Modeling forest biomass and growth: Coupling long-term inventory and LiDAR data

REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT

卷:182

Article

Babcock, Chad¹  Finley, Andrew O.²  Cook, Bruce D.³  Weiskittel, Aaron⁴  Woodall, Christopher W.⁵ 

[1] Univ Washington, Sch Environm & Forest Sci, Seattle, WA 98195 USA

[2] Michigan State Univ, Dept Forestry, E Lansing, MI 48824 USA

[3] NASA, Goddard Space Flight Ctr, Biospher Sci Branch, Code 618, Greenbelt, MD 20742 USA

[4] Univ Maine, Sch Forest Resources, Orono, ME 04469 USA

[5] US Forest Serv, USDA, No Res Stn, Forest Inventory & Anal Program, 1992 Folwell Ave, St Paul, MN 55114 USA

关键词: LiDAR;    Forest biomass;    Biomass growth;    Temporal misalignment;    Long-term forest inventory;    Bayesian hierarchical models;    Markov Chain Monte Carlo;    Gaussian process;    Geospatial;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.rse.2016.04.014

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Combining spatially-explicit long-term forest inventory and remotely sensed information from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) datasets through statistical models can be a powerful tool for predicting and mapping above-ground biomass (AGB) at a range of geographic scales. We present and examine a novel modeling approach to improve prediction of AGB and estimate AGB growth using LiDAR data. The proposed model accommodates temporal misalignment between field measurements and remotely sensed data a problem pervasive in such settings by including multiple time-indexed measurements at plot locations to estimate AGB growth. We pursue a Bayesian modeling framework that allows for appropriately complex parameter associations and uncertainty propagation through to prediction. Specifically, we identify a space-varying coefficients model to predict and map AGB and its associated growth simultaneously. The proposed model is assessed using LiDAR data acquired from NASA Goddard's LiDAR, Hyper-spectral & Thermal imager and field inventory data from the Penobscot Experimental Forest in Bradley, Maine. The proposed model outperformed the time-invariant counterpart models in predictive performance as indicated by a substantial reduction in root mean squared error. The proposed model adequately accounts for temporal misalignment through the estimation of forest AGB growth and accommodates residual spatial dependence. Results from this analysis suggest that future AGB models informed using remotely sensed data, such as LiDAR, may be improved by adapting traditional modeling frameworks to account for temporal misalignment and spatial dependence using random effects. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free