Potentials of Remote Sensing in Forestry

Scientific Essay from the year 2023 in the subject Geography / Earth Science - Cartography, Geographic Information Science and Geodesy, grade: 1,3, University of Tubingen, language: English, abstract: Forest ecosystems are vital for sustaining biodiversity, mitigating climate change, and supporting various economic activities. However, the forestry sector faces challenges such as deforestation, illegal logging, forest degradation, and inefficient resource management. Remote sensing, a technique that acquires data about Earth's surface from a distance, offers great potential in addressing these challenges. This paper discusses the potentials of remote sensing in the field of forestry, focusing on important variables, indices, and parameters. It explores the various types of remote sensing data, including optical, RADAR, and LiDAR, and their applications in forestry. The paper emphasizes the significance of remote sensing in forest inventory, monitoring forest change, assessing biodiversity and soil qualities, and estimating above-ground biomass. It also highlights the importance of tree species mapping and damage detection using remote sensing. The examples presented demonstrate the capabilities of remote sensing in providing valuable information for forest management, climate change initiatives, and conservation efforts. Despite challenges, remote sensing has the potential to contribute to the sustainable use and protection of forest resources. Continued development of measurement methods and models can improve the accuracy and reliability of remote sensing applications in forestry.