A multiple resource inventory of Delaware using airborne laser data

Estimates of forest wood volume and biomass, and estimates of the surface area of asphalt, concrete, roof, and open water, were generated from a single set of airborne laser-profiling data acquired during the summer of 2000. Estimates of aboveground dry biomass for different types of land cover in each county or state were converted directly to estimates of standing carbon. A portable, inexpensive laser that measures forest canopy height and canopy cover was also used to identify and map mature forest stands that might support the Delmarva fox squirrel (Sciurus niger cinereus), an endangered species. Merchantable volume estimates were within 24 percent of US Forest Service estimates at the county level and within 15 percent statewide. Total aboveground dry biomass estimates were within 19 percent of US Forest Service estimates at the county level and within 16 percent statewide. Various types of impervious surfaces (roofs, concrete, asphalt) and open water were tallied along the fight lines to estimate a real coverage statewide, by land cover and county. Laser estimates of impervious surface area were within 28 percent of satellite-based estimates at the county level and within 3 percent at the state level. Laser estimates of open water were within 7 percent of photointerpreted geographic information system (GIS) estimates at the county level and within 3 percent of the GIS at the state level.