Myroniuk V. Theoretical and Experimental Substantiation of Forest Inventory in Flat Land Ukraine Using Satellite Imagery

The thesis is devoted to investigation of theoretical and applied aspects of assessment of flat land forests in Ukraine using ground truth and Earth observation data of forest stands parameters. The experimental research is based on multisource data collected within 21 administrative regions of flat land Ukraine and three local test areas established in Kyiv, Chernigiv and Sumy regions. In the dissertation, an accuracy of four global forest products of 25–30 m spatial resolution has been analysed. Exploring the relationship of tree cover extracted from the Global Forest Change (GFC) data and relative stocking of forest stands, the 40 % tree cover percentage value has been adopted as a threshold for distinction between forested and unforested areas within flat land Ukraine. To map forested areas in flat land Ukraine using Landsat 8 OLI imagery, the land cover reflectance properties in different spectral bands have been investigated. As a result of the conducted study, the forest inventory for small areas has been shown as promising in case of sample-based forest inventory and wall-to-wall mapping of forests by satellite imagery.