An automatic mosaicking algorithm for generating a large-scale forest stand height map using spaceborne repeat-pass InSAR coherence

This paper describes the algorithm and results for an automatic mosaicking method in generating a large-scale forest stand height (FSH) map utilizing spaceborne repeat-pass HV-pol InSAR coherence data. This technique demonstrates the capability for creating FSH metrics that can cover large areas. By using repeat-pass InSAR correlation measurements that are dominated by temporal decorrelation and scene-wide fitting parameters (two) that depend on the mean random motion and dielectric changes of the volume scatterers within the scene, it can be shown that a height sensitive measure can be created and validated over the whole scene. In order to combine these single-scene results into a mosaic, a matrix formulation is used with nonlinear least squares (NLS) and observations in adjacent-scene overlap areas to create a self-consistent estimate of FSH over the larger region. This mosaicking algorithm is validated over the US state of Maine by comparing the inverted FSH with Laser Vegetation Imaging Sensor (LVIS) height and National Biomass and Carbon Dataset (NBCD) Basal Area Weighted (BAW) height.