Integrating remote sensing and ancillary data for regional ecosystem assessment: eucalyptus grandis agro-system in kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract

The study demonstrates that the integration of remote sensing and in situ data could be important in providing more accurate estimates of E. grandis state in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa compared to remote sensing models. Such modelling effort would become important at the regional scale in the near future as space-borne imaging spectroscopy or hyperspectral sensors become more available. The potential for developing a radiative transfer function for predicting E. grandis at the leaf level has also been demonstrated. This effort needs to be up-scaled to the canopy level.