Analysis of biomass dynamics derived from spectral trajectories.

Abstract

Quantification of the rates and variability of forest disturbance and regrowth at continental scales remains a critical challenge. We have undertaken an effort to address these issues, through funding from NASA, by coordinating research efforts between the USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) and the North American Carbon Program (NACP). We present preliminary results of our approach to analyze 20+ years of biennial Landsat data, and translate change trajectories from spectral space into biomass change trajectories. We have implemented an empirical modeling approach to interpret spectral change as biomass change. To demonstrate our approach, we compare disturbance and regrowth trajectories in two distinct regions of the United States. We anticipate that the outcome of this study will prove beneficial to both the FIA program for tracking spatially explicit estimates of forest disturbance and regrowth, and to the NACP for quantification of the consequences of these rates for the carbon cycle.

Citation

Powell, S.L.; Cohen, W.B.; Kennedy, R.E. 2007. Analysis of biomass dynamics derived from spectral trajectories. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh Forest Service remote sensing application conference. Bethesda, MA: American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing