Processing of Remotely Sensed Photographs for Estimating Forest Resources

Abstract

A technique for processing of photographs taken from air (scale of 1: 25,000 or 1: 6,000) to estimate the number of trees in a particular area is presented. A choice of suitable spectral channel is made so that one obtains a good contrast between background cover and the trees of interest. A number of different photographs containing various numbers of tree crowns but with the same background cover are selected and a relationship between reflectance and number of trees is established both analytically and experimentally. The photographic transparencies are processed optically using a coherent source, viz. He-Ne laser, to establish the above relationship. The experimental results are reported and discussed in the context of real situations.