Article
Remote Sensing
Roberta Franco Pereira de Queiroz, Marcus Vinicio Neves d'Oliveira, Alba Valeria Rezende, Paola Aires Locio de Alencar
Summary: This study used photogrammetric imaging from an RGB camera mounted on a remotely piloted aircraft to generate a model for estimating aboveground biomass (AGB) in the shrubby-woody stratum of savanna areas in Central Brazil. The study found that the passive sensor can identify topographic variations in sites with discontinuous canopies. The AGB distribution maps generated from the model improved our understanding of the spatial distribution of forest AGB.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ben Groom, Charles Palmer, Lorenzo Sileci
Summary: International initiatives for reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) can significantly contribute to tropical countries' national climate commitments. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a partnership between Norway and Indonesia, which implemented a moratorium on new concessions in certain forests. The results show that the moratorium had limited impact on dryland forests but failed to protect carbon-rich peatland forests. Despite its limitations, the moratorium resulted in significant emissions reductions and contributed to Indonesia's climate goals.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Yang Liu, Alan D. Ziegler, Jie Wu, Shijing Liang, Dashan Wang, Rongrong Xu, Decha Duangnamon, Hailong Li, Zhenzhong Zeng
Summary: Protected areas have shown some effectiveness in preserving tropical mountain forests, although they still face challenges of illegal logging and population pressure. Forest loss rates are lower inside protected areas compared to outside, and are influenced by factors such as elevation, accessibility, and population. Additionally, there is a correlation between forest loss in protected areas and international maize prices.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Nicolas Labriere, Stuart J. Davies, Mathias Disney, Laura Duncanson, Martin Herold, Simon L. Lewis, Oliver L. Phillips, Shaun Quegan, Sassan S. Saatchi, Dmitry G. Schepaschenko, Klaus Scipal, Plinio Sist, Jerome Chave
Summary: This study aims to establish a global forest biomass reference measurement system. To successfully implement this system, uniform data collection and processing standards, inclusive and equitable system establishment and management, as well as mandatory training and involvement of site partners in downstream activities are emphasized.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Orlando A. Macave, Natasha S. Ribeiro, Ana Ribeiro, Aniceto Chauque, Romana Bandeira, Cristina Branquinho, Robert Washington-Allen
Summary: The study utilized fusion of optical and radar data to estimate aboveground biomass in the Niassa Special Reserve, resulting in a comprehensive and accurate model that was influenced by vegetation indices and radar backscatter.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Aisha Sajjad, Shaheen Begum, Muhammad Adnan, Gul-E-Saba Chaudhry, Muhammad Ibrahim, Mehwish Jamil Noor, Asma Jabeen, Sofia Khalid, Shazia Iram, Yeong Yik Sung, Tengku Sifzizul Tengku Muhammad
Summary: This research estimates the carbon stock of the subtropical broad-leaved evergreen scrub forest in Lehtrar, Pakistan. The results indicated that the forest had abundant biomass and an adequate carbon stock. However, deforestation and forest degradation activities posed a threat to its carbon sequestration capacity, highlighting the need for proper forest management practices.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yuanwei Qin, Xiangming Xiao, Jean-Pierre Wigneron, Philippe Ciais, Josep G. Canadell, Martin Brandt, Xiaojun Li, Lei Fan, Xiaocui Wu, Hao Tang, Ralph Dubayah, Russell Doughty, Sean Crowell, Bo Zheng, Berrien Moore
Summary: Australia experienced severe drought, high temperatures, and massive forest fires in 2019 and early 2020. However, the eucalyptus trees showed strong fire resilience, and the understory vegetation quickly recovered in 2020. Using multiple sensors, this study analyzed the impacts of fire and climate on forest areas in Australia and found that the forests experienced significant losses in 2019 but showed large gains in 2020 due to the high resilience of trees and favorable conditions. The results highlight the potential of monitoring and assessing post-fire recovery using remote sensing.
REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Zhi Wen, Zuyang Jiang, Hua Zheng, Zhiyun Ouyang
Summary: Aboveground carbon storage in forests is influenced by both structural and compositional diversity of plant communities. This study analyzed data from tropical forest plots in Hainan Island, China, and found that structural diversity had a greater impact on aboveground carbon in the overstory stratum compared to compositional diversity. The relationship between diversity and carbon was slightly affected by soil nutrients but strongly influenced by altitude. Altitude indirectly affected overstory tree height and diameter diversity through species diversity, ultimately impacting aboveground carbon storage.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Zhongbing Chang, Sanaa Hobeichi, Ying-Ping Wang, Xuli Tang, Gab Abramowitz, Yang Chen, Nannan Cao, Mengxiao Yu, Huabing Huang, Guoyi Zhou, Genxu Wang, Keping Ma, Sheng Du, Shenggong Li, Shijie Han, Youxin Ma, Jean-Pierre Wigneron, Lei Fan, Sassan S. Saatchi, Junhua Yan
Summary: This study integrated field measurements and existing AGB products in China to develop two new hybrid forest AGB products using optimal weighting technique and random forest regression method. The new products showed higher accuracy and lower discrepancies with field measurements, indicating potential to improve spatial variability and reduce uncertainty in carbon stock estimates.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ruben Ferrer Velasco, Melvin Lippe, Fabian Tamayo, Tiza Mfuni, Renezita Sales-Come, Cecilia Mangabat, Thomas Schneider, Sven Guenter
Summary: Tropical forests are shrinking rapidly, posing a threat to their ecosystem services. Despite challenges, a study has developed a method to generate accurate forest maps using remote sensing data.
REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Nidhi Jha, Nitin Kumar Tripathi, Nicolas Barbier, Salvatore G. P. Virdis, Wirong Chanthorn, Gaelle Viennois, Warren Y. Brockelman, Anuttara Nathalang, Sissades Tongsima, Nophea Sasaki, Raphael Pelissier, Maxime Rejou-Mechain
Summary: Estimating forest biomass in tropical regions using passive remote sensing signals is challenging due to large uncertainty. In this study, researchers compared three medium- to high-resolution passive satellite sensors for mapping aboveground biomass in a forest landscape in Thailand. Results showed that Worldview-3 and Sentinel-2B outperformed Landsat-8 in extrapolating aboveground biomass, likely due to their red-edge band inclusion and higher spatial and spectral resolution. Sensitivity to large aboveground biomass values was higher for Worldview-3 than for Sentinel-2B and Landsat-8.
REMOTE SENSING IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Geography, Physical
Ygorra Bertrand, Frappart Frederic, Wigneron Jean-Pierre, Moisy Christophe, Catry Thibault, Pillot Benjamin, Courtalon Jonas, Kharlanova Anna, Riazanoff Serge
Summary: This study proposes a multitemporal change detection method based on Sentinel-1 SAR image time series to monitor forest destruction and degradation in the Congo rainforest. By applying the ReCuSum method, forest disturbances can be efficiently monitored, and forest/non-forest maps can be generated.
ISPRS JOURNAL OF PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND REMOTE SENSING
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Danae M. A. Rozendaal, Daniela Requena Suarez, Veronique De Sy, Valerio Avitabile, Sarah Carter, C. Y. Adou Yao, Esteban Alvarez-Davila, Kristina Anderson-Teixeira, Alejandro Araujo-Murakami, Luzmila Arroyo, Benjamin Barca, Timothy R. Baker, Luca Birigazzi, Frans Bongers, Anne Branthomme, Roel J. W. Brienen, Joao M. B. Carreiras, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Susan C. Cook-Patton, Mathieu Decuyper, Ben DeVries, Andres B. Espejo, Ted R. Feldpausch, Julian Fox, Javier Gamarra, Bronson W. Griscom, Nancy Harris, Bruno Herault, Euridice N. Honorio Coronado, Inge Jonckheere, Eric Konan, Sara M. Leavitt, Simon L. Lewis, Jeremy A. Lindsell, Justin Kassi N'Dja, Anny Estelle N'Guessan, Beatriz Marimon, Edward T. A. Mitchard, Abel Monteagudo, Alexandra Morel, Anssi Pekkarinen, Oliver L. Phillips, Lourens Poorter, Lan Qie, Ervan Rutishauser, Casey M. Ryan, Maurizio Santoro, Dos Santos Silayo, Plinio Sist, J. W. Ferry Slik, Bonaventure Sonke, Martin J. P. Sullivan, Gaia Vaglio Laurin, Emilio Vilanova, Maria M. H. Wang, Eliakimu Zahabu, Martin Herold
Summary: Many countries in the tropics and subtropics rely on default values from IPCC guidelines to monitor and report forest carbon stocks. However, these default values are not accurate and may not reflect the characteristics of different regions and stages of forests. We have revised and provided more refined default values, which have significant implications for estimating carbon stocks and fluxes, and highlight the importance of preserving old-growth forests.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Forestry
Bao Huy, Nguyen Quy Truong, Nguyen Quy Khiem, Krishna P. Poudel, Hailemariam Temesgen
Summary: This study developed deep learning models to predict aboveground biomass (AGB) in tropical evergreen broadleaf forests and compared them with traditional regression equations. The DL models showed significantly higher reliability in predicting AGB compared to regression equations with the same input variables.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Richard Flint Hughes, Dennis Grossman, Travis G. Sowards, Jonathan D. Marshall, Dieter Mueller-Dombois
Summary: This study investigated the carbon accumulation in secondary forests in the Puna District of Hawai'i Island and found that the native tree species M. polymorpha can rapidly accumulate carbon mass during secondary succession, but only if invasive species have not already colonized the area during the early stages of secondary succession.
ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Karimon Nesha, Martin Herold, Veronique De Sy, Sytze de Bruin, Arnan Araza, Natalia Malaga, Javier G. P. Gamarra, Kristell Hergoualc'h, Anssi Pekkarinen, Carla Ramirez, David Morales-Hidalgo, Rebecca Tavani
Summary: This study assessed the availability, temporal distribution, and extent of national forest inventories (NFIs) in 236 countries and analyzed the latest NFI design characteristics in 46 tropical countries. The study found significant NFI availability globally, with most multiple NFIs found in temperate and boreal countries. However, NFIs in the tropics were relatively recent and less frequent. The existing NFI designs pose challenges for statistical integration with remotely sensed data in the tropics.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Nicolas Labriere, Stuart J. Davies, Mathias Disney, Laura Duncanson, Martin Herold, Simon L. Lewis, Oliver L. Phillips, Shaun Quegan, Sassan S. Saatchi, Dmitry G. Schepaschenko, Klaus Scipal, Plinio Sist, Jerome Chave
Summary: This study aims to establish a global forest biomass reference measurement system. To successfully implement this system, uniform data collection and processing standards, inclusive and equitable system establishment and management, as well as mandatory training and involvement of site partners in downstream activities are emphasized.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Anne-Juul Welsink, Johannes Reiche, Veronique de Sy, Sarah Carter, Bart Slagter, Daniela Requena Suarez, Ben Batros, Marielos Pena-Claros, Martin Herold
Summary: Illegal logging is a major cause of tropical forest loss. Satellite-based alert systems can accurately estimate tree cover loss in logging concessions using 10 m scale satellite data, but reliability is lower in areas with few disturbances. There is a trade-off between aggregation level and accuracy in estimating logging volumes, which presents a challenge for remote verification of logging activities.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Daniela Requena Suarez, Danae M. A. Rozendaal, Veronique De Sy, Mathieu Decuyper, Natalia Malaga, Patricia Duran Montesinos, Alexs Arana Olivos, Ricardo De la Cruz Paiva, Christopher Martius, Martin Herold
Summary: Amazonian forests play a vital role as reservoirs of biomass and biodiversity, contributing to climate change mitigation. This study examines the impact of disturbances on forest biomass and biodiversity in the Peruvian Amazon, using tree-level data and remotely sensed monitoring. The results show that disturbance intensity negatively affects tree species richness and biomass recovery. Surprisingly, time since disturbance has a small negative effect on species richness. Approximately 15% of Peruvian Amazonian forests have experienced disturbance since 1984, with an increase in biomass of 4.7 Mg ha(-1) year(-1) during the first 20 years.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Stefano Tebaldini, Mauro Mariotti d'Alessandro, Lars M. H. Ulander, Patrik Bennet, Anders Gustavsson, Alex Coccia, Karlus Macedo, Mathias Disney, Phil Wilkes, Hans -Joachim Spors, Nico Schumacher, Jan Hanus, Jan Novotny, Benjamin Brede, Harm Bartholomeus, Alvaro Lau, Jens van der Zee, Martin Herold, Dirk Schuettemeyer, Klaus Scipal
Summary: The TomoSense experiment, funded by the ESA, studied remote sensing of forested areas using SAR data, with a focus on using TomoSAR to study the vertical structure of vegetation. The experiment used a temperate forest in the Eifel National Park in Germany, with dominant species being beech and spruce trees. The dataset includes SAR data as well as lidar data for comparison and analysis.
REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Na Chen, Nandin-Erdene Tsendbazar, Daniela Requena Suarez, Jan Verbesselt, Martin Herold
Summary: Characterization of regrowing forests is essential for understanding forest dynamics and supporting sustainable forest management. This study analyzed the effects of environmental and human factors on regrowing forests in Brazil. The results showed that the time since disturbance interpreted from satellite time series is the most important predictor for characterizing aboveground biomass and tree cover of regrowing forests.
REMOTE SENSING IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Kim Calders, Benjamin Brede, Glenn Newnham, Darius Culvenor, John Armston, Harm Bartholomeus, Anne Griebel, Jodie Hayward, Samuli Junttila, Alvaro Lau, Shaun Levick, Rosalinda Morrone, Niall Origo, Marion Pfeifer, Jan Verbesselt, Martin Herold
Summary: Climate change and human activities are affecting ecosystems and biodiversity. Quantitative measurements of essential biodiversity variables and climate variables are used to monitor and evaluate interventions. Spaceborne measurements lack detailed information on three-dimensional vegetation structure at local scales, but ground-based laser scanning shows potential for systematic monitoring.
REMOTE SENSING IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Review
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Osamu Ochiai, Benjamin Poulter, Frank Martin Seifert, Stephen Ward, Ian Jarvis, Alyssa Whitcraft, Ritvik Sahajpal, Sven Gilliams, Martin Herold, Sarah Carter, Laura Innice Duncanson, Heather Kay, Richard Lucas, Sylvia N. Wilson, Joana Melo, Joanna Post, Stephen Briggs, Shaun Quegan, Mark Dowell, Alessandro Cescatti, David Crisp, Sassan Saatchi, Takeo Tadono, Matt Steventon, Ake Rosenqvist
Summary: Space-based remote sensing can play a crucial role in monitoring greenhouse gas emissions and removals from AFOLU sector and addressing climate change through the UNFCCC Paris Agreement. International cooperation, led by CEOS, is essential for the development and realization of a long-term roadmap for observations. This paper identifies useful data and information for supporting the global stocktake of the Paris Agreement and provides a workflow for harmonization and contribution to greenhouse gas inventories and assessments.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Akane O. Abbasi, Xiaolu Tang, Nancy L. Harris, Elizabeth D. Goldman, Javier G. P. Gamarra, Martin Herold, Hyun Seok Kim, Weixue Luo, Carlos Alberto Silva, Nadezhda M. Tchebakova, Ankita Mitra, Yelena Finegold, Mohammad Reza Jahanshahi, Cesar Ivan Alvarez, Tae Kyung Kim, Daun Ryu, Jingjing Liang
Summary: Planted forests in East Asia, which account for approximately 36% of global planted forest area, play a critical role in climate change mitigation and timber/non-timber production. However, there is limited information available on the geographic distribution and tree species composition of these planted forests. This study presents the first spatial database of planted forests in East Asia, based on extensive data collection and modeling. The maps generated in this study provide valuable information for understanding the role of planted forests in climate change mitigation and guiding forest conservation and management decisions.
Article
Remote Sensing
Arnan Araza, Martin Herold, Sytze de Bruin, Philippe Ciais, David A. Gibbs, Nancy Harris, Maurizio Santoro, Jean-Pierre Wigneron, Hui Yang, Natalia Malaga, Karimon Nesha, Pedro Rodriguez-Veiga, Olga Brovkina, Hugh C. A. Brown, Milen Chanev, Zlatomir Dimitrov, Lachezar Filchev, Jonas Fridman, Mariano Garcia, Alexander Gikov, Leen Govaere, Petar Dimitrov, Fardin Moradi, Adriane Esquivel Muelbert, Jan Novotny, Thomas A. M. Pugh, Mart-Jan Schelhaas, Dmitry Schepaschenko, Krzysztof Sterenczak, Lars Hein
Summary: This study assessed the net Delta AGB derived from four global multi-date AGB maps over the past decade. The comparison between LiDAR data and maps showed reasonable agreement, while the comparisons using NFI only had some agreements at smaller aggregation levels. Disagreement between maps is still large in key forest regions. The results suggest that the AGB assessed from current maps can be biased and any use of the estimates should consider this.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Adugna Mullissa, Johannes Reiche, Martin Herold
Summary: The paper proposes a rapid forest disturbance detection approach for tropical dry forests using Sentinel-1 SAR and deep learning. The method shows effectiveness in detecting disturbances in near real-time, outperforming traditional methods based on Landsat data in terms of timeliness. The proposed approach has potential for operational use in generating large area disturbance alerts in the dry tropics.
REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Correction
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Camille S. Delavaux, Thomas W. Crowther, Constantin M. Zohner, Niamh M. Robmann, Thomas Lauber, Johan van den Hoogen, Sara Kuebbing, Jingjing Liang, Sergio de-Miguel, Gert-Jan Nabuurs, Peter B. Reich, Meinrad Abegg, Yves C. Adou Yao, Giorgio Alberti, Angelica M. Almeyda Zambrano, Braulio Vilchez Alvarado, Esteban Alvarez-Davila, Patricia Alvarez-Loayza, Luciana F. Alves, Christian Ammer, Clara Anton-Fernandez, Alejandro Araujo-Murakami, Luzmila Arroyo, Valerio Avitabile, Gerardo A. Aymard, Timothy R. Baker, Radomir Balazy, Olaf Banki, Jorcely G. Barroso, Meredith L. Bastian, Jean-Francois Bastin, Luca Birigazzi, Philippe Birnbaum, Robert Bitariho, Pascal Boeckx, Frans Bongers, Olivier Bouriaud, Pedro H. S. Brancalion, Susanne Brandl, Roel Brienen, Eben N. Broadbent, Helge Bruelheide, Filippo Bussotti, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Ricardo G. Cesar, Goran Cesljar, Robin Chazdon, Han Y. H. Chen, Chelsea Chisholm, Hyunkook Cho, Emil Cienciala, Connie Clark, David Clark, Gabriel D. Colletta, David A. Coomes, Fernando Cornejo Valverde, Jose J. Corral-Rivas, Philip M. Crim, Jonathan R. Cumming, Selvadurai Dayanandan, Andre L. de Gasper, Mathieu Decuyper, Geraldine Derroire, Ben DeVries, Ilija Djordjevic, Jiri Dolezal, Aurelie Dourdain, Nestor Laurier Engone Obiang, Brian J. Enquist, Teresa J. Eyre, Adande Belarmain Fandohan, Tom M. Fayle, Ted R. Feldpausch, Leandro V. Ferreira, Markus Fischer, Christine Fletcher, Lorenzo Frizzera, Javier G. P. Gamarra, Damiano Gianelle, Henry B. Glick, David J. Harris, Andrew Hector, Andreas Hemp, Geerten Hengeveld, Bruno Herault, John L. Herbohn, Martin Herold, Annika Hillers, Euridice N. Honorio Coronado, Cang Hui, Thomas T. Ibanez, Ieda Amaral, Nobuo Imai, Andrzej M. Jagodzinski, Bogdan Jaroszewicz, Vivian Kvist Johannsen, Carlos A. Joly, Tommaso Jucker, Ilbin Jung, Viktor Karminov, Kuswata Kartawinata, Elizabeth Kearsley, David Kenfack, Deborah K. Kennard, Sebastian Kepfer-Rojas, Gunnar Keppel, Mohammed Latif Khan, Timothy J. Killeen, Hyun Seok Kim, Kanehiro Kitayama, Michael Kohl, Henn Korjus, Florian Kraxner, Diana Laarmann, Mait Lang, Simon L. Lewis, Huicui Lu, Natalia V. Lukina, Brian S. Maitner, Yadvinder Malhi, Eric Marcon, Beatriz Schwantes Marimon, Ben Hur Marimon-Junior, Andrew R. Marshall, Emanuel H. Martin, Olga Martynenko, Jorge A. Meave, Omar Melo-Cruz, Casimiro Mendoza, Cory Merow, Abel Monteagudo Mendoza, Vanessa S. Moreno, Sharif A. Mukul, Philip Mundhenk, Maria Guadalupe Nava-Miranda, David Neill, Victor J. Neldner, Radovan V. Nevenic, Michael R. Ngugi, Pascal A. Niklaus, Jacek Oleksyn, Petr Ontikov, Edgar Ortiz-Malavasi, Yude Pan, Alain Paquette, Alexander Parada-Gutierrez, Elena I. Parfenova, Minjee Park, Marc Parren, Narayanaswamy Parthasarathy, Pablo L. Peri, Sebastian Pfautsch, Oliver L. Phillips, Nicolas Picard, Maria Teresa T. F. Piedade, Daniel Piotto, Nigel C. A. Pitman, Irina Polo, Lourens Poorter, Axel D. Poulsen, Hans Pretzsch, Freddy Ramirez Arevalo, Zorayda Restrepo-Correa, Mirco Rodeghiero, Samir G. Rolim, Anand Roopsind, Francesco Rovero, Ervan Rutishauser, Purabi Saikia, Christian Salas-Eljatib, Philippe Saner, Peter Schall, Dmitry Schepaschenko, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Bernhard Schmid, Jochen Schongart, Eric B. Searle, Vladimir Seben, Josep M. Serra-Diaz, Douglas Sheil, Anatoly Z. Shvidenko, Javier E. Silva-Espejo, Marcos Silveira, James Singh, Plinio Sist, Ferry Slik, Bonaventure Sonke, Alexandre F. Souza, Stanislaw Miscicki, Krzysztof J. Sterenczak, Jens-Christian Svenning, Miroslav Svoboda, Ben Swanepoel, Natalia Targhetta, Nadja Tchebakova, Hans ter Steege, Raquel Thomas, Elena Tikhonova, Peter M. Umunay, Vladimir A. Usoltsev, Renato Valencia, Fernando Valladares, Fons van der Plas, Tran Van Do, Michael E. van Nuland, Rodolfo M. Vasquez, Hans Verbeeck, Helder Viana, Alexander C. Vibrans, Simone Vieira, Klaus von Gadow, Hua-Feng Wang, James V. Watson, Gijsbert D. A. Werner, Susan K. Wiser, Florian Wittmann, Hannsjoerg Woell, Verginia Wortel, Roderik Zagt, Tomasz Zawila-Niedzwiecki, Chunyu Zhang, Xiuhai Zhao, Mo Zhou, Zhi-Xin Zhu, Irie C. Zo-Bi, Daniel S. Maynard
Article
Remote Sensing
Johannes Balling, Martin Herold, Johannes Reiche
Summary: Accurate information about tropical forest disturbances is crucial for forest management and law enforcement. Monitoring forest disturbances using cloud-penetrating SAR imagery has shown effective results. However, current methods based on backscatter values may cause omission errors. This research proposes a method to quantify the heterogeneity of neighboring pixel values using textural features, in order to overcome omission errors caused by post-disturbance tree remnants or debris. The combination of SAR-based textural features and backscatter improves the consistency and timeliness of forest disturbance monitoring.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION
(2023)
Article
Remote Sensing
Natalia Malaga, Sytze de Bruin, Ronald E. McRoberts, Alexs Arana Olivos, Ricardo de la Cruz Paiva, Patricia Duran Montesinos, Daniela Requena Suarez, Martin Herold
Summary: This study evaluates the use of a global aboveground biomass (AGB) map as auxiliary information for subnational AGB estimates in the Peruvian Amazonia and analyzes the sources of uncertainty. The results show that the calibrated map can improve the precision of AGB estimates, but the contribution of within block variability is significant.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Milutin Milenkovic, Johannes Reiche, John Armston, Amy Neuenschwander, Wanda De Keersmaecker, Martin Herold, Jan Verbesselt
Summary: Two satellite LiDAR missions, GEDI and ICESat-2, provide global measurements of forest height and structure. This study utilized both missions' data to assess regrowth rates in regrowing forests of different ages in Rondonia, Brazil. A calibration model was derived to improve the accuracy of satellite height measurements, and the results showed reliable estimates of forest regrowth rates over large areas.
SCIENCE OF REMOTE SENSING
(2022)