Hyperspectral mapping of rainforests and mangroves

The use of multi-scale hand-held spectrometer, airborne and satellite hyperspectral data is being investigated for mapping of forest types and canopy diversity in rainforests and mangroves of tropical Australia. For this, CASI and Hymap data has been collected over rainforests near Cape Tribulation and east of Cairns, in far north Queensland, Australia, at pixel resolutions of 1 metre (14-bands), and 3 metres (125 bands), respectively. The Cape Tribulation site is also on schedule for hyperspectral data acquisition by the 30 metre resolution, 220 band, Hyperion sensor, on-board the EO-1 NASA/TRW satellite. This paper presents results, to date, for a range of analysis methodologies, applied to both the image data from these sensors, as well as near-range measurements made from a research platform, suspended from a canopy crane above the Cape Tribulation rainforest site. In this project, the near-range spectrometer data are used to establish the spectral variability observed with tree crowns around the canopy crane, while the high resolution image analysis, provides a more integrated picture of the crown diversity in the forest. Crown delineation and spectral separation methodologies are described, which are applied to the CASI/Hymap data for use in quantification of canopy spectral diversity found in this forest. Hyperion data, in turn will be used for more broad-scale forest-type mapping.