• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.36 no.2_2
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• pp.325-335
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• 2020

Forest canopy height can be used for estimate of above-ground forest biomass (AGB) by means of the allometric equation. The remote locations and harsh conditions of mangrove forests limit the number of field inventory data stations needed for large-scale modeling of carbon and biomass dynamics. Although active and passive spaceborne sensors have proven successful in mapping mangroves globally, the sensors generally have coarse spatial resolution and overlook small-scale features. Here we generate a 12 m spatial resolution mangrove canopy height map from TanDEM-X data acquired over the world largest intact mangrove forest located in the Sundarbans. With single-pol. TanDEM-X data from 2011 to 2013, the proposed technique makes use of the fact that the double-bounce scattering that occurs between the water and mangrove trees yields water surface level elevation over mangrove forest areas, thus allowing us to estimate forest height with the assumption of an underlying flat topography. Our observations have led to a large-scale mangrove canopy height map over the entire Sundarbans region at a 12 m spatial resolution. Our canopy height estimates were validated with ground measurements acquired in 2015, a correlation coefficient of 0.83 and a RMSE of 0.84 m. With globally available TanDEM-X data, the technique described here will potentially provide accurate global maps of mangrove canopy height at 12 m spatial resolution and provide crucial information for understanding biomass and carbon dynamics in the mangrove ecosystems.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.439-450
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• 2018

The lineament is a linear or curved terrain element to discriminate adjacent geological structures in each other. It has been widely used for analysis of geology, mineral exploration, natural disasters, and earthquake, etc. In the past, the lineament has been extracted using cartographic map or field survey. However, it is possible to extract more efficiently the lineament for a very wide area thanks to development of remote sensing technique. Remotely sensed observation by aircraft, satellite, or digital elevation model (DEM) has been used for visual recognition for manual lineament extraction. Automatic approaches using computer science have been proposed to extract lineament more objectively. In this study, we evaluate the characteristics of lineament which is automatically extracted with respect to difference of spatial resolution of DEM. We utilized two types of DEM: one is Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) with spatial resolution of about 90 m (3 arc sec), and the other is the latest world DEM of TerraSAR-X add-on for Global DEM with 12 m spatial resolution. In addition, a global DEM was resampled to produce a DEM with a spatial resolution of 30 m (1 arc sec). The shaded relief map was constructed considering various sun elevation and solar azimuth angle. In order to extract lineament automatically, we used the LINE module in PCI Geomatica software. We found that predominant direction of the extracted lineament is about $N15-25^{\circ}E$ (NNE), regardless of spatial resolution of DEM. However, more fine and detailed lineament were extracted using higher spatial resolution of DEM. The result shows that the lineament density is proportional to the spatial resolution of DEM. Thus, the DEM with appropriate spatial resolution should be selected according to the purpose of the study.