Forest Biomass Estimation Using ALOS Satellite Images

It is said that earth environment is affected by changing vegetation biomass. So, it is needed the analysis of physical parameter of vegetation in the wide area by using satellite data. In this study, biomass is estimated on a large scale using ALOS data received in Iran and field measurement data. Improving the estimate of forest biomass requires a broader data base than that provided by ecological studies that measure biomass directly. The few studies that measured biomass directly cover a small area of forests, and are generally biased. We used data reported by country for all major forest types, then we converted commercial wood volumes to TAGB using average wood densities and expansion factors (ratios of TAGB to commercial biomass). We believe that biomass estimation based on forest volume inventories provides an opportunity to improve the total aboveground biomass estimates because volume data from forest inventories are more abundant and are generally collected from large sample areas using a planned sampling method designed to represent the population of interest.