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Estimation of Aboveground Phytomass of Plantations Using Digital Photogrammetry and High Resolution Remote Sensing Data

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Abstract

The study follows an approach to estimate phytomass using recent techniques of remote sensing and digital photogrammetry. It involved tree inventory of forest plantations in Bhakra forest range of Nainital district. Panchromatic stereo dataset of Cartosat-1 was evaluated for mean stand height retrieval. Texture analysis and tree-tops detection analyses were done on Quick-Bird PAN data. The composite texture image of mean, variance and contrast with a 5×5 pixel window was found best to separate tree crowns for assessment of crown areas. Tree tops count obtained by local maxima filtering was found to be 83.4 % efficient with an RMSE ± 13 for 35 sample plots. The predicted phytomass ranged from 27.01 to 35.08 t/ha in the case of Eucalyptus sp. while in the case of Tectona grandis from 26.52 to 156 t/ha. The correlation between observed and predicted phytomass in Eucalyptus sp. was 0.468 with an RMSE of 5.12. However, the phytomass predicted in Tectona grandis was fairly strong with R2 = 0.65 and RMSE of 9.89 as there was no undergrowth and the crowns were clearly visible. Results of the study show the potential of Cartosat-1 derived DSM and Quick-Bird texture image for the estimation of stand height, stem diameter, tree count and phytomass of important timber species.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by Indian Institute of Remote Sensing as part of National Carbon Project under ISRO Geosphere Biosphere Programme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Senior Research Fellow - RS & GIS, Center for Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560 012, India

    Sujata Upgupta

  2. Scientist, Forestry & Ecology Department, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, 4, Kalidas Rd, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, 248001, India

    Sarnam Singh

  3. Scientist, Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing Department, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, 4, Kalidas Rd, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, 248001, India

    Poonam S. Tiwari

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  1. Sujata Upgupta
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Correspondence to Sujata Upgupta.

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Upgupta, S., Singh, S. & Tiwari, P.S. Estimation of Aboveground Phytomass of Plantations Using Digital Photogrammetry and High Resolution Remote Sensing Data. J Indian Soc Remote Sens 43, 311–323 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12524-014-0401-9

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