Large-scale mangrove canopy height map generation from TanDEM-X data by means of Pol-InSAR techniques

Mangroves are among the most-carbon rich forest in subtropics and tropics, containing on average 1,023 Mg carbon per hectare [1]. In order to better estimate mangrove biomass, carbon dynamics and land coverage changes, mangrove canopy height is a key parameter. However, there is a surprisingly absence of information needed for global-scale mangrove height mapping because of the lack of high spatial resolution data, available spaceborne data sets, and modeling techniques. In recent studies, the first single-pass TanDEM-X data showed a great possibility of mangrove canopy height estimate with accuracies comparable to airborne lidar canopy height model with single- and dual-Pol-InSAR techniques. Based on the method mentioned in [2], we here generated large-scale mangrove canopy height map with a 12-m spatial resolution over Sundarbans, the world largest mangrove forest, from existing global TDX acquisitions. The inversion result for mangrove canopy height was validated against field measurement data; a correlation coefficient of 0.852 and a RMSE of 0.774 m.