The Gap: Height is a critical variable for understanding the functioning of Hawaiian forests and vegetation in carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, hydrological cycling, etc. Lidar is the most accurate technology for mapping vegetation height. However, the existing airborne lidar data over Big Island do not have wall-to-wall coverage of the entire island.
The Solution: We combined island-wide Landsat-8 cloud-free mosaic and airborne lidar data to map vegetation height over the entire Big Island. We first estimated vegetation height over lidar coverage areas, then used the data over the overlap areas to create a model of predicting lidar-based height from Landsat imagery, and finally predicted height over the entire island using the model, Landsat-8 mosaic, and lidar data.
The Product: We created a 30-m resolution vegetation height map that covers the entire Big Island.
The Disclaimer: Our error analysis indicated that our predictions tend to overestimate heights for short vegetation and open areas and underestimate tall trees for the areas with no lidar data. There could be overestimations over built-up areas too. The data are provided AS IS. We make no warranty of any kind, express or implied, concerning this information, including but not limited to any warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. We assume no responsibility or legal liability concerning the Data’s accuracy, reliability, completeness, timeliness, or usefulness. Please acknowledge HawaiiView and PI Qi Chen if you use the data.
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