Connotea
CiteULike
del.ico.us
BibSonomyAbstract
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH,
VOL. 114,
G00E05,
7 PP., 2009
doi:10.1029/2008JG000893
Regional forest growth rates measured by combining ICESat GLAS and Landsat data
Department of Natural Resources, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, USA
Biospheric Sciences Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
Department of Geography, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
Department of Geography, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
Forest canopy heights derived from ICESat Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) lidar data were combined with Landsat-based disturbance history maps to assess forest regeneration rates in three regions of the eastern United States (Maine, Virginia, and Mississippi). GLAS observations were screened for topographic relief and waveform quality, and canopy heights were obtained by visual inspection of each waveform. Regressing the GLAS heights against the age of last disturbance yielded vertical growth rates of 0.6 m/yr (Maine), 1.0 m/yr (Virginia), and 1.2 m/yr (Mississippi). Growth rates, when combined with height-biomass allometric relations, can be converted to estimates of aboveground wood productivity. The study demonstrates that large-footprint lidar data can be used to measure vertical growth rates when averaged spatially, thus providing unique information on forest regeneration for carbon cycle studies.
Received 13 November 2008; accepted 10 September 2009; published 12 December 2009.
Citation: (2009), Regional forest growth rates measured by combining ICESat GLAS and Landsat data, J. Geophys. Res., 114, G00E05, doi:10.1029/2008JG000893.
Cited By