Identification of forest cutting in managed forest of Haldwani, India using ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 SAR data

Abstract

Large-scale forest clear-cut identification is one of the major application of remote sensing techniques. ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 is the latest SAR satellite providing multi-polarized L-band SAR data. With increasing deforestation, it is important to assess the potential of SAR data for identifying clear-cuts in forest regions. In this research work, multi-temporal ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 SAR data and supplementary Landsat-8 optical data sets are acquired over Indian tropical forest, and SAR parameters are analysed over a progressively clear-cut Teak plantation. Sensitivity of the SAR parameters to progressive clear-cuts is estimated and found that the cross-polarized backscatter σ_HV⁰ and entropy parameter H are most sensitive to both partial and complete clear-cut in forest compartments. An entropy thresholding based classification is carried out to identify clear-cut regions with a good accuracy. The study highlights the utility of SAR parameters to monitor forest clear-cuts for better forest management.

Keywords: ALOS-2; Clear-cut; Forest; Synthetic aperture radar (SAR); Tropical.