ON THE APPLICABILITY OF LANDSAT TM IMAGES TO MEDITERRANEAN FOREST INVENTORIES

Landsat TM images were used in combination with field measurements to create models for Mediterranean forests. Radiometric data from those i mages were related to field data from a forest inventory by means of r egression analysis. Trials using plots with radiometrically homogeneou s surroundings were carried out to evaluate the effect of high spatial heterogeneity frequently found in Mediterranean forests. Simple regre ssion models were found to be consistent with the expected radiometric response of vegetation, and most of the multiple regression models fi tted the observations sufficiently in order to make quantitative predi ctions for field variables from the remote sensing images. According t o this study, however. these models should be regarded as exploratory models rather than fully operational ones. Spatially and non-spatially related factors are suggested as causes of the remaining dispersion o f models created. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.