Using ICESat’s Geoscience laser Altimeter System to Assess Large Scale Forest Disturbance Caused by Hurricane Katrina
Katelyn
Anne
Dolan, University of New Hampshire, kdolan@unh.edu
(Presenting)
George
C
Hurtt, University of New Hampshire, george.hurtt@unh.edu
Jeff
Q
Chambers, Tulane University, chambers@tulane.edu
Ralph
O
Dubayah, University of Maryland, dubayah@umd.edu
Jeffery
G
Masek, NASA Goddard Flight Center, jeffery.g.masek@nasa.gov
Scientists are actively trying to understand the role of forest disturbance and recovery in the global carbon cycle. When Hurricane Katrina hit the southeast coast in 2005 it created much destruction but also opportunity for further understanding hurricanes impacts on forest systems and the carbon cycle. Recent estimates of damage from hurricane Katrina have relied primarily on optical remote sensing and field data and have shown a range of damage estimates. This paper assesses the use of GLAS data to quantify changes in forest structure after large-scale forest damage. GLAS data for three seasons for the year prior to and following Hurricane Katrina were compared to wind speed, forest cover, and damage maps to analyze senor sampling, and changes in mean canopy height over all areas experience tropical force winds and greater. Significant losses in mean canopy height post-Katrina were detected that increased with wind intensity, from ~0.5m in forests hit by tropical storm winds to ~4m in forests experiencing category two force winds. A strong relationship was also found between change in non-photosynthetic vegetation, a metric strongly correlated to storm damage, and post storm mean canopy heights. Season of data acquisition was shown to influence calculations of mean canopy height. Furthermore, Insufficient sampling limited the ability to adequately detect changes at one degree resolution and less. Results from this study show promise for using space-born lidar for large scale damage assessments but also emphasis limitations on the scope and scale at which current data can quantify hurricane damage.
Presentation Type: Poster
Poster Session: Ecosystems Science
NASA TE Funded Awards Represented:
NONE: Related Activity or Previously Funded TE Award