2019 年 18 巻 論文ID: 001
A determination of forest characteristics across broad areas is of great concern to the forest industry in the southern United States, as timber supply decisions can be based on opportunities, or lack of thereof, across all wood procurement areas. This is important in areas such as the southern United States, where the land ownership distribution is highly fragmented and where no general comprehensive source of forest data exists other than the low-intensity USDA Forest Service FIA surveys. In an effort to describe forest characteristics along the lower Coastal Plain of the State of Georgia (USA), we utilized a time series of Landsat data and an algorithm that assesses an integrated forest Z score. The methodology was used to create disturbance maps for over 30 years that represent the year of disturbance for specific locations. The overall accuracy was 52% when all years were considered, and approximately 70% from 1991 forward. Preliminary findings showed moderate levels of accuracy when determining ages for current forests, most of which are even-aged nature stands. Further modifications to the process were necessary to adapt to the unique conditions of study region. The modeling process also prompted several areas for future refinement, including improvement of the temporal resolution of the analysis by using all the available Landsat imagery and detection of the regeneration that normally occurs several years after disturbances.
