Browsing by Author "Gobakken, Terje"

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Effects of field plot size on prediction accuracy of aboveground biomass in airborne laser scanning-assisted inventories in tropical rain forests of Tanzania
(Springer) Mauya, Ernest William; Hansen, Endre Hofstad; Gobakken, Terje; Bollandsås, Ole Martin; Malimbwi, Rogers Ernest; Næsset, Erik
Effects of field plot size on prediction accuracy of aboveground biomass in airborne laser scanning-assisted inventories in tropical rain forests of Tanzania
(Springer, 2015) Mauya, Ernest William; Hansen, Endre Hofstad; Gobakken, Terje; Bollandsås, Ole Martin; Malimbwi, Rogers Ernest; Næsset, Erik
Background: Airborne laser scanning (ALS) has recently emerged as a promising tool to acquire auxiliary information for improving aboveground biomass (AGB) estimation in sample-based forest inventories. Under design-based and model-assisted inferential frameworks, the estimation relies on a model that relates the auxiliary ALS metrics to AGB estimated on ground plots. The size of the field plots has been identified as one source of model uncertainty because of the so-called boundary effects which increases with decreasing plot size. Recent re- search in tropical forests has aimed to quantify the boundary effects on model prediction accuracy, but evidence of the consequences for the final AGB estimates is lacking. In this study we analyzed the effect of field plot size on model prediction accuracy and its implication when used in a model-assisted inferential framework. Results: The results showed that the prediction accuracy of the model improved as the plot size increased. The adjusted R 2 increased from 0.35 to 0.74 while the relative root mean square error decreased from 63.6 to 29.2%. Indicators of boundary effects were identified and confirmed to have significant effects on the model residuals. Variance estimates of model-assisted mean AGB relative to corresponding variance estimates of pure field-based AGB, decreased with increasing plot size in the range from 200 to 3000 m 2 . The variance ratio of field-based esti- mates relative to model-assisted variance ranged from 1.7 to 7.7. Conclusions: This study showed that the relative improvement in precision of AGB estimation when increasing field-plot size, was greater for an ALS-assisted inventory compared to that of a pure field-based inventory.
Mapping and estimating the total living biomass and carbon in low‐biomass woodlands using landsat 8 CDR data
(CrossMark) Gizachew, Belachew; Solberg, Svein; Næsset, Erik; Gobakken, Terje; Bollandsås, Ole Martin; Breidenbach, Johannes; Zahabu, Eliakimu; Mauya, Ernest William
Mapping and estimating the total living biomass and carbon in low‐biomass woodlands using landsat 8 CDR data
(CrossMark, 2016-06-24) Gizachew, Belachew; Solberg, Svein; Næsset, Erik; Gobakken, Terje; Bollandsås, Ole Martin; Breidenbach, Johannes; Zahabu, Eliakimu; Mauya, Ernest William
Background: A functional forest carbon measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) system to support climate change mitigation policies, such as REDD+, requires estimates of forest biomass carbon, as an input to estimate emis- sions. A combination of field inventory and remote sensing is expected to provide those data. By linking Landsat 8 and forest inventory data, we (1) developed linear mixed effects models for total living biomass (TLB) estimation as a function of spectral variables, (2) developed a 30 m resolution map of the total living carbon (TLC), and (3) estimated the total TLB stock of the study area. Inventory data consisted of tree measurements from 500 plots in 63 clusters in a 15,700 km 2 study area, in miombo woodlands of Tanzania. The Landsat 8 data comprised two climate data record images covering the inventory area. Results: We found a linear relationship between TLB and Landsat 8 derived spectral variables, and there was no clear evidence of spectral data saturation at higher biomass values. The root-mean-square error of the values predicted by the linear model linking the TLB and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is equal to 44 t/ha (49 % of the mean value). The estimated TLB for the study area was 140 Mt, with a mean TLB density of 81 t/ha, and a 95 % confidence interval of 74–88 t/ha. We mapped the distribution of TLC of the study area using the TLB model, where TLC was estimated at 47 % of TLB. Conclusion: The low biomass in the miombo woodlands, and the absence of a spectral data saturation problem sug- gested that Landsat 8 derived NDVI is suitable auxiliary information for carbon monitoring in the context of REDD+, for low-biomass, open-canopy woodlands.
Modeling aboveground biomass in dense tropical submontane rainforest using airborne laser scanner data
(MDPI [Commercial Publisher]) Hansen, Endre Hofstad; Gobakken, Terje; Bollandsås, Ole Martin; Zahabu, Eliakimu; Næsset, Erik
Modelling aboveground forest biomass using airborne laser scanner data in the miombo woodlands of Tanzania
(Springer) Mauya, Ernest William; Ene, Liviu Theodor; Bollandsås, Ole Martin; Gobakken, Terje; Næsset, Erik; Malimbwi, Rogers Ernest; Zahabu, Eliakimu
Modelling aboveground forest biomass using airborne laser scanner data in the miombo woodlands of Tanzania
(Springer, 2015) Mauya, Ernest William; Ene, Liviu Theodor; Bollandsås, Ole Martin; Gobakken, Terje; Næsset, Erik; Malimbwi, Rogers Ernest; Zahabu, Eliakimu
Background: Airborne laser scanning (ALS) has emerged as one of the most promising remote sensing technologies for estimating aboveground biomass (AGB) in forests. Use of ALS data in area-based forest inventories relies on the development of statistical models that relate AGB and metrics derived from ALS. Such models are firstly calibrated on a sample of corresponding field- and ALS observations, and then used to predict AGB over the entire area covered by ALS data. Several statistical methods, both parametric and non-parametric, have been applied in ALS-based forest inventories, but studies that compare different methods in tropical forests in particular are few in number and less fre- quent than studies reported in temperate and boreal forests. We compared parametric and non-parametric methods, specifically linear mixed effects model (LMM) and k-nearest neighbor (k-NN). Results: The results showed that the prediction accuracy obtained when using LMM was slightly better than when using the k-NN approach. Relative root mean square errors from the cross validation was 46.8 % for the LMM and 58.1 % for the k-NN. Post-stratification according to vegetation types improved the prediction accuracy of LMM more as compared to post-stratification by using land use types. Conclusion: Although there were differences in prediction accuracy between the two methods, their accuracies indicated that both of methods have potentials to be used for estimation of AGB using ALS data in the miombo woodlands. Future studies on effects of field plot size and the errors due to allometric models on the prediction accu- racy are recommended. Keywords: Parametric models, Prediction accuracy, Non-parametric models, LMM, k-NN, Sampling design
Monitoring forest carbon in a Tanzanian woodland using interferometric SAR: a novel methodology for REDD+
(Springer) Solberg, Svein; Gizachew, Belachew; Næsset, Erik; Gobakken, Terje; Bollandsås, Ole Martin; Mauya, Ernest William; Olsson, Håkan; Malimbwi, Rogers; Zahabu, Eliakimu