Quality improvement of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) plantation inventory GIS using shuttle radar topography mission (STRM) and the national elevation dataset (NED)

An essential element of timber inventory management involves organizing cruises to generate/update databases. Timely updates are crucial to maintaining any inventory. The availability of Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (STRM) and National Elevation Dataset (NED) have provided additional reference datasets to timber managers to independently conduct quality improvement of their inventories. The difference between SRTM and NED is known to be an effective measure of tree heights. With respect to 2612 loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) plantation stands (> 15 ha) in western Louisiana and eastern Texas, the estimated tree height was correlated using plantation year in inventory GIS and the coefficient of determination R-2 was 0.694. Outliers from the trend line were identified and evaluated for potential stand's attribute error. Using historical satellite images, three stands were confirmed to have errors in plantation year. A solid procedure was developed through this experiment, which is applicable to large industrialized timberlands. This study demonstrates that SRTM and NED can present an effective and efficient solution for quality improvement of timber inventory GIS. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.