title: Mapping and estimating the total living biomass and carbon in low-biomass woodlands using Landsat 8 CDR data.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A functional forest carbon measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) system to support climate change mitigation policies, such as REDD+, requires estimates of forest biomass carbon, as an input to estimate emissions. A combination of field inventory and remote sensing is expected to provide those data. By linking Landsat 8 and forest inventory data, we (1) developed linear mixed effects models for total living biomass (TLB) estimation as a function of spectral variables, (2) developed a 30 m resolution map of the total living carbon (TLC), and (3) estimated the total TLB stock of the study area. Inventory data consisted of tree measurements from 500 plots in 63 clusters in a 15,700 km2study area, in miombo woodlands of Tanzania. The Landsat 8 data comprised two climate data record images covering the inventory area.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found a linear relationship between TLB and Landsat 8 derived spectral variables, and there was no clear evidence of spectral data saturation at higher biomass values. The root-mean-square error of the values predicted by the linear model linking the TLB and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is equal to 44 t/ha (49 % of the mean value). The estimated TLB for the study area was 140 Mt, with a mean TLB density of 81 t/ha, and a 95 % confidence interval of 74-88 t/ha. We mapped the distribution of TLC of the study area using the TLB model, where TLC was estimated at 47 % of TLB.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The low biomass in the miombo woodlands, and the absence of a spectral data saturation problem suggested that Landsat 8 derived NDVI is suitable auxiliary information for carbon monitoring in the context of REDD+, for low-biomass, open-canopy woodlands.
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Post Box 115, 1431 Ås, Norway.
authors.forename: Belachew
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gizachew
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Post Box 115, 1431 Ås, Norway.
authors.forename: Svein
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Solberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Post Box 5003, 1432 Ås, Norway.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Næsset
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Post Box 5003, 1432 Ås, Norway.
authors.forename: Terje
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gobakken
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Post Box 5003, 1432 Ås, Norway.
authors.forename: Ole Martin
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: Bollandsås
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Post Box 115, 1431 Ås, Norway.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Breidenbach
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Forestry and Nature Conservation, Sokoine University of Agriculture, P.O. Box 3009, Chuo Kikuu, Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Eliakimu
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zahabu
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Forestry and Nature Conservation, Sokoine University of Agriculture, P.O. Box 3009, Chuo Kikuu, Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Ernest William
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Mauya
keywords: Biomass; Carbon; Miombo woodlands; Modeling; NDVI; REDD+