Satellite Based Assessment of Biomass and Carbon Stock for a Mountainous Watershed Using Geoinformatics Technique

Abstract

Biomass and carbon estimation methods are relatively time consuming and more expensive, not uniformly standardized across the world, and are characterized in many regions by undersampling. Remote sensing technologies provide powerful tools for observing biomass and carbon stock estimation in mountain environments. The study gives a practical method for mapping forest biomass and carbon stock that uses spatial information on forest type and structural attributes extracted from a satellite image. This shows the concentration of biomass exhibits over the broad leaf that is located in the eastern and southern parts of the watershed. Broad leaf accounts the highest biomass accounting 79243.14 tonnes in the area of 115.35 hecrtares followed by broadleaf + conifer 7089.63 tonnes. Thereafter, carbon stock has been estimated that is derived from satellite images correspond to vegetation presence. The total carbon stock in the entire watershed is estimated 48218.02 tonnes in an area of 261 hectares. It is observed that in the study area, eastern and southern parts contained higher carbon stock that corresponds to broad leaf. The lowest carbon stock has been estimated in agricultural land and degraded land. The areas with the least carbon stock will give more attention in their economic planning and energy resources. Existing plantations are small and too young to supply a significant part of the total biomass requirements in the least growing biomass stock as carbon sequestration

Keywords: Remote sensing, mountainous environment, biomass, and carbon stock