Using Lidar and Radar measurements to constrain predictions of forest ecosystem structure and function
Abstract
Until recently, insights into the dynamics of vegetation and above-ground biomass within terrestrial ecosystems have come almost exclusively from ground-based forest inventories that are limited in their spatial extent. Large footprint airborne Lidar and Synthetic Aperture Radar are promising remote sensing-based techniques for estimating changes in forest structure at regional to global scales. In this study we investigate how Lidar and Radar derived estimates of forest structure can be used to constrain and test the dynamics of the ED2 terrestrial biosphere model. Simulations initialized with Lidar and Radar structure variables were compared to equilibrium potential vegetation simulation, and simulation initialized from forest inventory measurements. Both the Lidar and Radar remote sensing initializations significantly improved the representation of forest structure within the model, eliminating the bias of too many large trees that arose in the potential vegetation initialized-simulation. This resulted in improved predictions of ecosystem scale carbon fluxes and biomass dynamics compared to potential vegetation initialized simulations. Further improvements of carbon fluxes metrics will also depend on obtaining on reliable remotely-sensed estimates of forest composition in conjunction with the forest structure measurements.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2009
- Bibcode:
- 2009AGUFM.B23F..06A
- Keywords:
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- 0439 BIOGEOSCIENCES / Ecosystems;
- structure and dynamics;
- 0466 BIOGEOSCIENCES / Modeling;
- 0480 BIOGEOSCIENCES / Remote sensing