Once an image has been classified successfully one parameter that the ecological community is interested in is some measure of the biomass: how much living vegetation there is. Currently, the only way to accurately estimate the biomass is through the use of fits of the radar backscatter values to known biomass values for surveyed areas on the ground. Some examples are shown below:

Some of our publications in this area:

• Pierce, L.E., K. Sarabandi, and F.T. Ulaby, ``Application of an artificial neural network in a canopy scattering model inversion,'' Int. J. Remote Sensing, vol. 15, no. 16, 3263-3270, 1994. [Abstract] [umNNinversion.ps (180KB)] [umNNinversion.ps.gz (40KB)] [umNNinversion.ps.zip (40KB)]
  
  
• Dobson, M. C., F. T. Ulaby, and L. E. Pierce, Land-Cover Classification and Estimation of Terrain Attributes Using Synthetic Aperture Radar Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 51, No. 1, pp. 199-214, Jan. 1995. [Abstract] [umClassEst.ps.gz]
  
  
• Dobson, M. C., F. T. Ulaby, L. E. Pierce, T. L. Sharik, K. M. Bergen, J. Kellndorfer, J. R. Kendra, E. Li, Y. C. Lin, A. Nashashibi, K. Sarabandi and P. Siqueira, "Estimation of Forest Biophysical Characteristics in Northern Michigan with SIR-C/X-SAR, IEEE Trans. Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 877-895, July 1995. [Abstract] [umBiophysSIRC.ps.gz]
  
  
• Kasischke, E. S., J. M. Melack and M. C. Dobson, The Use of Imaging Radars for Ecological Applications - A Review, Remote Sensing of Environment, January 1996, accepted. [umEcology.ps.gz]
  
  
• Bergen, K.M., M.C. Dobson, L.E. Pierce and F.T. Ulaby, Characterizing Carbon Dynamics in a Northern Forest Using SIR-C/X-SAR Imagery, Remote Sensing of Environment, Aug. 1996, submitted.      [Abstract] [umCarbon.ps.gz 2.6MB] [umCarbon.ps.zip 2.6MB] [umCarbonBW.ps.gz 860KB] [umCarbonBW.ps.zip 860KB]
  
  
• Dobson, M. Craig, Leland E. Pierce, Fawwaz T. Ulaby, Evaluation of SAR Sensor Configurations for Terrain Classification and Forest Biophysical Retrievals, International Journal of Remote Sensing, submitted 3-98. [Abstract] [umSensconfig.pdf]