Determination of stand properties in boreal and temperate forests using high-resolution imagery

The existence of a relatively long (ca. 40 yr) satellite imagery archive fo r examination of potential worldwide forest change motivated an inspection of the relation between forest features observable from higher resolution a irborne and satellite imagery and measures of forest biomass, height, and a ge. Using these data, we inspected the relation between stand age, mean dia meter, height, and standing aboveground biomass for forest stands located i n boreal forest (near Fairbanks, Alaska) and temperate forest (near Durham, North Carolina). The features of a spatial statistic, semivariance, prove to be related to the structure, age, and biomass patterns of these forests. These initial results indicate the feasibility of using appropriately cali brated high-resolution satellite imagery to estimate and monitor abovegroun d carbon reserves of forests.