2005/03/01 by D. S. Boyd, Doreen S. Boyd, F. Mark Danson +1 · 2 citations
Environmental Science · #Forest Management and Policy #Remote Sensing and LiDAR Applications #Remote Sensing in Agriculture
paper · doi:10.1191/0309133305pp432ra
openalex publication_date 2005/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
Three decades have passed since the launch of the first international satellite sensor programme designed for monitoring Earth’s resources. Over this period, forest resources have come under increasing pressure, thus their management and use should be underpinned by information on their properties at a number of levels. This paper provides a comprehensive review of how satellite remote sensing has been used in forest resource assessment since the launch of the first Earth resources satellite sensor (ERTS) in 1972. The use of remote sensing in forest resource assessment provides three levels of information; namely (1) the spatial extent of forest cover, which can be used to assess the spatial dynamics of forest cover; (2) forest type and (3) biophysical and biochemical properties of forests. The assessment of forest information over time enables the comprehensive monitoring of forest resources. This paper provides a comprehensive review of how satellite remote sensing has been used to date and, building on these experiences, the future potential of satellite remote sensing of forest resources is highlighted.