Spaceborne potential for examining taiga–tundra ecotone  form and
vulnerability

Montesano, Paul M.; Sun, Guoqing; Dubayah, Ralph O.; Ranson, K. Jon

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-3847-2016

Articles | Volume 13, issue 13

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-3847-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-3847-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 13, issue 13

Research article

|

06 Jul 2016

Research article |

| 06 Jul 2016

Spaceborne potential for examining taiga–tundra ecotone form and vulnerability

Paul M. Montesano, Guoqing Sun, Ralph O. Dubayah, and K. Jon Ranson

Data sets

Global Forest Change Hansen, Potapov, Moore, Hancher et al. https://earthenginepartners.appspot.com/science-2013-global-forest

ALOS-1 PALSAR Global Radar Imagery, 2006-2011 Alaska Satellite Facility https://www.asf.alaska.edu/sar-data/palsar/

GLAS/ICESat L2 Global Land Surface Altimetry Data, Version 34 H. J. Zwally, R. Schutz, C. Bentley, J. Bufton, T. Herring, J. Minster, J. Spinhirne, and R. Thomas https://doi.org/10.5067/ICESAT/GLAS/DATA227

Short summary

We demonstrate the potential of spaceborne data for integrating forest height and density to assess forest structure for patches in the taiga–tundra ecotone. We map forest patches at sites in northern Siberia with spaceborne data and examine the uncertainty of forest patch height estimates across these ecotone sites. Results demonstrate the opportunities for improving patch-based spaceborne estimates of forest height and forest structure patterns in the circumpolar domain.