Hagen, Stephen (Steve): Applied Geosolutions (Project Lead)
Braswell, Bobby (Rob): Applied Geosolutions (Co-Investigator)
Harris, Nancy: World Resources Institute (Co-Investigator)
Palace, Michael: University of New Hampshire (Co-Investigator)
Salas, William: Applied GeoSolutions (Co-Investigator)
Saatchi, Sassan: Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Caltech (Institution Lead)
Blair, Bryan: NASA GSFC (Participant)
Lawrence, Deborah: University of Virginia (Participant)
Kustiyo, Kustiyo: Indonesia National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) (Stakeholder)
Project Funding:
2013 - 2016
NRA: 2013 NASA: Carbon Monitoring System
Funded by NASA
Abstract:
Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have been requested to establish robust and transparent national forest monitoring systems (NFMS) that use a combination of remote sensing and ground-based forest carbon inventory approaches to estimate anthropogenic forest-related greenhouse gas emissions and removals, reducing uncertainties as far as possible. A country's NFMS should also be used for data collection to inform the assessment of national or subnational forest reference emission levels and/or forest reference levels (RELs/RLs). In this way, the NFMS forms the link between historical assessments and current/future assessments, enabling consistency in the data and information to support the implementation of REDD+ activities in countries. The creation of a reliable, transparent, and comprehensive NFMS is currently limited by a dearth of relevant data that are accurate, low-cost, and spatially resolved at subnational scales.
We propose to develop, evaluate, and validate several critical components of a NFMS in Kalimantan, Indonesia, focusing on the use of LiDAR and radar imagery for improved carbon stock and forest degradation information. Our goal will be to evaluate sensor and platform tradeoffs systematically against in situ investments, as well as provide detailed tracking and characterization of uncertainty in a cost-benefit framework. Kalimantan is an ideal area to evaluate the use of remote sensing methods because measuring forest carbon stocks and their human caused changes with a high degree of certainty in areas of dense tropical forests has proven to be difficult. While the proposed NFMS components will be developed at the subnational scale for Kalimantan, we will target these methods for applicability across broader geographies and for implementation at various scales.
This proposed research will advance the state of the art of Measuring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) system methodologies in ways that are both technical and operational. First, because a primary focus of carbon monitoring systems, especially in developing countries, is on cost-effectiveness, our analysis of optimal inputs of information from various satellite, airborne, and in situ measurements will provide valuable practical information that countries can use to consider the tradeoffs. Second, because quantifying and understanding uncertainty is critical both in an Earth science research context and with regard to payment for ecosystem services, our development of reusable methods for tracking and evaluating uncertainty within a carbon monitoring system will provide a framework for stakeholders and researchers to understand and minimize errors across MRV components. Third, because carbon monitoring requires integration of advanced technologies with multidisciplinary scientific methods from forestry, ecology, soil science, remote sensing and biogeochemistry, our team's expertise is particularly well-constructed to address these complex scientific and technical issues.
Publications:
Ferraz, A., Saatchi, S., Xu, L., Hagen, S., Chave, J., Yu, Y., Meyer, V., Garcia, M., Silva, C., Roswintiart, O., Samboko, A., Sist, P., Walker, S., Pearson, T. R. H., Wijaya, A., Sullivan, F. B., Rutishauser, E., Hoekman, D., Ganguly, S. 2018. Carbon storage potential in degraded forests of Kalimantan, Indonesia. Environmental Research Letters. 13(9), 095001. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aad782
Melendy, L., Hagen, S. C., Sullivan, F. B., Pearson, T. R. H., Walker, S. M., Ellis, P., Kustiyo, K., Sambodo, A. K., Roswintiarti, O., Hanson, M. A., Klassen, A. W., Palace, M. W., Braswell, B. H., Delgado, G. M. 2018. Automated method for measuring the extent of selective logging damage with airborne LiDAR data. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. 139, 228-240. DOI: 10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2018.02.022
Pearson, T. R. H., Bernal, B., Hagen, S. C., Walker, S. M., Melendy, L. K., Delgado, G. 2018. Remote assessment of extracted volumes and greenhouse gases from tropical timber harvest. Environmental Research Letters. 13(6), 065010. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aac1fa
2015 NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop Poster(s)
- Forest Monitoring in Indonesia: Using an extensive LiDAR data set to map forest carbon stock and logging impacts
-- (Stephen Hagen, Franklin B. Sullivan, Sassan Saatchi, Timothy Pearson, Michael Palace, Bobby H. Braswell, Sandra Brown, William A. Salas, Matthew Hanson)
[abstract]
More details may be found in the following project profile(s):
