A helicopter-borne eight-channel ranging scatterometer for remote sensing. II. Forest inventory

For pt.I see ibid., vol.31, no.1, p.161-9 (1993). Forest inventory methods based on data acquired with an airborne ranging radar are discussed. The approach can be used to partly automate present labor-dominated forest inventory methods. Using these methods, the mean and dominant tree height can be measured with a standard deviation of 1 m. The stem volume per hectare can be estimated with a relative accuracy of 15% by effectively counting the height distribution of the trees and by calculating the center of backscattered power from the forest canopy profile for a stand with a diameter of 40 m. The methods have been developed using a helicopter-borne eight-channel ranging scatterometer, HUTSCAT, which can measure a radar forest canopy profile with a range resolution of 65 cm