Estimation of Forest Structural Attributes Using ICESat/GLAS-Spaceborne Laser Altimetry Data in the Western Ghats Region
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(2019) 3:10
Estimation of Forest Structural Attributes Using ICESat/GLAS-Spaceborne Laser Altimetry Data in the Western Ghats Region of India Indu Indirabai 1 & M. V. Harindranathan Nair 1 & Jaishanker R. Nair 2 & Rama Rao Nidamanuri 3
# Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
Abstract Three-dimensional structural information of a forest plays a significant role in global forest ecosystem management practices. Optical remote sensing successfully provides abundant spectral information regarding the horizontal distribution of forests. However, measuring the vertical structural attributes of the forest ecosystems for highly complex and heterogeneous forests such as Western Ghats (India) is typically challenging for even these technologies. The measurements of the forest stand-level structural parameters in the Western Ghats of India have not been reported to date. Therefore, the objective of the present study was the estimation of the structural attributes of Mudumalai and Sholayar reserved forests in the Western Ghats region of India using spaceborne ICESat GLAS data. The forest structural attributes estimated in the present study were as follows: canopy height, canopy density, and understory vegetation height. The results obtained indicated a strong correlation with field measurements. The ICESat/GLAS data used in the present study enabled the analysis of structural parameters, contributing significantly to the better understanding of the heterogeneous complex forest ecosystem of the Western Ghats. Keywords ICESat GLAS . Full waveform . Canopy height model . LiDAR
Introduction The Western Ghats region of India is one of the unique biogeographic regions of the world. The region exhibits high levels of biodiversity. The Western Ghats comprises of complex heterogeneous tropical evergreen forests with numerous kinds of tree species, including woody and non-woody shrubs, and plantations. Monitoring and identification of the structural attributes of these forest regions and the biodiversity in them are a significant challenge to forest management. The measurement of the forest structural attributes plays a significant role in the modeling of the ecosystem functionality
* Indu Indirabai [email protected] 1
School of Environmental Studies, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Kochi, Kerala, India
2
C.V Raman Laboratory of Ecological Informatics, IIITM-Kerala, Technopark Campus, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
3
Department of Earth & Space Sciences, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Valiamala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
as well as in the estimation of carbon storage capacity. The accurate measurements of the three-dimensional structures of forests are of great importance to quantify forest degradation, forest growth rate, etc. The most important structural attributes of the forest include canopy height, canopy cover, and vegetation fraction. Three-dimensional structures of vegetation canopies may serve as a suitable source of information for biomass estimation (Calders et al. 2015). Fiel
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