Characterisation of Arctic treelines by LiDAR and multispectral imagery

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Author: Rees, W. G.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2007
• Subjects: Arctic; Norway; Finnmark; International Polar Year; Polar Record; taiga; Tundra
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247407006511; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247407006511

ABSTRACT The Arctic treeline, or more precisely the tundra-taiga interface (TTI) region, is poorly defined and characterised despite its high climatological significance. The international coordinated research programme ‘ PPS Arctic ’, under the auspices of the International Polar Year, represents one response to this gap in our knowledge. This paper presents preliminary work within one of the four principal research areas of PPS Arctic , the characterisation of spatial variations in vegetation, land cover and land use in the TTI using remote sensing methods. Airborne remote sensing data were collected from a 120 km 2 TTI study site near Porsangmoen, Finnmark, Norway in 2004 and 2005. Three datasets were acquired: two sets of multispectral visible-infrared imagery with spatial resolutions of around 3 m, and airborne scanning LiDAR data with a horizontal resolution of 2 m and a vertical precision of around 0.2 m. While some difficulties were experienced in processing and analysing the imagery, the LiDAR data proved exceptionally well suited to the task of characterising the structure of the forest edge. Preliminary analyses were strongly suggestive of fractal characteristics, with corresponding consequences for the scale-dependence of descriptors such as canopy density and the location of the forest edge.