Phase I : "North American Forest Disturbance and Regrowth Since 1972"
In 2005, phase I of the NAFD project began. Building on the preliminary work of the protoype study, the science components of the project were expanded to the conterminous US. Also, a NASA Applied Sciences Program element was added. The primary goal of the Phase I science activity was to statisticaly describe US forest disturbance and regrowth dynamics for the past 30+ years using a sample of 23 Landsat scenes.
This involved developing a statistically-defensible sampling design to select Landsat scenes, producing Landsat Time Series Stacks (LTSS) for each of the sample locations, analyzing the LTSS with the project's Forestness Index (FI), esimating national statistics on forest dynamics, and exploration of statistical models to convert reflectance time series trajectories to biomass trajectories. In order to better assess the observed Landsat spectral trajectories, comparisons with FIA field inventory data , spectral canopy modeling, and map validation are being carried out.
To be redirected to the original web page of the Phase I NAFD study, please click HERE.
Sampling Design
