Estimation for forest biomass and coverage using Satellite data in small scale area, Mongolia

Abstract

The estimation of forest biomass using satellite data has received increasing attention for several reason in Mongolia. Since forest in Mongolia is decreasing and it is important to estimate forest resources using satellite data. This research aims to apply recently launched Sentinel-1B Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) C-band and optical Sentinel-2B satellite data for estimation forest biomass and coverage and develop model for the study area. The study area is small scale forestry area named by Khanbuyan community, Bulgan province is situated in the Northern part of Mongolia. Boreal and montane forest belts of larch is dominated in this area. Sentinel-1B was used for estimation forest biomass and multispectral bands of Sentinel-2B applied for forest classification map. We used regression analysis to develop the model using Sentinel-1B and Sentinel-2B VV and VH polarizations for Sentinel-1B and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for Sentinel-2B were applied in this research. Ground truth data was collected in July 2016 and September 2016 for forest coverage and biomass measurements. NDVI and backscatter coefficients for polarizations VV and VH of Sentinel-1B 2016 were related to ground truth biomass for modeling. Comparison of the model and ground truth measurements for above ground biomass have a good agreement.