Assessment of the Potential for Determining the Height and Projective Cover of Protective Forest Stands Using ICESat-2 Data

Abstract

This report presents an analysis of the potential of using the information product ATL08 derived from the ATLAS/ICESat-2 (Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System/Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite) satellite lidar to determine the height of protective forest stands. Height measurements, corresponding to vegetation based on lidar data from 2019 to 2022, were compared with the results of aerial photography processing conducted in Volgograd oblast in 2022. A significant strong correlation was found between the mean and maximum canopy heights determined from aerial survey and laser scanning data for 20 × 14-m segments with a woody and shrub vegetation cover exceeding 50%. For the mean canopy height, the root mean square error (RMSE) is ±0.7 m and coefficient of determination R² = 0.85; for the maximum canopy height, RMSE = 2.2 m and R² = 0.83. Comparison of projective cover using lidar data, calculated as the ratio of the number of photons above a certain threshold height to the total number of photons in the segment, with aerial photography data showed insufficient accuracy of this approach. The results suggest that ATL08 lidar data holds promise for evaluating the height of protective forest stands, although it may not be suitable for determining projective cover.