Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Parisa Golshani ¹
• Yasser Maghsoudi ²
• Hormoz Sohrabi ³

¹ Department of forestry, TarbiatModares University, Tehran, Iran

² Faculty of geodesy and geomatics engineering, K.N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

³ Department of Forestry, TarbiatModares University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Extended Abstract
Introduction
Estimation of forest Carbon stocks plays an important role in assessing the quantity of carbon exchange between the forest ecosystem and the atmosphere. Direct methods of measuring carbon stock are not economically efficient. Optical remote sensing methodsalso have limited capability in predicting forest biomass, because the spectral response of optical images is related to the interaction between solar radiation and canopy, especially in mature forests. These obstacles limit the efficiency of optical sensors for forest biomass estimation. Recently, airborne data has received a great deal of scientific and operational attention for estimation of forest features. LiDAR data also faces challengessuch as limited efficiency in large areas, high costs and large data volumes. In contrast to the optical and LiDAR systems, SAR systems have some advantages, such as the possibility of data collection in any weather condition, penetration through clouds and canopy, and easy access. The potential of SAR images with quad polarization for the estimation of Iranian Hyrcanian forests biomass will be investigated. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the efficiency of ALOS-2 /PALSAR-2 backscattering coefficients andpolarimetric features in leaf-on and Leaf-off crown conditions, evaluate the linear regression model and select the most appropriate variables for biomass estimation.
 
Material and methods
The study area is located in a part of forests of Mazandaran province. The region forms a part of the deciduous broadleaf temperate plain forests. The forestsunder study was classified into 4 major types: (1) Forest reserve, (2) Natural forest, (3) Degraded forest and (4) Mixed species forest plantations. 115 circular sample plots (each including 0.1 hectares)were collected from the 4 different sites with various forest structures and biomasses. In each sample, tree species and diameter at breast height (DBH) of all trees with DBH > 7.5 cm were recorded. Allometric equations were used to convert tree diameter to biomass. The present study is based on polarimetric L-band PALSAR-2 data collected in spring and winter. Backscattering matrix was generated using the PALSAR data which consists of amplitude and phase information. Speckle noise filtering was performed using the Refined Lee adaptive filter. Following the filtering, all polarimetric features were extracted. After converting the SAR products to NRCS, geometric correction and georeferencingwere performed and the average backscattering coefficient (sigma naught value)was extracted for each sample plot by overlaying the AOI layers on corresponding SAR images. Finally, the relationship between forest biomass and backscattering intensity was investigated.
 
Results and discussion
The resultsvary regarding to the forest type, the range of biomass and forest canopy cover percentage.Forest type and biomass range as well as canopy cover percentage affect the scattering mechanism and correlations between biomass and SAR backscattering coefficient. Canopy cover percentageofthe 1^stand 4^thsites were over 90% and consequently, the sensitivity of HV backscatter value to biomass was higher than HH and VV. In the 2^nd and especially 3^rd sites, the correlation between HH backscattervalueand AGB was better than its correlation with HV backscatter. This is mainly because of the canopy structure in these sites which is not complete and the fact that the sensitivity of HH backscatter value to biomass is higher than HV.
Results indicate in the 1^st and 4^th sites, the correlation between volume scatter component of decomposition methods with AGB was better than its correlation with double-bounce scatter component. In contrast, the double-bounce decomposition componentsexhibited the best results in the 2^nd and 3^rd sites. These findings are in agreement with the results obtained from the T3 matrix components. The least correlation value was observed between Freeman decomposition components and AGB. The volume scatter component of Cloude and also double-bounce component of Freeman did not provide suitable results.
Results also indicate higher efficiency of images collected in spring as compared to those collected in winter.Linear regression results show that in the best possible situation, RMSE of the first forest habitat was 34.68 t/ha, and 30.09, 27.07 and 23.69 t/ha were estimated for the 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th forest habitats, respectively. Therefore, it seems that classification of forests is necessary before biomass estimation.
 
Conclusion
The potential of PALSAR-2 data for Hyrcanian forest biomass estimation was assessed in this study. We demonstrated that L-band data are sensitive to the above-ground biomass (AGB) of Hyrcanianforestsand can be used to provide accurate estimates of biomass. Findings confirmed that decomposition methods are more efficient than backscattering coefficients for biomass mapping.

Keywords

• Above-ground Biomass
• Polarimetry
• Synthetic Aperture Radar
• ALOS-2 PALSAR-2

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