High-Resolution Pan-European Forest Structure Maps: An Integration of Earth Observation and National Forest Inventory Data

2024

17 S.

Sonderdruck

13362S

40005099

We developed Pan-European maps of timber volume (V), above-ground biomass (AGB), and deciduous-coniferous proportion (DCP) with a pixel size of 10 x 10 m2 for the reference year 2020 using a combination of a Sentinel 2 mosaic, Copernicus layers, and National Forest Inventory (NFI) data. In addition, maps of pixel-level uncertainty are provided. For mapping, we used the k-Nearest Neighbor (kNN, k=7) approach with a harmonized database of species-specific V and AGB from 14 NFIs across Europe. This database encompasses approximately 151,000 sample plots, which were intersected with the above-mentioned Earth observation data. The maps cover 40 European countries, forming a continuous coverage of the western part of the European continent.Keywords: European Forest Monitoring System, Remote Sensing, In Situ data