Discovering forest height changes based on spaceborne lidar data of ICESat-1 in 2005 and ICESat-2 in 2019: a case study in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region of China
Abstract Background The assessment of change in forest ecosystems, especially the change of canopy heights, is essential for improving global carbon estimates and understanding effects of climate change. Spaceborne lidar systems provide a unique opportunity to monitor changes in the vertical structu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
2020-09-01
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| Series: | Forest Ecosystems |
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| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40663-020-00265-w |
| _version_ | 1828080304428941312 |
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| author | Tong Sun Jianbo Qi Huaguo Huang |
| author_facet | Tong Sun Jianbo Qi Huaguo Huang |
| author_sort | Tong Sun |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background The assessment of change in forest ecosystems, especially the change of canopy heights, is essential for improving global carbon estimates and understanding effects of climate change. Spaceborne lidar systems provide a unique opportunity to monitor changes in the vertical structure of forests. NASA’s Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellites, ICESat-1 for the period 2003 to 2009, and ICESat-2 (available since 2018), have collected elevation data over the Earth’s surface with a time interval of 10 years. In this study, we tried to discover forest canopy changes by utilizing the global forest canopy height map of 2005 (complete global coverage with 1 km resolution) derived from ICESat-1 data and the ATL08 land and vegetation products of 2019 (sampling footprints with 17 m diameter) from ICESat-2. Results Our study revealed a significant increase in forest canopy heights of China’s Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Evaluations of unchanging areas for data consistency of two products show that the bias values decreased significantly from line-transect-level (− 8.0 to 6.2 m) to site-level (− 1.5 to 1.1 m), while RMSE values are still relatively high (6.1 to 15.2 m, 10.2 to 12.0 m). Additionally, 58% of ATL08 data are located in ‘0 m’ pixels with an average height of 7.9 m, which are likely to reflect the ambitious tree planting programs in China. Conclusions Our study shows that it is possible, with proper calibrations, to use ICESat-1 and -2 products to detect forest canopy height changes in a regional context. We expect that the approach presented in this study is potentially suitable to derive a fine-scale map of global forest change. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T03:15:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-50a8939e000c40f594e99fa782c76e31 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2197-5620 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T03:15:56Z |
| publishDate | 2020-09-01 |
| publisher | KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Forest Ecosystems |
| spelling | doaj.art-50a8939e000c40f594e99fa782c76e312023-01-02T10:22:16ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.Forest Ecosystems2197-56202020-09-017111210.1186/s40663-020-00265-wDiscovering forest height changes based on spaceborne lidar data of ICESat-1 in 2005 and ICESat-2 in 2019: a case study in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region of ChinaTong Sun0Jianbo Qi1Huaguo Huang2State Forestry and Grassland Administration Key Laboratory of Forest Resources and Environmental Management, Beijing Forestry UniversityState Forestry and Grassland Administration Key Laboratory of Forest Resources and Environmental Management, Beijing Forestry UniversityState Forestry and Grassland Administration Key Laboratory of Forest Resources and Environmental Management, Beijing Forestry UniversityAbstract Background The assessment of change in forest ecosystems, especially the change of canopy heights, is essential for improving global carbon estimates and understanding effects of climate change. Spaceborne lidar systems provide a unique opportunity to monitor changes in the vertical structure of forests. NASA’s Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellites, ICESat-1 for the period 2003 to 2009, and ICESat-2 (available since 2018), have collected elevation data over the Earth’s surface with a time interval of 10 years. In this study, we tried to discover forest canopy changes by utilizing the global forest canopy height map of 2005 (complete global coverage with 1 km resolution) derived from ICESat-1 data and the ATL08 land and vegetation products of 2019 (sampling footprints with 17 m diameter) from ICESat-2. Results Our study revealed a significant increase in forest canopy heights of China’s Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Evaluations of unchanging areas for data consistency of two products show that the bias values decreased significantly from line-transect-level (− 8.0 to 6.2 m) to site-level (− 1.5 to 1.1 m), while RMSE values are still relatively high (6.1 to 15.2 m, 10.2 to 12.0 m). Additionally, 58% of ATL08 data are located in ‘0 m’ pixels with an average height of 7.9 m, which are likely to reflect the ambitious tree planting programs in China. Conclusions Our study shows that it is possible, with proper calibrations, to use ICESat-1 and -2 products to detect forest canopy height changes in a regional context. We expect that the approach presented in this study is potentially suitable to derive a fine-scale map of global forest change.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40663-020-00265-wForest heightGlobal mapATL08 productsComparisonPlantation |
| spellingShingle | Tong Sun Jianbo Qi Huaguo Huang Discovering forest height changes based on spaceborne lidar data of ICESat-1 in 2005 and ICESat-2 in 2019: a case study in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region of China Forest Ecosystems Forest height Global map ATL08 products Comparison Plantation |
| title | Discovering forest height changes based on spaceborne lidar data of ICESat-1 in 2005 and ICESat-2 in 2019: a case study in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region of China |
| title_full | Discovering forest height changes based on spaceborne lidar data of ICESat-1 in 2005 and ICESat-2 in 2019: a case study in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region of China |
| title_fullStr | Discovering forest height changes based on spaceborne lidar data of ICESat-1 in 2005 and ICESat-2 in 2019: a case study in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region of China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Discovering forest height changes based on spaceborne lidar data of ICESat-1 in 2005 and ICESat-2 in 2019: a case study in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region of China |
| title_short | Discovering forest height changes based on spaceborne lidar data of ICESat-1 in 2005 and ICESat-2 in 2019: a case study in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region of China |
| title_sort | discovering forest height changes based on spaceborne lidar data of icesat 1 in 2005 and icesat 2 in 2019 a case study in the beijing tianjin hebei region of china |
| topic | Forest height Global map ATL08 products Comparison Plantation |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40663-020-00265-w |
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