Determination of stand properties in boreal and temperate forests using high-resolution imagery

Abstract

The existence of a relatively long (ca. 40 yr) satellite imagery archive for examination of potential worldwide forest change motivated an inspection of the relation between forest features observable from higher resolution airborne and satellite imagery and measures of forest biomass, height, and age. Using these data, we inspected the relation between stand age, mean diameter, height, and standing aboveground biomass for forest stands located in boreal forest (near Fairbanks, Alaska) and temperate forest (near Durham, North Carolina). The features of a spatial statistic, semivariance, prove to be related to the structure, age, and biomass patterns of these forests. These initial results indicate the feasibility of using appropriately calibrated high-resolution satellite imagery to estimate and monitor aboveground carbon reserves of forests.