2008 Tropical forest type and structure from and coarse resolution lidar and Landsat for the Virgin Islands

Scientists from IITF and Colorado State University (http://welcome.warnercnr.colostate.edu/) have produced the first satellite image-based map of land cover and forest type for the US and British Virgin Islands.  The map is consistent with the Caribbean Island Land Cover Map Series, but a more detailed classification of forest types is also available.  In addition, the scientists showed for the first time that coarse resolution lidar data, the kind that is commonly collected with digital aerial photos, can be used to map forest height.  The scientists used such data to map forest height for the islands of St. John and St. Thomas.  They also mapped forest biomass for those islands via its relationship with forest height.  With the maps of forest type and biomass, the scientists showed that the same forest formations are shorter and have 18% to 85% less biomass on largely unprotected St. Thomas island as compared with the island of St. John, where most of the forests are protected within the Virgin Islands National Park.  The article was published in the Journal of Applied Remote Sensing (http://spiedl.aip.org/dbt/dbt.jsp?KEY=JARSC4).