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High-Resolution Forest Canopy Height Estimation in an African Blue Carbon EcosystemMangrove forests are one of the most productive and carbon dense ecosystems that are only found at tidally inundated coastal areas. Forest canopy height is an important measure for modeling carbon and biomass dynamics, as well as land cover change. By taking advantage of the flat terrain and dense canopy cover, the present study derived digital surface models (DSMs) using stereophotogrammetric techniques on high-resolution spaceborne imagery (HRSI) for southern Mozambique. A mean-weighted ground surface elevation factor was subtracted from the HRSI DSM to accurately estimate the canopy height in mangrove forests in southern Mozambique. The mean and H100 tree height measured in both the field and with the digital canopy model provided the most accurate results with a vertical error of 1.18-1.84 m, respectively. Distinct patterns were identified in the HRSI canopy height map that could not be discerned from coarse shuttle radar topography mission canopy maps even though the mode and distribution of canopy heights were similar over the same area. Through further investigation, HRSI DSMs have the potential of providing a new type of three-dimensional dataset that could serve as calibration/validation data for other DSMs generated from spaceborne datasets with much larger global coverage. HSRI DSMs could be used in lieu of Lidar acquisitions for canopy height and forest biomass estimation, and be combined with passive optical data to improve land cover classifications.
Document ID
20160005809
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Lagomasino, David
(Universities Space Research Association Boulder, CO, United States)
Fatoyinbo, Temilola
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Lee, Seung-Kuk
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Simard, Marc
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
May 4, 2016
Publication Date
June 28, 2015
Publication Information
Publication: Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons, Ltd
Volume: 1
Issue: 1
e-ISSN: 2056-3485
Subject Category
Earth Resources And Remote Sensing
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN31552
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNH15CO48B
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG11HP16A
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
HRSI
DSM
Canopy height

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