Premium
Estimating the spatial distribution of available biomass in grazing forests with a satellite image: A preliminary study
Author(s) -
Tsutsumi Michio,
Kawamura Kensuke,
Sugiyama Midori,
Sato Shusuke,
Deguchi Yoshitaka,
Sugawara Kazuo,
Sakanoue Seiichi,
Itano Shiro
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
grassland science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.388
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1744-697X
pISSN - 1744-6961
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-697x.2005.00015.x
Subject(s) - thematic mapper , biomass (ecology) , deciduous , spatial distribution , environmental science , remote sensing , satellite imagery , thematic map , grazing , satellite image , satellite , vegetation (pathology) , forestry , principal component analysis , geography , ecology , cartography , mathematics , statistics , medicine , pathology , aerospace engineering , engineering , biology
We tested whether available biomass in grazing forests could be estimated by analyzing a satellite image with field data. Our study site was situated in north‐eastern Japan and was composed of coniferous forest differing in afforested years, multilayered coniferous forest and deciduous broadleaf forest. The data of available biomass collected in previous studies was used to analyze a Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) image acquired in summer and we tried to depict a map of the spatial distribution of available biomass in the forest. It was suggested that an analysis should be conducted separately in each of the multilayered coniferous, the other coniferous and broadleaf forests. As a result of regression analysis on the relationship between available biomass and each of several parameters, the first principal component computed with reflectance of the six bands of the Landsat TM was the most appropriate parameter to estimate available biomass. The answer to the question ‘Can the spatial distribution of available biomass in a forest be estimated with a satellite image?’ is ‘Yes, in coniferous forests’. We propose a procedure for depicting a precise map of the distribution of available biomass in a forest with analysis of a satellite image.