27364 - Forest inventories and remote sensing

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, the student will have acquired a basic understanding of forest monitoring, with a specific focus on the most recent developments in airborne and satellite remote sensing. In particular, the student will be able to: plan and carry out the monitoring of forest resources; know and apply basic procedures based on airborne and satellite remote sensing.

Course contents

Background knowledge. The student must have an adequate background knowledge in statistics and physics and basic knowledge and practical skills in geomatics (GIS, principles of remote sensing); if not already available, such a background can be acquired from the optional course 57929 (Laboratorio di geomatica).

 

Unit 1. Design of forest inventories (15 hrs)

1.1 Basics of statistics

1.2 Sampling methods in forest inventories: random, systematic, stratified, by groups, multi-phase

1.3 Planning and execution of field sampling

1.4 Forest mensuration and the design of sampling plots

1.5 Variable probability sampling: the measurement of coarse woody debris

 

Unit 2. Forest inventories (10 hrs)  

2.1 Aims and meaning of forest inventories

2.2 The components of a forest inventory. Forest surveys vs inventories

2.3 The Italian National Inventory of Forest C stocks (INFC)

2.4 Other examples of forest inventories in Europe and in the world

2.5 Forest inventory harmonization in space and time

 

Unit 3. Advances in remote sensing  (10 hrs)

3.1 Spectral signatures of vegetation and natural materials

3.2 Atmospheric correction of satellite imagery

3.3 Terrain correction of satellite imagery

 

Unità 4. Remote sensing applications for forestry and the environment (20 hrs)

4.1 Supervised classification of land-use types. The CORINE Land Cover classification

4.2 Un-supervised classification of land-use types

4.3 Remote sensing of forest productivity: NDVI, nutritional status

4.4 Laser scanning for the assessment of forest height and biomass

4.5 Radar remote sensing for the assessment of forest biomass

4.6 Spatialization of forest inventories by the k-NN (k-nearest neighbors) technique

4.7 Other methods for the spatialization of point data (Voronoy polygons, kriging)

Unit 5 .   Elements of photogrammetry (5 hrs)

5.1 Elements of photogrammetry

5.2 Photogrammetry applications: forest classification, tree mensuration

Readings/Bibliography

Considering the wide range of topics addressed, the course can be studied on slides and material provided by the lecturer on AMS Campus. For further reading:

1. Brivio P.A., Lechi G., Zilioli E. (2006) Principi e Metodi di Telerilevamento. CittàStudi Edizioni

2. Corona P. (2000). Introduzione al rilevamento campionario delle risorse forestali. CLUSF. Firenze

3. Dainelli N. (2011). L'osservazione della terra. Fotointerpretazione. Dario Flaccovio Editore

4. Casagrande L., Cavallini P., Frigeri A., Furieri A., Marchesini I., Neteler M. (2012). GIS Open Source. GRASS GIS, Quantum GIS e SpatiaLite. Elementi di software libero applicato al territorio. Dario Flaccovio Editore.

Teaching methods

The course is largely based on lectures, integrated by a large number of practicals under the direct guide of the lecturer, concerning (i) the planning and execution of inventory measurements, and their statistical analysis, (ii) the analysis of remote sensing data in a fully equipped computer room. More specifically:

- Unit 1 (Design of forest inventories): (i) planning of forest measurements, in computer room; (ii) field practicals (1/2 day), execution of forest sampling (sampling plots; line measurements for the assessment of coarse woody debris); (iii) statistical analysis of results in computer room;

- Unit 2 (Forest inventories): practicals in computer room, analysis of aerial photographs for the classification of forested areas (INFC methodology);

- Unit 3 (Advances in remote sensing): practicals in computer room, application of QGIS software to Landsat TM imagery for (i) atmospheric corrections and (ii) terrain corrections;

- Unit 4 ( Remote sensing applications for forestry and the environment ): practicals in computer room, application of GRASS software to Landsat TM imagery for (i) supervised classification, (ii) un-supervised classification, (iii) computation of spectral indexes, (iv) spatialization by k-NN method;

- Unit 5 (Elements of photogrammetry): practicals in computer room, application of QGIS software on aerial photographs.

Lectures will be integrated with meetings with professionals about the topics covered by the course.

Assessment methods

The course is part of Corso Integrato (Monitoraggio degli ecosistemi) together with 66101 (Ecosistemi vegetali, habitat protetti e ripristini ambientali) .
The joint exams for the entire Corso integrato take into account the knowledge and proficiency of the student in both courses. The knowledge and proficiency in the current course are assessed as follows.

The test is based on a final oral exam. The assessment is based on the understanding demonstrated by the individual student, on the discussion of practicals and and on the quality of his presentation. The exam lasts approximatively 45 minutes.

Teaching tools

Practicals in computer room, with PCs available for each student and freeware software (QGIS, GRASS) for image analysis. Instrumentation for forest mensuration during the field practicals. Slides for all lectures are made available beforehand to the students through the AMS Campus portal.

Links to further information

http://www.sian.it/inventarioforestale/

Office hours

See the website of Federico Magnani