CrosthwaiteEyre210110

Final Presentation

Chatham House – 21 January 2010
23 June 2000

Eyre
1 consulting

Biomass estimations through remote sensing
-
The value of the third dimension to mapping

York Timbers Plantation - Mauchsberg

Chatham House – Illegal Logging Meeting 20th– 21st January 2010
20th–

Eyre
2 consulting

Presentation Overview

• Why we need to consider new sources of data

• Satellite sensors and Forest Area and Area
Change mapping

• Satellite sensors and Forest Biometric data

• Conclusion and discussion

20th–

Contact: Eyre Consulting Ltd +44 1264 356 900
charles.eyre@sarmap.ch Page 1

Final Presentation

23 June 2000

Eyre
3 consulting

What’s the problem the way things are?

• In July 2007 the Norwegian Government stated
“Today there is no international or national
certification that can guarantee in a reliable
manner that imported wood is legally and
sustainably logged”.

• Certification requires sound, defensible and
accurate geospatial data on certified forests

• Can the latest spaceborne remote sensing
technologies improve the forest monitoring
system?

20th–

Eyre
4 consulting

Certification – Sources of Data Error and Uncertainty

• Sampling

• Measurement

• Temporal

• Mapping

• Extrapolation

20th–


Final Presentation

23 June 2000

Eyre
5 consulting

Forest Management Plan – Forest data requirements

• AREA MAPPING AND AREA CHANGE MAPPING
– Base maps of forest and non forest areas
– Monitoring and updating system for change detection
– Compartment structure and areas
– Non Forest inventories of socially and environmentally
important assets

• FOREST INVENTORIES for Growth and Yield Models
and Forest Management Information Systems
– Forest biometrics – DBH, Tree Height, Trees/ha
– Forest quality - species, stem quality and structure
– Age class

20th–

Eyre
6 consulting

European Space Agency – 2009 Funded project

Objective
• To demonstrate how spaceborne remote sensing could
provide an operationally robust, integrated source of data
on:
–Forest area and forest area changes
–Biometric data to establish timber volume

Operational variables
– Topography – mountainous and flat country
– Age class
– Management activities (e.g. pruning and thinning)
– Three species of pine
– Across winter (dry) and summer (wet)
– Across and within compartments

20th–


Final Presentation

23 June 2000

Eyre
7 consulting

York Timbers - compartment planning and management –

350
Timber Volume (m3)

Removal
60m3
Harvest
175 350m3
Removal
160 45m3
Years

3 5 7 10 15 20 24 - 25

1st Thinning 2nd Thinning Final enumeration Harvest
Planting 2nd
Pruning • Reduction to • Reduction to 450/ha •Harvest planning starts
1000trees 3m PLUS every 7th row
650 trees /ha
/ha •intensity 5% minimum
• 5% sample • 10 spatial OR 1 plot/ha

1st 3nd • 20 weaker trees
Pruning Pruning
1.5m 5m
Current standard enumerations Stem Count

20th–

Eyre
8 consulting

Project Sensors , Products, Software and Output
• Sensors
– ALOS PALSAR - 15m resolution
– SPOT-5 resolution 10m multi-spectral enhanced to 2.5m panchromatic
• Processing software
– SARscape™
– OPTICALscape™
• Product format
– Map Resolution approximately 1 : 50,000
– WGS-84 geodetic system, Universal Transfer Mercator projection
– Standard GEOTIF and .kml (Google Earth )
• GIS integration includes following informational layers:
– Vector format: Estate boundaries, Compartments, Roads, etc

20th–


Final Presentation

23 June 2000

Eyre
9 consulting

A few basics: Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) in forestry

Reflected Solar Energy

Roughness and Moisture

20th–

Eyre
10 consulting

Mapping Forest area and Forest area changes

PALSAR HH / HV Optical HR / VHR

Basic Processing Basic Processing

Ortho-rectified Knowledge based Ortho-rectified
TOA Reflectances Classifiers TOA Reflectances

Land Cover Mapv
Land Cover Maps

Land Cover Change Map

20th–


Final Presentation

23 June 2000

Eyre
11 consulting

Mauchsberg – Land Cover Map

SPOT
4m

York Timbers Plantation - Mauchsberg

20th–

Eyre
12 consulting

Jessievale – Optical and Palsar overlays

SPOT
PALSAR

20th–


Final Presentation

23 June 2000

Eyre
13 consulting

Forest area mapping – Compatment level forest map
map

Palsar 4 m Classification –Aug 09
SPOT 15m classification May 09

20th–

Eyre
14 consulting

Compartment area and forest areas
ompar

PALSAR-1, 18 August 2008
SPOT-5, 29 May 2008

20th–


Final Presentation

23 June 2000

Eyre
15 consulting

Jessievale – Multi-temporal PALSAR HH/HV
Multi-
Land Cover Change Map

Jessievale 13 Aug 2008
Jessievale 11 Aug 2007

20th–

Eyre
16 consulting

Additional Product – Forest Burnt Area and Re-growth 2003-2006
Re- 2003-

SPOT4 2003

Burnt area and
severity map 2003

PALSAR 2006

Re-growth 2006

Burnt Area

20th–


Final Presentation

23 June 2000

Eyre
17 consulting

Mapping Forest area and Forest Area changes
Service Purpose or benefit
Operational overview
Forest area map and area Verification of planned and unplanned forest area changes
change maps Valuation of new assets
Data infilling on non enumerated compartments

Compartment level Mapping net planted areas
mapping and monitoring Homogeneity - optimising field enumeration programme

Basic mapping
Conservation and Natural
Land cover classification (e.g. Grassland / Bare soil / Scrubland)
Areas mapping
Changes detection
Assessment of water reserves for fire fighting
Open water areas
Environmental assessments
Mapping and change detection
Human Settlements
Impact detection
Confirm preparedness for fire season
Fire protection and damage
Post fire damage and liability assessment
assessment
Re-establishment assessment

20th–

Eyre
18 consulting

The Third Dimension - Measurement of Timber Volume

SAR - Penetration versus signal Frequency

20th–


Final Presentation

23 June 2000

Eyre
19 consulting

The Third Dimension - Measurement of Timber Volume

• The proposition was that:
– Tree Height (TH) and Diameter Breast Height
(DBH) could be correlated with the Palsar signal
backscatter. If so, we could calibrate the
geolocated field measurements of these biophysical
parameters with the relevant EO measurement
– Having calibrated the EO image, it should be
possible to then estimate the basal area and timber
volume for the whole compartment without
employing the extrapolation process
• We could then estimate biophysical parameters
across the whole operation using EO data only

20th–

Eyre
20 consulting

Options for EO Calibration of biophysical functions

System calibration could use either:
1 Individual geo-located point source field data sets could be used
for inference of biophysical functions

2 Calibrated field data extrapolated to average compartment level
estimates of timber volume

BUT current standard operating practice is 2, and had to guide methodology

25 compartments
Jessievale x 30 field data sites
Calibration 51
Data Set COMPARTMENTS Biophysical
Average of biophysical functions
Mauchsberg 26 Compartments measures per compartment
x 30 field data sites

20th–


Final Presentation

23 June 2000

Eyre
21 consulting

Biophysical estimation
Jessievale and Estimated DBH DBH 13 August 2008

20th–

Eyre
22 consulting

Jessievale - Estimated Timber Volume
13 August 2008

20th–


Final Presentation

23 June 2000

Eyre
23 consulting

Biophysical parameter correlation across both sites
(compartment level data)
Mean Tree Height (m) Diameter at Breast Height (cm)

Basal Area (m2/ha) Timber Volume (m3/ha)

20th–

Eyre
24 consulting

Jessievale - Timber Volume per Hectare – Seasonal effect

11 February 2008 – wet season
13 August 2008 – Dry season

Timber Volume per hectare (m3/ha)

-4
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
-6
sigma 0 (dB)

-8

-10
HH polarization

-12

R2 = 0.8221
2
0.8544
-14

20th–


Final Presentation

23 June 2000

Eyre
25 consulting

Value of EO based Biophysical Enumeration

Service Service Applications and Benefits

Forest Management Information inputs
• Reinforce or replace field enumerating data
• Global estimation at a single point in time
• Automated data entry
• Infilling data gaps on unmeasured compartments
• Independent check field of enumeration programme
• Supplant difficult to measure biometrics such as tree height
Operational management
• Reduce costs of enumeration
Timber • Improve the enumeration programme by better targeting resource
volume • Monitor/compare compartment growth
estimation • Improve timber quality by optimising timing of pruning
• Improved estimate of biomass removal and sales revenues
• Improve mill operational efficiency
• First time inventory or assessment of acquisition targets

Forest Certification
• Data transparency
• Data independence
• CB resource management – target certification work
• Increase certifier’s independence of client’s data

20th–

Eyre
26 consulting

In Conclusion

• Mapping service applies to any forest environment

• Biophysical estimation:
– ONLY tested and works on pine plantations
– We know species with higher biomass present a problem
with signal saturation. Maximum now expected to be
500 m3/ha
– Service not yet tested outside plantations

• Cost depend on area mapped. But – overall savings are
likely if service is integrated with changes in enumeration
programme and management systems

20th–


Final Presentation

23 June 2000

Eyre
27 consulting

Further information:
Charles Crosthwaite Eyre tel +44 7730 304 290
charles.eyre@sarmap.ch

Thank you

Bio
Area Time Area
change + metrics

20th–


CrosthwaiteEyre210110

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (10)

More from theREDDdesk

More from theREDDdesk (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

CrosthwaiteEyre210110