Ecological Indicators 126 (2021) 107645

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Ecological Indicators
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolind

Estimation of tree height and aboveground biomass of coniferous forests in

North China using stereo ZY-3, multispectral Sentinel-2, and DEM data
Yueting Wang a, b, Xiaoli Zhang a, b, *, Zhengqi Guo a, b
a
Precision Forestry Key Laboratory of Beijing, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
b
The Key Laboratory for Silviculture and Conservation of Ministry of Education, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The forest tree height and aboveground biomass (AGB) are important indicators for monitoring changes and
ZY-3 stereo imagery trends in forest carbon storage and terrestrial carbon fluxes. Accurate large-scale wall-to-wall mapping of the
Sentinel-2 forest tree height and AGB remain challenging due to the limited data availability for extraction tree height and
Forest tree height
the data signal saturation problem in AGB estimation. In this study, we explored the potential of forest tree
Aboveground biomass
Random forest
height mapping using stereo imageries, and analyzed whether accounting for such information, in addition to
optical sensor data, could improve the performance of AGB estimations of coniferous forests in a case study in
North China. First, a spatially continuous tree height product was obtained using Ziyuan-3 satellite (ZY-3) stereo
images combined with a digital elevation model (DEM) obtained from Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS)
data. Second, two AGB estimation models were established by combining the forest tree height with vegetation
index, spectral, biophysical (from Sentinel-2 images), and topographic variables. A random forest algorithm was
utilized to evaluate the effect of including the tree height variable in the AGB estimation. The results showed that
the tree height estimation using the nadir and forward views of the ZY-3 stereo images was more accurate than
that based on the nadir and backward views from the same images. The AGB estimation model incorporating the
tree height variable with a coefficient of determination value of 0.7789, a root mean square error (RMSE) value
of 29.815 Mg/ha and a relative RMSE of 23.42% was more robust and effective, thereby demonstrating that the
tree height variable can be used to alleviate the data signal saturation issue successfully. The proposed approach
can provide new insight into forest tree height mapping and AGB products obtained from satellite stereo images
and freely accessible Sentinel-2 multispectral images.

1. Introduction considered as an important indicator of forest carbon stork, is the focus

Forest covers an area of about 4 billion hectares on the global, ac­
counting for about 31% of the global land area. It is the most extensive
ecosystem in the global terrestrial ecosystem. Forest ecosystem plays an
irreplaceable role in maintaining regional ecology and environment,
global carbon balance and mitigating global climate change (Achard
et al., 2014; Dixon et al., 1994). Forest vegetation carbon pool and its
role have become one of the hotspots and focuses of the international
community. Therefore, accurate estimation of forest biomass, which is
of carbon cycle research and global climate change.
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, located in northern China, is
one of the important national forest bases (Fang et al., 2001; Piao et al.,
2009; Woodwell et al., 1978; Xu et al., 2020). According to the 8th
Chinese Continuous Inventory of National Forest Resources Statistics
(Huang et al., 2016), Inner Mongolia’s total forest area is about 24.879
× 1010 m2, accounting for 11 percent of the country’s total forest area,
ranking first in China. Arboreal forest area accounts for 39.04%, suitable
forestland area accounts for 37.91%, shrub forest area accounts for

Abbreviations: AGB, aboveground biomass; ZY-3, Ziyuan-3 satellite; DEM, digital elevation model; RF, random forest; ALOS, Advanced Land Observing Satellite;
DSM, digital surface model; DTM, digital terrain model; SAR, synthetic aperture radar; LiDAR, light detection and ranging; GLAS, Geoscience Laser Altimeter System;
LAI, leaf area index; InSAR, Interferometric SAR; PolInSAR, Polarimetric SAR Interferometry; DBH, diameter at breast height; CCD, charge-coupled device; RPC,
rational polynomial coefficients; GCP, ground control point; NIR, near infrared; SWIR, short-wave infrared; R2, coefficient of determination; RMSE, the root mean
square error; MAE, mean absolute error; rRMSE, relative RMSE; DT, decision tree.
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: zhang-xl@263.net (X. Zhang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107645
Received 1 May 2020; Received in revised form 16 December 2020; Accepted 18 March 2021
Available online 31 March 2021
1470-160X/© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Y. Wang et al.
19.92%, and the open woodland area accounts for 19.92%. The forest
coverage rate was is 21.03%, higher than the national level of 13.4
percent. The total volume of living standing trees is 1.49 × 109 m3,
ranking fifth in China. Therefore, an accurate estimation of the forest
carbon stock in this region is of great significance to assess the overall
forest carbon stock in China and maintain regional ecological balance.
Measuring the aboveground biomass (AGB) by field surveying pro­
vides the most accurate result, yet it is a highly time and resource
consuming method, especially for large scales, thus its extensive appli­
cation is unfeasible (Shen et al., 2016; Zhu and Liu, 2015). On the
contrary, remote sensing techniques can be used to map the forest AGB
over large areas, and monitor its temporal evolution by exploiting the
periodicity of satellite observations. Various remote sensing sources
have been used to acquire suitable data for AGB prediction models
(Minh et al., 2018; Rodriguez-Veiga et al., 2017). Optical multispectral
sensors – especially the Landsat series imagery and the Moderate Res­
olution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) – are the most commonly
used data sources, as they offer long time series data that are freely
available worldwide (Li et al., 2020; Lu et al., 2016; Zhang and Kon­
dragunta, 2006). Spectral variables such as the reflectance, vegetation
indices, and leaf area index (LAI) are commonly used for the AGB pre­
diction in different types of forests (Castillo et al., 2017; Lu et al., 2005;
Motlagh et al., 2018; Nandy et al., 2017). The incorporation of spatial
features (e.g., textures) of the high-resolution images can help to
improve the accuracy of forest AGB estimations, especially if complex
stand structures are present (Hlatshwayo et al., 2019; Zhou et al., 2013).
Unfortunately, high-resolution images do not usually include the
shortwave infrared bands, and cost too much money, thus making the
mapping of large areas for AGB estimation uneconomical. Recently, the
launch of the Sentinel-2 (multispectral) satellites of the Copernicus
program of the European Space Agency has provided a new opportunity
for monitoring and mapping the AGB. The satellites record 13 multi-
spectral bands, including red-edge bands and infrared bands, with
higher spatial and temporal resolution. The red-edge bands, which are
more sensitive to vegetation, are supposed to provide new capabilities
for AGB estimations (Castillo et al., 2017). Although previous studies
have explored various methods for AGB mapping using optical multi­
spectral images, data saturation problems are still present because op­
tical satellite sensors are less sensitive to dense forests and can only
provide spectral and horizontal structural characteristics (Chen et al.,
2019; Lu et al., 2012; Slik et al., 2013). In order to reduce the saturation
problem, different kinds of sources and vertical structure features may
be considered when developing an AGB estimation model.
The forest tree height is related to the characteristics of the vertical
structures of the forest stand. As such, it is an important variable for
estimating AGB and carbon storage (Wang et al., 2016). It has been
shown that the use of this variable can reduce the data saturation
problem in AGB estimations (Ghosh and Behera, 2018; Knapp et al.,
2020; Lim et al., 2003; St-Onge et al., 2008a). In recent years, active
remote sensing techniques, such as the Light Detection and Ranging
(LiDAR) and the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), have been utilized
successfully to derive forest structural parameters (d’Alessandro and
Tebaldini, 2019; Izzawati et al., 2006; Moe et al., 2020; Sun et al., 2008;
Unger et al., 2014). LiDAR is playing an increasingly important role in
estimating forest structural parameters and could provide an accurate
tree height map. Airborne LiDAR, as the main acquisition of LiDAR, has
become popular for deriving tree height variables closely related to the
AGB. However, the applicability of this technique is limited to local
regions because of its high economical and labor costs (Liu et al., 2019).
Alternatively, spaceborne LiDAR techniques such as the Geoscience
Laser Altimeter System (GLAS), can be used to estimate the tree height at
regional to global scales (Lu et al., 2016). However, the spatially discrete
nature of the GLAS makes it is impossible to direct a wall-to-wall tree
height map. Compared with LiDAR, notwithstanding its lower accuracy,
space-borne SAR can continuously cover large areas, making it suitable
for monitoring trends in forest tree height. Single-pass Interferometric
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Ecological Indicators 126 (2021) 107645
SAR (InSAR) or Polarimetric SAR Interferometry (PolInSAR) correlation
measurements have been proven to be sensitive to forest vertical
structures (Liao et al., 2019; Managhebi et al., 2018; Treuhaft et al.,
2015). For spaceborne repeat-pass SAR interferometry, temporal
decorrelation occurs when interference coherence is formed by SAR
images acquired at different times. This has been shown to directly affect
the correlation measurements and limit the accuracy of tree height
estimation (Ahmed et al., 2011; Ghasemi et al., 2018; Lei and Siqueira,
2014). Among the existing spaceborne SAR systems, only TanDEM-X
data with quasi zero temporal baseline do not suffer from temporal
decorrelation, but it is also limited by data policy, including limited
access to data for scientific purposes (Garestier et al., 2008; Khati et al.,
2018). However, the extraction of forest tree height data on a large scale
using the interference coherence of SAR data remains difficult because
of the limited data availability and technical complexities. Alternatively,
satellite stereo images can be used to produce a spatially continuous
forest tree height map (Ni et al., 2019, 2015; Zhang et al., 2017). In
recent years, the availability of spaceborne high-resolution stereo sen­
sors, the development of automatic processing algorithms for stereo
images, and the relatively low cost have increased the interest of re­
searchers around the use of stereo images for measuring vertical forest
structures. Nonetheless, this topic has not yet been explored extensively.
The key information for the extraction of forest tree height variables is
the understory elevation, yet satellite stereo images can only produce
digital surface model (DSM) representing the top of the forest canopy.
Therefore, previous research mainly focused on acquiring a digital
terrain model (DTM) or a digital elevation model (DEM) using LiDAR to
extract tree height, whereas stereo images were only used to produce the
DSM (Jin et al., 2020; Ni et al., 2014; St-Onge et al., 2008b).
In this study, we evaluated the potential of using Ziyuan-3 satellite
(ZY-3) stereo imagery and the Sentinel-2 satellite imagery for the
retrieval and predictive mapping of AGB in Chifeng city, North China.
The specific objectives of the study were as follows: (a) to explore the
potential of estimating a spatially continuous tree height map by
combining the DSM obtained from ZY-3 stereo imagery and the DEM
product from the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS); (b) to
build and compare different forest AGB estimation models (with or
without the tree height variable) of coniferous forests based on a random
forest algorithm using topographic variables and spectral signatures,
such as spectral reflectance, vegetation index and biophysical variables;
(c) to analyze the reduction of the data saturation issue by incorporating
vertical structure features into spectral signatures. Our research would
produce a wall-to-wall tree height map on a large scale by using stereo
imageries and freely available DEM data, overcoming the problems of
limited data availability, high cost, and spatially discrete data charac­
teristics and realize seamless mapping of coniferous forests AGB with
high accuracy especially for the high values, to reduce the influence of
data saturation.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Study area
The Wangyedian Experimental Forest Farm (Fig. 1) has been selected
as the study area for this research. It is located in the southwest of the
Harqin Banner, Chifeng city, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region
(118◦ 07′ -118◦ 33′ E, 41◦ 29′ -41◦ 49′ N). The total area of the study area is
about 500 km2, of which the forest cover area is 405 km2. It is mainly
mountainous, and extends for about 28.1 km from north to south, and
30.3 km from east to west. It lies at an elevation comprised between 800
m and 1890 m above sea level and features a temperate continental
monsoon climate with cold and dry winters, and warm and rainy sum­
mers. The average annual temperature ranges between 3.5 and 7.0 ◦ C,
and the average annual precipitation ranges between 300 and 500 mm.
The forest mainly consists of coniferous plantations such as larch (Larix
gmelinii (Rupr.) Kuzen.), Chinese pine (Pinus tabuliformis Carr.), and red
Y. Wang et al.
Fig. 1. Location of the study area (a) and the distribution of the sample plots (b).
pine (Pinus koraiensis Sieb. et Zucc.), and secondary broadleaf forests
such as birch (Betula platyphylla Suk.), aspen (Populus davidiana.), and
elm (Ulmus pumila L.). According to data from the National Forest Re­
sources Survey (Huang et al., 2016), the area of coniferous plantations
accounts for about 55% of the total forest cover area, 90% of which are
larch and Chinese pine. The area of secondary broadleaf forests is about
40% and that of other types of trees about 5%. Coniferous plantations
are the main type of forest throughout the study area, and estimating the
AGB of the coniferous forests is important for a better understanding of
the carbon dynamics of the North China.
2.2. Data preparation
2.2.1. Field data
Field data collection was carried out in September 2017. The sample
plot size was set to 25 × 25 m in the coniferous forest distribution area. A
total of 67 representative pure forest plots (35 larch and 32 Chinese pine
plots) were chosen. They were evenly distributed in the forest farm, far
from the forest boundary, and featuring different forest ages. The field
investigation included: the accurate coordinates of four corners and
center points of the plot; the recording of environmental parameters
such as elevation, slope, aspect, and forest age; the measuring of tree
height, diameter at breast height (DBH), and under branch height of all
trees with DBH>5 cm in the plot. In order to obtain the accurate co­
ordinates of four corners and center points of the plot, we used Trimble
RTK (Real Time Kinematic) to locate the four corners of the sample site
based on the Qianxun CORS network. In the positioning process, the
geographic coordinate system is the same as the remote sensing image
used. In addition, the signals of>3 satellites can be received, and the
error is controlled within 0.2 m.
The forest biomass was calculated using allometric growth models.
First, the biomass of each tree in the sample plot was calculated; then,
the values of each tree were summed up to obtain the biomass of the
sample plot. The biomass calculation models for Chinese pine and larch
(Li, 2010) are shown in Table 1. The universal tree biomass models were
used based on DBH and tree height.
2.2.2. ZY-3 stereo images and preprocessing
The ZY-3 01 satellite is a high-resolution optical three-dimensional
mapping satellite launched by China in 2012, which integrates capa­
bilities for mapping and resource investigation. It is equipped with four
optical cameras, including a 2 m nadir-view panchromatic Charge
Coupled Device (CCD) camera, two 3.5 m backward and forward views
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Ecological Indicators 126 (2021) 107645
Table 1
Biomass allometric equations of Chinese pine and larch. In the equations,WS is
the trunk biomass, WB is the branch biomass, WL is the leaf biomass, Wr is the
aboveground biomass, and D and H are the diameter at breast height and the
height of the tree, respectively.
Species (group) Biomass models and parameters
larch (
Wr = 0.046238 D2 H
)0.905002
Chinese pine ( 2 )0.9905
WS = 0.027636 D H
(
; WB = 0.0091313 D2 H
)0.982
;
( 2 )0.9894
WL = 0.0045755 D H ; Wr = WS + WB + WL
panchromatic CCD cameras, and a 5.8 m multispectral camera. The ZY-3
nadir, backward, and forward images used in this study were all ac­
quired on September 27th, 2017. The sun was 44.22◦ above the horizon
at the time of acquisition, at an azimuth of 148.18◦ .
The DSM was obtained from the ZY-3 stereo images using the
OrthoEngine module of the Geomatica 2018 software (Geomatica, 2018,
PCI Geomatics, Canada). It was extracted from two combinations of
views: nadir and backward views, and nadir and forward views. The
main data processing flow is described as follows. First, the relative
orientation was established using a coplanar equation, and the relative
orientation elements were solved by using the rational polynomial co­
efficients (RPC) file to determine the relative position of the stereo
image. Second, selected ground control points (GCPs) were used to
obtain the absolute orientation. The GCPs were used to translate, rotate,
and scale the three-dimensional equation to determine the correct po­
sition of the image in the ground measurement coordinate system. A
total of 15 GCPs were selected in this study, which were evenly
distributed on the image and located at the intersections of roads and
corners of houses. Third, epi-polar images were generated through the
tie points. The tie points were generated by automatically extracting and
then manually removing points with large errors. A total of 1,243 tie
points were generated in this study, and the overall accuracy of the
connection points was 0.236 pixels. Fourth, the DSM was extracted, and
its accuracy was evaluated using 30 points from Google Earth. The re­
sults showed that the average errors of the DSM extracted from nadir
and backward views, and nadir and forward view were 3.75 and 4.38 m,
respectively. Finally, the generated DSM was resampled to a resolution
of 10 m.
2.2.3. Sentinel-2 multi-spectral images and preprocessing
Sentinel-2 is a wide-scan, high-resolution, multispectral imaging
Y. Wang et al.
earth observation mission consisting of two satellites (Sentinel-2A and
Sentinel-2B), which can be used for monitoring vegetation, soil, and
water for research purposes. The European Space Agency (ESA)
launched the Sentinel-2A satellite in 2015 and the Sentinel-2B satellite
in 2017. The combination of the two satellites can complete a whole
image of the Earth’s equatorial region every 5 days. The Sentinel-2
satellite carries a multispectral imager that covers 13 spectral bands,
of which 4 bands have a spatial resolution of 10 m (blue: 490 nm, green:
560 nm, red: 665 nm, and near infrared (NIR): 842 nm), 6 bands have a
spatial resolution of 20 m (red-edge 1: 705 nm, red-edge 2: 740 nm, red-
edge 3: 783 nm, narrow NIR: 865 nm, short-wave infrared 1 (SWIR1):
1610 nm, and SWIR2: 2190 nm), and 3 bands have a spatial resolution of
60 m (coastal aerosol: 443 nm, water vapor: 940 nm, and SWIR cirrus:
1375 nm). We used bands with spatial resolutions of 10 m and 20 m in
this study.
We downloaded two cloud-free Sentinel-2A Level-1C images
covering the study area on September 22nd, 2017 from the Copernicus
Scientific Data Hub (CSDB). The radiative transfer model-based SEN2­
COR atmospheric correction processor (version 2.5.5, ESA) was used for
atmospheric correction to obtain bottom-of-atmosphere reflectance
Level-2A products. Then, the C model was used for terrain correction to
reduce the influence of terrain and the images were resampled to a 10-m
pixel size by ArcGIS software (version 10.5, ESRI, RedLands, California,
USA).
2.2.4. Topography (DEM)
The ALOS DEM dataset with a spatial resolution of 12.5 m was used
to extract topographical variables using ENVI 5.3 software. The dataset
was used to provide consistent, high-resolution elevation data. Two
DEM images covering our study area were downloaded from the Alaska
Satellite Facility (ASF, https://search.asf.alaska.edu/). In addition, the
DEM image was co-registered to the Sentinel-2 image and the DSM
generated from the ZY-3 stereo images after mosaicking, and finally
resampled to a resolution of 10 m.
2.2.5. Auxiliary data
The subcompartment is the basic unit of forest resource planning and
design investigation, statistics, management and management. The
subcompartment database of forest resource planning and design survey
is the second level of China’s three-tiered resources inventory system,
which contains information such as the area of all kinds of forest land,
the information on forest types and tree species types, the natural
geographical environment and ecological environment factors related to
forest resources, etc. In this study, the range of coniferous forest was
extracted by using the attributes of tree species types from the sub­
compartment of Wangyedian Experimental forest farm in 2018. We
extracted the range of all coniferous tree species and obtained the .shp
layer of coniferous forests in the study area.
2.3. Extraction of remotely sensed parameters
2.3.1. Extraction of tree height from ZY-3 stereo images
There is a strong correlation between tree height and AGB; therefore,
we explored the potential of using stereo images to extract vertical
feature parameters. Ni et al. (2019) and Xie et al. (2019) used stereo
images to generate the DSM of larch in leaf-on and leaf-off seasons to
extract relative tree heights. Considering that our study area does not
feature only larch, and our aim is to retrieve the true tree height, we used
ZY-3 stereo images and ALOS DEM data to extract the tree height. The
so-generated DSMs were subtracted to obtain a spatially continuous tree
height map in the study area:
Tree height (m) = DSMZY− 3 − − DEMALOS (1)
where DSMZY-3 are surface elevations from ZY-3, and DEMALOS is the
DEM obtained from the ALOS. The extracted tree height might provide
4
Ecological Indicators 126 (2021) 107645
useful vertical structure information so as to reduce the data saturation
problem, which can effectively improve the forest AGB estimation.
Based on the tree height map of the study area, the average tree
heights in the 67 plots were extracted. The accuracy of tree height
retrieval was assessed by comparing the predicted values with the field
observations using the correlation coefficient (r) and the root mean
square error (RMSE).
2.3.2. Extraction of spectral reflectance and derivatives from Sentinel-2
The Sentinel-2 data contain rich spectral information. The three red-
edge bands, in particular, are of great significance for forest vegetation
monitoring. In this research, we used 10 band reflectance, 25 vegetation
indices, and 5 biophysical variables. In order to make full use of the
spectral information of the red-edge band, many vegetation indices
related with red-edge band were generated. Equations used for band
math are given in Table 2. Five biophysical variables – leaf area index
(LAI), fractional vegetation cover (FCOVER), fraction of photosynthet­
ically active radiation (FAPAR), chlorophyll content in the leaf (Cab),
and canopy water content (CWC) – were calculated using the “Bio­
physical Processor” in the SNAP 6.0 software. The band reflectance and
vegetation indices provide canopy spectral information and have been
found to be valuable in improving the AGB estimation. The LAI, Cab,
FVC, CWC, and FAPAR provide biophysical characteristics which help to
strengthen the predictive power.
2.3.3. Extraction of topographical features from the DEM
Topographical features are used to describe the terrain of the forest.
Elevation, slope, and aspect are important topographic parameters,
which are closely related to the distribution and growth of forest types,
and are of great significance for the AGB estimation. The ALOS DEM
dataset has high spatial resolution and provides high-quality elevation
information. In our study, we extracted 7 variables describing the
characteristics of the terrain, including surface roughness and elevation,
which would be involved in forest AGB estimation together with other
parameters.
2.4. Building the AGB estimation model with the suitable variables
Although a total of 47 variables were extracted, not all of them were
essential for AGB estimation. Considering the mismatch between the size
of the sample and the size of the image, we extract the mean value of all
pixels corresponding to the range of the sample on the image as the
variable value of the sample (Réjou-Méchain et al., 2019). In order to
obtain a set of parsimonious and useful variables for the AGB model, a
Pearson correlation analysis was performed to analyze the relationship
between derived variables and field-based AGB and then determined the
final valid variables based on the variable importance. In the first step of
variable selection, variables that were significantly (p < 0.05) correlated
with field-based AGB and had a correlation >0.4 were selected. After­
wards, the backward variable selection approach was applied to reduce
redundant information and the number of variables, so as to obtain the
best combination of variables and the optimal model. The candidate
variables selected in the first step were used to establish the AGB esti­
mation model, and the determination coefficient (R2) and the variable
importance were obtained. And the variables with the lowest impor­
tance were progressively removed, the AGB model with the highest R2
and the fewest number of variables was considered the optimal model.
Thus, the optimal model and best combination of variables were
selected.
The random forest (RF) is an integrated learning algorithm
composed of decision trees (DTs) which can be utilized for regression
and classification. Essentially, it is an improved DT model, which uses a
combination of DTs for data analysis (Coulston et al., 2016). This
method is insensitive to multiple collinearity, and the results are robust
with respect to missing data and non-equilibrium data (Lausch et al.,
2017). Moreover, the RF can handle high-dimensional data without the
Y. Wang et al. Ecological Indicators 126 (2021) 107645

Table 2 Table 2 (continued )

Description of predictor variables for the AGB estimation. Type (Source) Indices
Type (Source) Indices
Topographical A, Aspect
Spectral B2 (Blue), 490 nm indices (ALOS sin α (Sine of aspect), the extent of the location toward the east
reflectance B3 (Green), 560 nm DEM) Cos α (Cosine of aspect), the extent of the location towards the
(Sentinel-2) B4 (Red), 665 nm north
B5 (Red edge), 705 nm Sos (Slope of slope), the curvature of the surface
B6 (Red edge), 749 nm Soa (Slope of aspect), the curvature of the contour line
B7 (Red edge), 783 nm
B8 (Near infrared), 842 nm
B8a (Near infrared), 865 nm need of feature selection. At each split node of the RF sub-DT, not all
B11 (Short wave infrared), 1610 nm candidate features are used, but a certain number of features are
B12 (Short wave infrared), 2190 nm
randomly selected from all the candidate features, and then the optimal
Vegetation RVI (Ratio vegetation index),(B8/B4)
indices feature is selected from the randomly selected features (Temesgen and
WDVI (Weighted difference vegetation index), (B8 − − 0.5 ×
(Sentinel-2) B4) Hoef, 2015). In this way, the DTs in the RF can be different from each
IPVI (Infrared percentage vegetation index),B8/(B8 + B4) other, and the system diversity can be increased to improve the accuracy
PVI (Perpendicular vegetation index),sin(45 ) × B8 − cos(45 ) ×
◦ ◦ of the prediction. The final result is the arithmetic average of the results
B4 from each DT (Mutanga et al., 2012). In addition, the RF model can
NDVI (Normalized difference vegetation measure the importance of variables and serve as a high-dimensional
index),(B8 − B4)/(B8 + B4) feature selection tool. The basic principle of the evaluation of variable
NDI45 (Normalized difference vegetation index with band4 and importance is as follows. The prediction accuracy is estimated before
band5),(B5 − B4)/(B5 + B4) and after the addition of one variable. If the accuracy changes signifi­
NDVI56 (Normalized difference vegetation index with band5 cantly, the variable is considered to be relatively important (Wittke
and band6),(B6 − B5)/(B6 + B5)
et al., 2019). The index of increase in mean square error MSE (%IncMSE)
NDVI57 (Normalized difference vegetation index with band5
represented the importance of the variable, with larger values implying
and band7),(B7 − B5)/(B7 + B5)
greater importance. In this study, a RF algorithm implemented in R
NDVI58a (Normalized difference vegetation index with band5
and band8a),(B8a − B5)/(B8a + B5) language was used to model and evaluate the importance of the vari­
NDVI67 (Normalized difference vegetation index with band6 ables. The algorithm required two parameters to be set: the number of
and band7),(B7 − B6)/(B7 + B6) variables preselected by the tree node (mtry) and the number of trees in a
NDVI68a (Normalized difference vegetation index with band6 forest (ntree).
and band8a),(B8a − B6)/(B8a + B6) In order to understand whether the incorporation of information on
NDVI78a (Normalized difference vegetation index with band7 the vertical structure of the forest can reduce the saturation problem in
and band8a),(B8a − B7)/(B8a + B7) AGB estimation, two AGB estimation models based on RF regression
GNDVI (Green normalized difference vegetation were established. One model was built using the combination of spec­
index),(B7 − B3)/(B7 + B3)
tral, biophysical, topographical variables and vegetation indices; a sec­
IRECI (Inverted red-edge chlorophyll index),(B7 − B4)/(B5/B6)
ond model was built by including the forest tree height into a
SAVI (Soil adjusted vegetation index),1.5 × (B8 − B4)/8 × (B8 +
combination of spectral, biophysical, topographical variables and
B4 + 0.5)
vegetation indices. For the first model, ntree was set to 500 and mtry was
TSAVI (Transformed soil adjusted vegetation index),0.5 ×
(B8 − 0.5 × B4 − 0.5)/(0.5 × B8 + B4 − 0.15) set to 3; for the second model, ntree was set to 500, and mtry was set to 2.
MSAVI (Modified soil adjusted vegetation index),(2 − NDVI × All 67 plots were used to build and validate the AGB estimation
WDVI) × (B8 − B4)/8 × (B8 + B4 + 1 − NDVI × WDVI) models. In particular, they were assigned to the training and validation
MSAVI2 (Second Modified soil adjusted vegetation index),0.5 × samples using approximately a ratio of 2:1. The latter, being indepen­
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
[2 × (B8 +1) − (2 × B8 + 1)2 − 8 × (B8 − B4)] dent from the training samples, were used to evaluate the performance
ARVI (Atmospherically resistant vegetation index),B8 − (2 × of both models. We used various metrics, namely the correlation coef­
B4 − B2)/B8 + (2 × B4 − B2) ficient (r), RMSE, relative RMSE (rRMSE), and mean absolute error
PSSRa (Pigment specific simple ratio chlorophyll index),B7/B4 (MAE) to assess the prediction performance of the models.
MTCI (Meris terrestrial chlorophyll index),(B6 − B5)/(B5 − B4) To further analyze and evaluate the impact of tree height variable on
MCARI (Modified chlorophyll absorption ratio AGB saturation, we stratified the reference AGB of validation samples
index),[(B5 − B4) − 0.2 × (B5 − B3) ] × (B5 − B4) into a continuous value range and quantified the estimation bias (µ), the
standard deviation of the error (σ) and the RMSE within each range
S2REP (Sentinel-2 red-edge position index),705 + 35 ×
[ ] (Réjou-Méchain et al., 2019). Then the RMSE in the given range is given
(B4 + B7) √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
2
− B5 × (B6 − B5) by μ2 + σ2 , µ is the average residual value of estimated and reference
[
REIP (Red-edge infection point index),700 + 40 ×
(B4 + B7)
− AGB in the given range, σ is the standard deviation of the errors in the
2 given range. Moreover, we used the Coefficient of Variation (CV) of the
]/
B5 (B6 − B5) error, given by σ/b, to analyze the error source. If the CV > 1, the RMSE
GEMI (Global environmental monitoring index),eta × is dominated by random error, but if CV < 1, the dominant error source
B4 − 0.125 is bias in the estimator. In consideration of the need for a sufficient
(1 − 0.25 × eta) − , eta = [2 × (B8A − B4) + 1.5 ×
1 − B4
B8A + 0.5 × B4 ]/(B8A + B4 + 0.5) number of samples in each range and the use of optical remote sensing
Biophysical LAI, Leaf area index data to estimate the saturation value of forest AGB in northern China at
variables FVC, Fraction of vegetation cover about 150 Mg/ha, we stratified the reference AGB with 150 Mg/ha as
(Sentinel-2) FAPAR, Fraction of absorbed photo synthetically active the threshold and divided it into two ranges.
radiation
Cab, Chlorophyll content in the leaf
Cwc, Canopy water content
H, Elevation
B, Slope

5
Y. Wang et al.
3. Results
3.1. Analysis of the tree height extracted from ZY-3 stereo images
We obtained the forest tree height map with a 10-m resolution using
Equation 1. The DSM was obtained from the ZY-3 stereo image, and the
DEM was obtained from ALOS data. Because accurate tree height is
important for estimating the AGB, we compared and analyzed the tree
height estimations from two combinations of views (nadir and back­
ward, and nadir and forward views) using r and RMSE.
Fig. 2 presents the results of the accuracy evaluation for all the 67
plots. The nadir and forward views (r = 0.7358, RMSE = 2.91 m) pro­
vide better results than the nadir and backward views (r = 0.6434,
RMSE = 3.54 m) in terms of estimated forest height. For the nadir and
backward views, only one estimation differs by >6 m from the measured
value. On the contrary, for the nadir and forward views, this difference is
exceeded in four estimations, and approaches 8 m in one case. There­
fore, the forest tree height data obtained from the nadir and forward
views is deemed as more reliable.
Using our method, we obtained spatially continuous tree height
features of coniferous forests based on stereo images and DEM (Fig. 3).
Although the method tends to overestimate lower tree heights and un­
derestimate larger tree heights, it proved successful in providing
representative values of the vertical structure of the forest.
3.2. Selection of variables
To identify the most useful variables for the AGB estimation, reduce
the redundant information, and minimize the number of variables, we
first performed a correlation analysis based on Person’s correlation co­
efficient. The correlation coefficient between each variable and the field-
based AGB ranged from 0.118 to 0.568. The candidate variables with a
significant correlation (p < 0.05) and a correlation coefficient r > 0.4 are
listed in Table 3. Most of the spectral variables derived from Sentinel-2
images, except B6 and B7, are well correlated with the AGB, with cor­
relation coefficients ranging from 0.403 to 0.55. For the vegetation
index, half of the number of vegetation index has a good correlation
with the AGB. In particular, the index derived from the red-edge band
shows good correlation. The biophysical variables that are well corre­
lated with the AGB are the LAI, CWC and Cab. The tree height variable is
significantly correlated with the AGB, with a correlation coefficient of
0.56. Among the topographic variables, only the elevation (H) shows a
good correlation with the AGB.
Based on the variable importance, the variables for the two models
were chosen by the backward selection approach based on RF algorithm.
The importance of the selected variables is reported in Fig. 4. Seven
variables were selected for the first model, and five for the second
model. Variables B12, NDI45, and H were common to both models; B12
was found to be the most important variable in both models. The
Fig. 2. Scatter plots of tree height reference data (field data) and estimated values (using the model): (a) nadir and forward views, (b) nadir and backward views.
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Ecological Indicators 126 (2021) 107645
variable representing the tree height obtained a relative high impor­
tance score, whereas the topographical variables had lower scores, and
the biophysical variables were even excluded.
3.3. Analysis and mapping of the AGB modeling results
To demonstrate the advantage of incorporating the information on
the vertical structure of the forest into the spectral signature, we
compared and analyzed the performances of the two AGB estimation
models produced in this study. Table 4 shows the optimal combination
of variables, the modeling R2 values and the results of the assessment of
the two models evaluated by 21 validation plots. The second model (R2
= 0.7789, RMSE = 29.82 Mg/ha, rRMSE = 23.42%, MAE = 26.84 Mg/
ha) performs better than the first one (R2 = 0.6576, RMSE = 37.38 Mg/
ha, rRMSE = 29.37%, MAE = 33.54 Mg/ha). The results illustrate that
the forest AGB estimation model incorporated tree height feature has
achieved a higher accuracy than the model established using only
spectral features, which means tree height information can improve the
AGB estimation accuracy.
Table 5 shows the evaluation results of the two models by stratifying
the reference AGB to analyze the effect of tree height variable on AGB
estimation. Whether the reference AGB range is 0 ~ 150 Mg/ha or >
150 Mg/ha, the second model performs better (with smaller RMSE value
and rRMSE value) than the first model. For both the two models, the
RMSE is dominated by random error in the range of AGB < 150 Mg/ha
(CV > 1), while the bias is the dominant error source in the range of AGB
> 150 Mg/ha (CV < 1). It is worth noting that the AGB within the range
of AGB > 150 Mg/ha is high underestimated as the µ value is <0 in this
range. However, in this interval with AGB > 150 Mg/ha, the bias (the µ
absolute value) of the second model is much smaller than that of the first
model, the standard deviation of the error σ does not vary greatly across
the different AGB ranges for the second model. And the CV value of the
second model in this interval is much larger than that of the first model,
indicating that the bias contribution of the second model to RMSE in this
interval was relatively small. All these illustrate that the tree height
feature plays an active role in reducing the AGB estimation errors and
alleviates the problem of AGB saturation to some extent.
To further analyze the performance of the two models, the scatter­
plots comparing the predicted and reference AGB values are reported in
Fig. 5. The model incorporating the vertical structure features, i.e. the
second model, shows a better linear relationship (r = 0.8263) than the
first model (r = 0.7795). However, both models overestimated the AGB
in low-height forest areas and underestimated it in high forest areas.
However, the residual values in the second model are significantly
lower, especially in the high AGB region. This confirms that by incor­
porating the tree height information, the coniferous forests AGB esti­
mation can be significantly improved, and the data saturation problem
can be alleviated.
By comparing the coniferous forests AGB spatial distribution maps
Y. Wang et al. Ecological Indicators 126 (2021) 107645

Fig. 3. The spatially continuous tree height product of coniferous forests obtained from: (a) the nadir and forward views; (b) the nadir and backward views.

Table 3
Correlations between observed AGB and various predictors.
Varible Correlation with biomass, r Varible Correlation with biomass, r Varible Correlation with biomass, r
** **
Tree height 0.560 GNDVI 0.561 NDVI67 0.413**
B2 -0.495** IPVI 0.555** NDVI78a -0.425**
B3 -0.518** IRECI 0.486** PSSRa 0.525**
B4 -0.541** MCARI -0.432** REIP 0.481**
B5 -0.537** MTCI 0.545** RVI 0.517**
B8 0.403** NDVI 0.565** β -0.413**
B8a 0.419** NDI45 0.548** H 0.463**
B11 -0.550** NDVI56 0.468** LAI 0.402**
B12 -0.535** NDVI57 0.556** Cab 0.507**
AVRI 0.553** NDVI58a 0.552** Cwc 0.530**

**, at level 0.01, the correlation is significant.

Fig. 4. Importance of the variables for the two AGB estimation models using %IncMSE: (a) first model; (b) second model.

based on two models (Fig. 6), we found that the AGB estimation model
Table 4
incorporating the tree height variable provided more regions with high
The performance measures of different AGB estimation models.
AGB values, especially AGB >180 Mg/ha. This also implies that the
RF Variables R2 RMSE rRMSE MAE r importance of tree height variable in reducing data saturation problem
model (Mg/ (%) (Mg/
in the AGB estimation. The mean AGB density based the second AGB
ha) ha)
estimation model incorporating the tree height of the study area is
First B12, NDI45, 0.6576 37.38 29.37 33.54 0.7795
154.34 Mg/ha. The distribution of AGB values is similar to that pre­
model H, GNDVI,
NDVI, IPVI,
sented in (Li et al., 2019), featuring lower values in the northwest and
RVI central regions and higher values in the eastern and southern regions.
Second B12, Tree 0.7789 29.82 23.42 26.84 0.8263
model Height,
NDI45, H, B11

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Y. Wang et al. Ecological Indicators 126 (2021) 107645

Table 5
A summary of evaluation results.
RF model Reference AGB range (Mg/ha) N µ (Mg/ha) σ (Mg/ha) CV RMSE (Mg/ha) rRMSE (%)

First model 0 ~ 150 14 0.50 26.77 53.54 26.77 27.08

>150 7 − 50.80 13.34 0.26 52.52 28.53
Overall 21 − 16.60 33.49 2.02 37.38 29.37
Second model 0 ~ 150 14 7.25 21.84 3.01 23.01 23.27
>150 7 − 29.46 27.20 0.92 40.10 21.28
Overall 21 − 4.99 29.39 5.89 29.82 23.42

Fig. 5. Scatterplots of AGB reference data and estimated values: (a) first model, (b) second model.

Fig. 6. Distribution of the coniferous forests AGB in the Wangyedian Farm, North China: (a) first model, (b) second model.

4. Discussion
4.1. Potential use of forest tree height derived from stereo imagery for
AGB estimation
The AGB retrieved from optimal remote sensing data suffers from
saturation effects because only spatial and spectral features in the hor­
izontal direction can be extracted from these data. On the other hand,
vertical structure features, such as those related to tree height, are
considered to be the best variables for estimating the AGB because they
are strongly correlated to them and at the same time they are not
affected by data saturation issues (Laurin et al., 2019; Motohka et al.,
2015; Neeff et al., 2005). LiDAR and SAR techniques are playing
increasingly important roles in estimating forest structural parameters.
However, these techniques have significant limitations, including the
difficulty in producing a wall-to-wall tree height map on a vast scale,
limited data availability, high cost, and spatially discrete data
characteristics.
The tree height can be estimated in a spatially continuous way using
satellite stereo images. However, the DSM extracted from stereo images
is not sufficient for tree height mapping unless combined with DEM or
DTM data. Previous studies have used LiDAR data to produce DTMs
(Mora et al., 2013; Torresan et al., 2017; Vastaranta et al., 2014) with
spatial coverage limited by the range of the LiDAR. Some studies have
used the DSM acquired from stereo images in both leaf-on and leaf-off
seasons to extract the tree height (Li et al., 2019; Moudry et al.,
2019). However, this is only possible for larch and other deciduous trees.
In this study, we exploited freely available high-quality DEM data, with
worldwide coverage. With more high-resolution satellite stereo data
becoming available, extracting tree height information using a combi­
nation of stereo images and existing DEM data is becoming progressively
more feasible.

8
Y. Wang et al.
However, only the tree height of coniferous forests was mapped due
to the lack of broadleaf forests samples as validation data (because of the
complicated and steep topography of the distribution area of secondary
broadleaf forests in our study area, it is difficult to arrange the broadleaf
sample plots). This method we proposed is suitable for any tree species
only if there are corresponding validation data. Moreover, the accuracy
of this method to extract tree height over large areas may not be optimal
because of the relatively low spatial resolution of existing DEM covering
large areas. In the future, with the further development of remote
sensing technologies, it is expected that DEM data with higher spatial
resolution covering the whole planet will become available. These data
will be valuable for producing spatially continuous tree height maps at
large scales.
4.2. Relevance of predictor variables of the RF AGB estimation model
The spectral characteristics of plant mainly reflect the physiological
and biochemical characteristics of plant itself and forest canopy,
including chlorophyll content, water content and growth status of forest
vegetation, etc. Previous studies have proven that using spectral
reflectance and vegetation index features can effectively realize the
estimation of forest AGB (Lu, 2007; Lu et al., 2004; Taddese et al., 2020;
Wittke et al., 2019). The visible spectrum, near infrared spectrum and
short wave infrared spectrum respectively reflect the information of
chlorophyll content, cell structure and total water content. In our
research, only the SWIR bands are selected into the models among the
spectral band variables, and compared with all the other variables
considered in both two AGB models, the SWIR band, B12, has the
highest explanatory power. Through the analysis of the previous para­
graph, on the one hand, SWIR has a strong ability to reflect vegetation
water content and stand structure complexity. For the calculation and
inversion of forest AGB, these two parameters are the mainly indicators.
This is consistent with research showing that the SWIR band has
stronger correlations with AGB than other spectral bands. On the other
hand, SWIR band is less affected by atmospheric conditions compared
with other bands, such as visible light and near infrared (Lu et al., 2004;
Zhao et al., 2016). This makes it possible to achieve a more accurate
estimate of AGB to a large extent.
Compared with original spectral information, vegetation indices can
represent the more ‘pure’ vegetation characteristics by synthesizing
relevant spectral signals. Because this synthesizing process can effec­
tively reduce the spectral noise and enhance pixel contrast. These can
help to strengthen the predictive power of AGB. NDI45 ranked highest in
importance on the AGB estimation (Fig. 5) among the vegetation indices
used in this study. This vegetation index is constructed by the red-edge
band and the red band, in which the red band is sensitive to vegetation
coverage and plant growth status, and the red-edge band is effective for
monitoring vegetation health information. Through normalized calcu­
lation, the illumination noise is reduced and the corresponding infor­
mation difference between the two bands is further strengthened, which
could reflect canopy chlorophyll content and LAI information closely
related to AGB (Castillo et al., 2017). Most vegetation indices (RVI,
NDVI and IPVI) in the AGB model without tree height information are
computed from red band and near infrared band, emphasizing the dif­
ference between the strong the absorption in red band and reflection in
near-infrared band (Lu et al., 2004). RVI is highly correlated with leaf
dry biomass and chlorophyll content. NDVI and IPVI could indicate the
growth status and spatial distribution density of vegetation. Moreover,
GNDVI is extremely sensitive to chlorophyll a (Frampton et al., 2013).
Tree height variable represents the vertical structure characteristic,
which are different from the information provided by spectral features
and can alleviate the biomass saturation problem in AGB estimation. In
this study, the retrieved tree height has a higher explanation power for
forest AGB, and we find that incorporation the tree height variable could
improve the accuracy of the AGB estimation by comparing the models
with and without tree height information. This confirms that the vertical
9
Ecological Indicators 126 (2021) 107645
characteristics of the forest are strongly related to the AGB while they do
not suffer from data saturation issues (Chen et al., 2016; Liu et al., 2019;
Wang et al., 2018).
Topographic factors affect the growth status and stand structure of
vegetation through the redistribution of hydrothermal conditions, thus
affecting tree species composition, stand complexity, vegetation growth
rate, etc. These characteristics can provide information on local changes
of forest canopy structure and may help to obtain more accurate forest
AGB distribution map (Liu et al., 2019). In this study, elevation H var­
iable selected as a geographical parameter was included in the AGB
estimation model to provide information about forest distribution and
site attributes.
Biophysical variables can describe vegetation function effectively,
which is important for biomass estimation. Although many researches
have confirmed this, biophysical variables derived from Sentinel-2 were
excluded from our study as they did not rank sufficiently high in the
importance ranking. The reason may be that biophysical variables
describe the state of the vegetation (such as density, growth situation),
while our study area exhibited relatively similar forest canopy structures
after thinning and tending (Dusseux et al., 2015). Moreover, as these
biophysical parameters were obtained by inversion from optical images,
various factors, such as the inversion algorithm and the choice of some
parameters, affected the accuracy of the estimated biochemical
parameters.
4.3. Contribution of multi-source remote sensing data to AGB estimation
Previous research has highlighted some limitations in forest AGB
estimation using optical sensor imagery. The AGB was underestimated
in dense forests due to data saturation, while in sparse forests, the AGB
was overestimated due to the influence of understory vegetation (Li
et al., 2020). Although many approaches, such as stratification of forest
types and addition of topographical variables, have been explored to
improve the performance of the AGB estimation, the underlying satu­
ration issue remained unsolved. In order to improve the accuracy of the
AGB estimation, multi-source remote sensing data, from which hori­
zontal and vertical feature variables can be extracted, should be
considered.
Optical, SAR, and LiDAR data all have specific advantages and lim­
itations for the AGB estimation (Raciti et al., 2015). A combination of
these data may improve the accuracy of the AGB estimation and reduce
the impact of data saturation (Ghosh and Behera, 2018; Zhao et al.,
2016). Our research shows that a combination of vertical structure in­
formation (tree height) and spectral features (spectral bands and vege­
tation index) can significantly improve the performance of the AGB
estimation. Compared with results of similar researches, our method
could be applied over a larger study area with fewer direct variables,
offering a relatively high accuracy in terms of AGB estimation (Chen
et al., 2019; Forkuor et al., 2020; Wallis et al., 2019). Moreover, many
researchers have explored the use of advanced methods to map the AGB
distribution by merging field measurements, optical, LiDAR, and SAR
data (Laurin et al., 2018, 2014; Sinha et al., 2020). Multi-source data can
provide various predictors related to the AGB, such as forest height,
forest cover, vegetation index, and topographic and biotic factors, and
incorporate these variables into mapping the forest AGB (Zhang et al.,
2019). There are some uncertainties due to the use of data from different
sources, such as the spatial matching for multi-mode data, the spatial
resolution mismatch of different data sources and the selection of
appropriate algorithms that can effectively include variables from
different sources. More research is needed to explore how multi-source
features can be combined effectively to achieve accurate prediction of
forest AGB so as to better understand the dynamic changes of forest
resources.
Y. Wang et al.
5. Conclusion
We have investigated the potential of integrating ZY-3 stereo imag­
ery, Sentinel-2 multispectral imagery, and DEM data for estimating the
forest tree height and the AGB of coniferous forests in the case study of
the Wangyedian forest farm in North China. The forest tree height was
extracted by combining the DSM derived from ZY-3 stereo images and
the DEM product from ALOS. The integration of the high-resolution
satellite stereo images and the high-quality DEM provided a valuable
data source for producing an accurate, reliable, and spatially-continuous
forest tree height map. For the forest AGB estimation, the RF regression
algorithm was applied to evaluate the performance of two AGB esti­
mation models using different combinations of the tree height, spectral
reflectance, vegetation indices, and biophysical and topographic vari­
ables. It was shown that the inclusion of the tree height variable
improved the AGB estimation performance. Overall, this research sug­
gests a feasible way to reduce the data saturation problem of optical data
and accurately predict the AGB in a temperate forest using a combina­
tion of stereo images, optical multispectral images and DEM image. In
the future, our work will focus on integrating different data sources
(optical imagery, LiDAR, radar, stereo imagery) to reduce the effect of
data saturation and further improve the accuracy of AGB estimation.
Funding
This work was supported by the National Ministry of Science and
Technology [grant number 2017YFD0600900].
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Yueting Wang: Investigation, Methodology, Software, Validation,
Visualization, Writing - original draft. Xiaoli Zhang: Funding acquisi­
tion, Methodology, Project administration, Resources. Zhengqi Guo:
Investigation, Software.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the Wangyedian Forest Farm in Chifeng City,
Inner Mongolia for their aid during the field survey. We also would like
to thank Erxue Chen and Lei Zhao from the Institute of Forest Resource
Information Techniques CAF and Kaili Cao, Linghan Gao, Zhengqi Guo,
Xuemei Zhou and Tian Yin from Beijing Forestry University for their
help in the field work.
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