A review on forest ecosystem biophysical parameter retrieval from remotely sensed data

This paper provided a review of major techniques and models for retrieving forest ecosystem biophysical parameters, such as leaf area index (LAI), absorbed photosynthesis active radiation (APAR), net primary productivity (NPP) and biomass, from remotely sensed data. The review also considerd the characteristics, advantages and limitations, as well as the relationship between these parameters, with an emphasis on photosynthesis models of forest canopies and techniques of estimating forest biomass with microwave remote sensing data. The review showed a great potential of remote sensing technology for forest ecological applications. In the mean-time, it also suggested that there were still many remaining issues in establishing quantitative relationships for forest biophysical information retrieval using remotely sensed data.