Pacific Northwest Research Station

Title: Soil moisture limitations on monitoring boreal forest regrowth using spaceborne L-band SAR data

Author: Kasischke, Eric S.; Tanase, Mihai A.; Bourgeau-Chavez, Laura L.; Borr, Matthew

Date: 2011

Source: Remote Sensing of Environment. 115: 227-232

Description: A study was carried out to investigate the utility of L-band SAR data for estimating aboveground biomass in sites with low levels of vegetation regrowth. Data to estimate biomass were collected from 59 sites located in fire-disturbed black spruce forests in interior Alaska. PALSAR L-band data (HH and HV polarizations) collected on two dates in the summer/fall of 2007 and one date in the summer of 2009 were used. The results indicate that to use L-band SAR data for mapping aboveground biomass and monitoring forest regrowth will require development of approaches to account for the influence that variations in soil moisture have on L-band microwave backscatter, which can be particularly strong when low levels of aboveground biomass occur.

Keywords: synthetic aperture radar, L-band, biomass, soil moisture

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Citation

Kasischke, Eric S.; Tanase, Mihai A.; Bourgeau-Chavez, Laura L.; Borr, Matthew  2011.  Soil moisture limitations on monitoring boreal forest regrowth using spaceborne L-band SAR data.   Remote Sensing of Environment. 115: 227-232.