A Bayesian Hierarchical Model for Spatio-Temporal Prediction and Uncertainty Assessment Using Repeat LiDAR Acquisitions for the Kenai Peninsula, AK, USA

Models using repeat LiDAR and field campaigns may be one mechanism to monitor carbon storage and flux in forested regions. Considering the ability of multi-temporal LiDAR to estimate growth, it is not surprising that there is great interest in developing forest carbon monitoring strategies that rely on repeated LiDAR acquisitions. Allowing for sparser field campaigns, LiDAR stands to make monitoring forest carbon cheaper and more efficient than field-only sampling procedures. Here, we look to the spatio-temporally data-rich Kenai Peninsula in Alaska to examine the potential for Bayesian spatio-temporal mapping of forest carbon storage and uncertainty. The framework explored here can predict forest carbon through space and time, while formally propagating uncertainty through to prediction. Bayesian spatio-temporal models are flexible frameworks allowing for forest growth processes to be formally integrated into the model. By incorporating a mechanism for growth---using temporally repeated field and LiDAR data---we can more fully exploit the information-rich inventory network to improve prediction accuracy. LiDAR data for the Kenai Peninsula has been collected on four different occasions---spatially coincident LiDAR strip samples in 2004, 09 and 14, along with a wall-to-wall collection in 2008. There were 436 plots measured twice between 2002 and 2014. LiDAR was acquired at least once over most inventory plots with many having LiDAR collected during 2, 3 or 4 different campaigns. Results from this research will impact how forests are inventoried. It is too expensive to monitor terrestrial carbon using field-only sampling strategies and currently proposed LiDAR model-based techniques lack the ability to properly utilize temporally repeated and misaligned data. Bayesian hierarchical spatio-temporal models offer a solution to these shortcomings and allow for formal predictive error assessment, which is useful for policy development and decision making.