Tropical forest stand table modelling from SAR data

Diameter distributions of forest stands are modelled by the three-parameter Weibull distribution for a variety of different forest types in the Brazilian Amazon. The parameters of the function are arrived at by estimation: (1) only from tree diameters as measured in the field, and (2) only from backscatter coefficients and interferometric height measurements as obtained from airborne synthetic aperture radar. The models yield good results of fit, the modelling of forest structure, i.e. of the stand tables, is equally precise from ground data as from remote sensing data. The adopted approach provides a convincing basis for the monitoring of forest structure over huge areas at low cost by adding a new feature to the analysis of high precision SAR data. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.