Title: Accuracy Assessment of FIA's Nationwide Biomass Mapping Products: Results From the North Central FIA Region

Author: Holden, Geoffrey R.; Nelson, Mark D.; McRoberts, Ronald E.

Year: 2005

Publication: In: Proceedings of the fifth annual forest inventory and analysis symposium; 2003 November 18-20; New Orleans, LA. Gen. Tech. Rep. WO-69. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. 222p.

Abstract: The Remote Sensing Band of the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program has developed a nationwide map of forest biomass to be distributed as a geospatial raster data set with 250-meter spatial resolution. The accuracy of the forest biomass map depends on both an intermediate forest/nonforest classification and the biomass estimation. For the North Central FIA region, we assessed the accuracy of the forest classification and biomass estimation using three approaches: (1) per pixel percent correctly classified; (2) comparisons of pixel- and FIA plot-based estimations within delineated areas; and (3) utility for stratified estimation of FIA attributes. Results showed the forest/nonforest map to be accurate based on all three assessments, while the forest biomass map performed well only for area estimates.