Physically-based canopy reflectance model inversion of forest structure from MODIS imagery in boreal and mountainous terrain using the BIOPHYS-MFM algorithm

The Multiple Forward Mode Biophysical Structural (BIOPHYS-MFM) canopy reflectance model inversion algorithm was used to derive forest structural outputs from Terra-MODIS imagery over boreal forest and mountainous terrain. Validation results expressed as average differences against field data showed boreal and mountain retrieval accuracies for forest density within 350 and 800 stems/ha, respectively, with canopy radius on the order of 1m or less for most plots. Accuracies were generally higher in boreal forest than mountainous terrain, with the latter improved using advanced topographic correction. Higher stem density accuracies were obtained for pine versus spruce in both settings. These levels of results from MODIS are appropriate for follow-on input to carbon and other ecosystem models as well as regional-scale forest inventories and other programs.