Comparing echo-based and canopy height model-based metrics for enhancing estimation of forest aboveground biomass in a model-assisted framework

摘要

Among the forestry-related applications for which airborne laser scanning (ALS) data have been shown to be beneficial, forest inventory has been investigated as much if not more than other applications. Metrics extracted from ALS data for spatial units such as plots and grid cells are typically of two forms: echo-based metrics derived directly from the three-dimensional distribution of the point cloud data and metrics derived from a canopy height model (CHM). For both cases, a large number of metrics can be calculated and used to construct parametric and non-parametric models to predict forest variables.