Calculation of trees height using PRISM-DSM

Japan is one of the main forest countries in the developed countries. For management and administration of the forest, amount of cost and work is needed to be observed vast woodland with regularity. Since the earth observation satellites can repeatedly observe wider area at one time is significant, they are suitable for observing the boundless natural environment. It is important for forest management and forest industry to measure forest area and height of trees. In this study, tree height was calculated using digital surface model (DSM) generated by the image taken by the Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping (PRISM) onboard the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS), which was launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on January 24, 2006. This paper reports procedure of calculating trees height using the DSM generated by the PRISM and its validation.