A bi-temporal airborne lidar shrub-to-tree aboveground biomass model for the taiga of western Canada
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Date
2024
Authors
Flade, Linda
Hopkinson, Christopher
Chasmer, Laura
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Abstract
Monitoring aboveground biomass (AGB) is critical for carbon reporting and quantifying ecosystem change. AGB from field data can be scaled to the region using airborne lidar. However, lidar-based AGB products emphasize upland forests, which may not represent the conditions in rapidly changing peatland complexes in the southern Taiga of western Canada. In addition, to ensure that modeled AGB changes do not incorporate systematic error due to differences between older and newer lidar technologies, model transfer tests are required. The aim of this study was to develop one bi-temporal lidar-based AGB model applicable to (1) vegetation structures at varying vertical and horizontal continuity in this region and to (2) data collected with an earlier generation lidar system for which Canada-wide aerial coverage is available. Goodness-of-fit metrics show that AGB can be modeled with moderate (R2 = 48%–58% Taiga Shield, peatlands) to high accuracies (R2 = 83%–89% Taiga Plains, upland/permafrost plateau forests including ecotones) by using the point clouds average height and 90th height percentile within a weighted approach as function of modeled AGB and calibrating the earlier lidar data. These results are important for quantifying climate change effects on forest to peatland ecotones.
Description
Open access article. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0) applies
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Citation
Flade, L., Hopkinson, C., & Chasmer, L. (2024). A bi-temporal airborne lidar shrub-to-tree aboveground biomass model for the taiga of western Canada. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, 50(1), Article 2379945. https://doi.org/10.1080/07038992.2024.2379915