Aboveground Live Forest Biomass Map for the US From Satellite Imagery and Inventory Data

A gridded map of aboveground live forest biomass for the conterminous U.S., Alaska and Puerto Rico with a 250-m cell size resulted from integrating plot-level biomass estimates, from USDA Forest Service (USFS) nation-wide forest inventory data, with satellite imagery and ancillary geospatial data. The image and other predictor layers included MOD09 8-Day surface reflectance imagery (1) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, MODIS-derived proportional tree cover (2), Landsat image-derived proportional land cover (3-4), climate averages (5-6) and topographic variables (7). By state or mapping zone (8), plot-based aboveground live forest biomass estimates generally fell within 5 percent of map-based estimates, and the map provided previously unavailable spatial detail. Here we describe the inventory data, the modeling approach, and the error maps. We secondly compare estimates of U.S. forest carbon storage in live woody biomass from this map with other estimates. We also critically evaluate the modeling process and spatial scaling issues. (1)Vermote EF, Vermueulen A. 1999. MOD09 ATBD, Univ. of Maryland, College Park, 107 pp. (2) Hansen M, DeFries R, et al. 2003. GLCF, Univ. of Maryland, College Park (3) Vogelmann JE, Howard S, et al. 2001. Photogramm Eng Rem S 67:650 (4) Helmer E, Ramos O, et al. 2002. Caribbean J Sci 38:165 (5) Daly C, Kittel T, et al. 2000. 12th AMS Conf on Applied Climatology, Amer Meteorol Soc, Asheville (6) Daly C, Helmer E, et al. 2003. Intl J Climatology 23:1359 (7) Gesch D, Oimoen M, et al. 2002. Photogramm Eng Rem S 68:5 (8) Homer C, Huang C, et al. 2004. Photogramm Eng Rem S 70:829