Statewide Forest Canopy Cover Mapping of Florida Using Synergistic Integration of Spaceborne LiDAR, SAR, and Optical Imagery

Statewide Forest Canopy Cover Mapping of Florida Using Synergistic Integration of Spaceborne LiDAR, SAR, and Optical Imagery

Southern U.S. forests are essential for carbon storage and timber production but are increasingly impacted by natural disturbances, highlighting the need to understand their dynamics and recovery. Canopy cover is a key indicator of forest health and resilience. Advances in remote sensing, such as NA...

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Main Authors: Monique Bohora Schlickmann, Inacio Thomaz Bueno, Denis Valle, William M. Hammond, Susan J. Prichard, Andrew T. Hudak, Carine Klauberg, Mauro Alessandro Karasinski, Kody Melissa Brock, Kleydson Diego Rocha, Jinyi Xia, Rodrigo Vieira Leite, Pedro Higuchi, Ana Carolina da Silva, Gabriel Maximo da Silva, Gina R. Cova, Carlos Alberto Silva
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-01-01
Series:Remote Sensing
Subjects:
data fusion
forest structure estimation
GEDI data
machine learning models
southern forests
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/17/2/320
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Summary:Southern U.S. forests are essential for carbon storage and timber production but are increasingly impacted by natural disturbances, highlighting the need to understand their dynamics and recovery. Canopy cover is a key indicator of forest health and resilience. Advances in remote sensing, such as NASA’s GEDI spaceborne LiDAR, enable more precise mapping of canopy cover. Although GEDI provides accurate data, its limited spatial coverage restricts large-scale assessments. To address this, we combined GEDI with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and optical imagery (Sentinel-1 GRD and Landsat–Sentinel Harmonized (HLS)) data to create a comprehensive canopy cover map for Florida. Using a random forest algorithm, our model achieved an R<sup>2</sup> of 0.69, RMSD of 0.17, and MD of 0.001, based on out-of-bag samples for internal validation. Geographic coordinates and the red spectral channel emerged as the most influential predictors. External validation with airborne laser scanning (ALS) data across three sites yielded an R<sup>2</sup> of 0.70, RMSD of 0.29, and MD of −0.22, confirming the model’s accuracy and robustness in unseen areas. Statewide analysis showed lower canopy cover in southern versus northern Florida, with wetland forests exhibiting higher cover than upland sites. This study demonstrates the potential of integrating multiple remote sensing datasets to produce accurate vegetation maps, supporting forest management and sustainability efforts in Florida.
ISSN:2072-4292

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