondary forest at different stages of succession) by means of a maximum likelihood classification. The study was carried out in the region of the Tapajos National Forest (Para, Brazil) in the Amazon biome. The forest heights for three years (2012, 2013 and 2016) were estimated from a single-polarization in bistatic mode using InSAR model-based inversion techniques aided by the LiDAR digital terrain model. The validation of the TanDEM-X forest heights with independent LiDAR H100 datasets was carried out in the location of seven field inventory plots (measuring 50 x 50 m, equivalent to 0.25 ha), also allowing for the validation of the LiDAR datasets against the field data. The validation of the estimated heights showed a high correlation (r = 0.93) and a low uncertainty (RMSE = 3 m). The information about the successional stages and forest heights from field datasets was used to select training samples in the LiDAR and TanDEM-X forest heights to classify successional stages with a maximum likelihood classifier. The identification of different stages of forest succession based on TanDEM-X forest heights was possible with an overall accuracy of about 80%.

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