How to determine the leaf area index (LAI) of forests: A comparison of forest inventory versus satellite-driven estimates

IF 4.4 1区农林科学 Q1 FORESTRY Forest Ecosystems Pub Date : 2025-08-01 Epub Date: 2025-04-11 DOI:10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100332

Muhammed Sinan, Hubert Hasenauer

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Abstract

Leaf area index (LAI) is a key measure of forest stand physiology and biomass production, and is essential within ecosystem modeling. There are two common approaches to obtaining LAI: (i) terrestrial forest inventory-based “bottom–up”, and (ii) satellite-based “top–down” techniques. The purpose of this study is to compare terrestrial LAI from allometric functions applied to more than 30,000 trees of the Austrian National Forest Inventory (NFI) vs. satellite-based LAI estimates obtained from moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Sentinel (Sentinel-3 TOC reflectance and PROBA-V) data across Austrian forests. We analyzed a satellite pixel-to-plot aggregation and obtained the full inventory data set for the LAI comparison. The results suggest that terrestrial vs. satellite (MODIS and Sentinel) driven LAI estimates are consistent, but (i) the variation of the terrestrial forest inventory LAI is larger vs. the pixel average LAI from satellite data, and (ii) any satellite LAI estimation needs a forest stand density correction if the crown competition factor (CCF), a measure for stand density, is < 250 to avoid an overestimation in LAI.

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如何确定森林的叶面积指数（LAI）：森林清查与卫星估算的比较

叶面积指数（LAI）是林分生理和生物量生产的重要指标，在生态系统建模中具有重要意义。获取LAI有两种常见方法：(i)基于陆地森林清查的“自下而上”技术和（ii）基于卫星的“自上而下”技术。本研究的目的是比较奥地利国家森林调查（NFI）中3万多棵树木的异速生长函数与奥地利森林中中分辨率成像光谱辐射计（MODIS）和Sentinel （Sentinel-3 TOC反射率和PROBA-V）数据获得的基于卫星的LAI估计值。我们分析了卫星像素到图的聚合，并获得了用于LAI比较的完整清单数据集。结果表明，陆地和卫星（MODIS和Sentinel）驱动的LAI估计值是一致的，但(i)陆地森林清盘LAI的变化大于卫星数据的像元平均LAI，（ii）任何卫星LAI估计值都需要对林分密度进行校正，如果测量林分密度的树冠竞争因子（CCF）为<；250，以避免LAI的高估。

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来源期刊

Forest Ecosystems Environmental Science-Nature and Landscape Conservation

CiteScore

7.10

自引率

4.90%

发文量

1115

审稿时长

22 days

期刊介绍： Forest Ecosystems is an open access, peer-reviewed journal publishing scientific communications from any discipline that can provide interesting contributions about the structure and dynamics of "natural" and "domesticated" forest ecosystems, and their services to people. The journal welcomes innovative science as well as application oriented work that will enhance understanding of woody plant communities. Very specific studies are welcome if they are part of a thematic series that provides some holistic perspective that is of general interest.