Improvement of the diagnostics of forest ecosystems with special consideration of radiation ecology issues in connection with digital hemispheric photography

Forest ecosystems are characterized by extremly specific radiative conditions. Hemispheric photography is a globally recognized as an assured and reliable method to describe the radiative environment. Its advantage lies in the fact that a single moment snapshot captures the complex structure of forest stands and allows for subsequent analysis of the radiation components. The data is thus more detailed compared to simple radiation sensors. By using a high-resolution digital camera for image aquisition and a subpixel segmentation method based on muti-spectral imagery, we expect a considerable improvement of the determination of image elements of radiative-ecological relevance, especially in low-radiation forest environments. Moreover, we can thereby achieve a significant improvement of the reproducibility of results and of the efficiency of the data transfer. A new algorithm for analyzing average radiation vectors will be developed and applied to describe the leave angles of regeneration plants. The results will by compared to analogue data by means of comparative tests.
The project is implemented in cooperation with Prof. Dr. H.-G. Maas and Dipl.-Ing. Ellen Schwalbe at the Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (http://www.tu-dresden.de/fghgipf/index.htm) of the Dresden University of Technology.