Soil moisture limitations on monitoring boreal forest regrowth using spaceborne L-band SAR data
✍ Scribed by Eric S. Kasischke; Mihai A. Tanase; Laura L. Bourgeau-Chavez; Matthew Borr
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2011
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 934 KB
- Volume
- 115
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0034-4257
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✦ Synopsis
A study was carried out to investigate the utility of L-band SAR data for estimating aboveground biomass in sites with low levels of vegetation regrowth. Data to estimate biomass were collected from 59 sites located in fire-disturbed black spruce forests in interior Alaska. PALSAR L-band data (HH and HV polarizations) collected on two dates in the summer/fall of 2007 and one date in the summer of 2009 were used. Significant linear correlations were found between the log of aboveground biomass (range of 0.02 to 22.2 t ha -1 ) and σ°(L-HH) and σ°(L-HV) for the data collected on each of the three dates, with the highest correlation found using the L-HV data collected when soil moisture was highest. Soil moisture, however, did change the correlations between L-band σ°and aboveground biomass, and the analyses suggest that the influence of soil moisture is biomass dependent. The results indicate that to use L-band SAR data for mapping aboveground biomass and monitoring forest regrowth will require development of approaches to account for the influence that variations in soil moisture have on L-band microwave backscatter, which can be particularly strong when low levels of aboveground biomass occur.