Assessing the Influence of Acquisition Time in Forest Canopy Cover Estimation Using ICESat-2 ATL08 Dataset

Abstract

Aim of study: This study investigates the estimation success of using day and night segments in producing Forest Canopy Cover (FCC) maps with the Canopy Cover Estimation Model (CCEM) for the years 2020 and 2022.
 Area of study: The study area covers 17 interconnected counties situated in the southeastern part of Texas state, adjacent to the state of Louisiana, and near the southern coastlines, known for their extensive forested areas.
 Material and methods: This study incorporated both day and night acquisition segments from Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) data for a comprehensive comparison of their effectiveness in mapping the forest canopy cover using the CCEM. 
 Main results: The study’s findings reveal that night segment-derived FCC maps outperform those derived from day segments, showing higher kappa coefficients of 0.77 and 0.83 for the years 2020 and 2022, respectively. In addition, notable differences were observed among classes of FCC estimations successes for day and night segment-derived maps.
 Research highlights: This study introduces a significant finding that the FCC maps derived from night segments yield more accurate results than those derived from day segments. The study further discovers a notable difference in the forest canopy cover classification success, particularly with a lower accuracy observed in the Moderate Forest Canopy Cover (MFCC) category.