Estimating regional forest cover in east Texas using advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) data
Academic Article
Overview
Research
Identity
Additional Document Info
Other
View All
Overview
abstract
This study tested the degree to which single date, near-nadir AVHRR image could provide forest cover estimates comparable to the phase I estimates obtained from the traditional photo-based techniques of the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program. FIA program is part of the United States Department of Agriculture-Forest Service (USFS). A six-county region in east Texas was selected for this study. Manual identification of ground control points (GCPs) was necessary for geo-referencing this image with higher precision. Through digital image classification techniques forest classes were separated from other non-forest classes in the study area. Classified AVHRR imagery was compared to two verification datasets: photo-center points and the USFS FIA plots. The overall accuracy values obtained were 67 and 71%, respectively. Analyses of the error matrices indicated that the AVHRR image correctly classified more forested areas than non-forested areas; however, most of the errors could be attributed to certain land cover and land use classes. Several pastures with tree cover, which were field-identified as non-forest, were misclassified as forest in the AVHRR image using the image classification system developed in this study. Recently harvested and young pine forests were misclassified as non-forest in the imagery. County-level forest cover estimates obtained from the AVHRR imagery were within the 95% confidence interval of the corresponding estimates from traditional photo-based methods. These results indicate that AVHRR imagery could be used to estimate county-level forest cover; however, the precision associated with these estimates was lower than that obtained through traditional photo-based techniques. 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
