Assessing forest damage in high-elevation coniferous forests in vermont and new Hampshire using thematic mapper data

Abstract

This study evaluates the potential of measuring/mapping forest damage in spruce-fir forests in the Green Mountains of Vermont and White Mountains of New Hampshire using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data. The TM 1.65/0.83 μm (TM5/4) and 2.22/0.83 μm (TM7/4) band ratios were found to correlate well with ground-based measurements of forest damage (a measure of percentage foliar loss) at 11 spruce-fir stands located on Camels Hump, a mountain in northern Vermont. Images using 0.56 μm and 1.65 μm bands with 1.65/0.83 μm band ratios indicated locations of heavy conifer forest damage. Both 1.65/0.83 and 2.22/0.83 μm band ratios were used to quantify levels of conifer forest damage among individual mountains throughout many of the Green and White Mountains. Damage was found to be consistantly higher for the Green than the White Mountains.