ESTIMATION OF ABOVEGROUND BIOMASS USING LANDSAT-5/TM AND NOAA/AVHRR

• Published in: Journal of Agricultural Meteorology Vol. 52; no. 5; pp. 579 - 582
• Main Authors: Sato, Muneharu, Ishiguro, Etsuji, Fujita, Shinsuke, Hirata, Koichi, Miyahara, Takakazu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Society of Agricultural Meteorology of Japan 1997
• Subjects: Biomass; forest; Index; Landsat; NOAA
• ISSN: 0021-8588; 1881-0136
• DOI: 10.2480/agrmet.52.579

The methodology of biomass estimation of forest areas in Japan has heavily depended on the mesh method. The method, however, demands a large amount of time-consuming labor to attain a reliable accuracy. Therefore, we have been working on the use of satellite data to assess the biomass as one of the alternatives to the conventional method. As the first step in our research, we put our efforts into identifying specific objects on the ground and into evaluating their quantities. So far we have succeeded in estimating crop yield and volcanic ash deposits from the satellite data. They are, however, at level ground showing rather small variations in spectral reflectance. The next step is to clarify the topographic effects on the biomass estimation of mountainous areas. Since the system to receive and analyze NOAA/AVHRR data was installed at United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Kagoshima University in 1995, attempts have been made to use their data for those purpose. NOAA data have been conventionally used to study surface properties not requiring high resolution because of their low resolutions, 1.1km at best. The satellites, however, can supply the data four times a day. Therefore, in this study, some attempts were made to use NOAA data efficiently to estimate the biomass of the mountainous forest areas in Japan. The results suggest that the data supplied by NOAA can be used to estimate biomass of the forest areas with sufficient reliability.