Toward precision forestry: plot-level parameter retrieval for slash pine plantations with JPL AIRSAR

During an EOCAP-SAR project, Airsar P-, L-, and C-band data were used to test the capability of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to predict biometric parameters which are frequently used by timber managers as inputs to growth, harvest, and yield models. Test site was a commercially managed area in Jesup, southeastern Georgia, with stands owned by Plum Creek Timber Company. A biometric survey data set from 118 cluster plots in two thinned and two unthinned slash pine stands was used to determine the correlation with the Airsar data at the plot level. A statistical model was used to test all possible scenarios of polarimetric and frequency combinations. Using a weighted least squares linear regression model, P_HV proved to be the single most significant band/polarization combination to correlate with dominant height, basal area, and volume at adjusted squared correlation coefficients of 0.70, 0.80, and 0.84, respectively.