Determining coniferous forest cover and forest fragmentation with NOAA-9 advanced very high resolution radiometer data

NOAA-9 satellite data from the Advanced Very High Resolu-tion Radiometer (AVHRR) were used in conjunction withLandsat Multispectral Scanner (MSS) data to determine theproportion of closed canopy conifer forest cover in the Cas-cade Range of Oregon. A closed canopy conifer map, as de-termined from the MSS, was registered with AVHRR pixels.Regression was used to relate closed canopy conifer forestcover to AVHRR spectral data. A two-variable (band) regres-sion model accounted for more variance in conifer coverthan the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Thespectral signatures of various conifer successional stageswere also examined. A map of Oregon was produced show-ing the proportion of closed canopy conifer cover for eachAVHRR pixel. The AVHRR was responsive to both the percent-age of closed canopy conifer cover and the successionalstage in these temperate coniferous forests in this experiment.