APPICATION OF REMOTE SENSING IN FORESTY

REMOTE SENSING:

•      It is the science of acquiring information about the Earth’s surface without actually being in contact with it.

•      This is done by sensing and recording reflected or emitted energy and processing, analyzing and applying that information.

FORESTRY:

    Forests are a valuable resource for:

•      Providing food, shelter, wildlife habitat, fuel and daily supplies such as medicinal ingredients and paper.

•      Balancing the Earth’s CO2    supply and exchange.

•      Depletion of forest resources has long term effects on climate, soil conservation, biodiversity and hydrological regimes.

OBJECTIVES:

•      To consistently and repeatedly monitor forests over large areas, it is desirable to use remote sensing data and automated image analysis techniques.

•      For sustainable forest management.

•      For protection of valuable forest resources.

•      To determine the animal’s life and civilization in the forest.

•      To determine life of the trees and medicinal ingredients .

REMOTE SENSING IN FORESTRY:

•      Several types of remote sensing data, including Aerial photography, Optical Multispectral Scanner, Radar, Lidar (Laser) and Video graphic data have been used by forest research and operational agencies to detect, identify, classify, evaluate and measure various forest cover types and their changes.

•      Remote sensing can detect, identify, classify, evaluate and measure various forest characteristics in two ways:

  

  Qualitative analysis

    Here, remote sensing can classify forest cover types to: coniferous and deciduous forest, mangrove forest, swamp forest, forest plantations, etc.

    Quantitative analysis

    Here remote sensing measures or estimates forest parameters (e.g. height, basal area, number of trees per unite area, timber volume and woody biomass), floristic composition, life forms, and structure.

FORESTRY APPLICATIONS OF REMOTE SENSING INCLUDES:

Ø   Reconnaissance mapping

•       Forest cover updating

•       Depletion monitoring

•       Measuring biophysical properties of forest stands

    

Ø  Commercial forestry

•      Clear cut mapping

•      Burn delineation infrastructure mapping

•      Forestry inventory

•      Biomass estimation

•      Species inventory

Ø  Environmental monitoring

    Monitoring the quantity, health and diversity of the earth’s forests.

•      Deforestation

•      Species inventory

•      Watershed protection

•      Coastal protection

BURN MAPPING:

•      Fires spread quickly and threaten settlements and wildlife, eliminate timber supplies and damage conservation areas.

•       Remote sensing help in detecting  and monitoring forest fires.

     Methodology:

·         Passive remote sensing

Ø   Haze and smoke reflect a large amount of energy.

·         Spaceborne remote sensing

Ø  For burn mapping  moderate spatial coverage, high to moderate resolution and a low around time are required.

Ø   Comparing burned areas to active fire areas provides information as to the rate and direction of the movement of the fire.

·         Active sensor

   In humid tropical areas  forest  measurements are difficult to obtain.

   It provides the only feasible source of data and facilitate regular monitoring.

• Airborne sensor

    For detailed species and forest typing   identification, very high resolution data are needed.

    It provides updates to any change in the baseline.

MERITS:

•      Full Coverage of the area in relatively short time

•      Less costs due to reduced sampling intensity (some satellite data are freely available)

•      Visual documentation of the situation and the changes

•      Generation of map data

•      Accessibility of information from terrestrial inaccessible or “difficult to access” areas

•      Increase of national capacity in mapping, monitoring and reporting

•      More harmonized information assessment for the whole country.