Combining RapidEye satellite images and forest inventory data for assesment of forest biomass

Abstract

The paper presents the results of estimation of growing stock volume and live biomass in forest stands using combination of forest inventory measurements, multispectral satellite images RapidEye and digital elevation model (DEM). In a context of classification of remote sensing data we considered two nonparametric methods – k-Nearest Neighbors (k-NN) and Random Forest (RF). We concluded that RF outperforms kNN method nevertheless both of them provide quite accurate estimation of mean value of growing volume in a range of ±5 m3·ha-1, different components of aboveground biomass - ±1–2 t·ha-1.