Validating remotely sensed biomass estimates with forest inventory data in the western US

An 11.3 MB dataset by Xiuyu Cao, last updated May 2026, provides an independent validation of commercial aboveground biomass density estimates from terraPulse, Inc. The validation uses US Forest Service FIA data aggregated to 64,000-hectare hexagons and county scales across three western US states. It reports strong agreement metrics, including an R² of 0.88 at the hexagon scale.

Use Cases

• Validate commercial remote sensing biomass products based on independent forest inventory data.
• Assess model performance for carbon stock estimation based on reported R², RMSE, and correlation metrics.
• Analyze spatial patterns of biomass estimation bias in non-forested versus high-biomass forest areas.
• Develop scalable frameworks for operational carbon monitoring based on the described validation methodology.

Strengths

• Validation is based on independent reference data from the US Forest Service FIA program.
• Reports specific, strong agreement metrics: R² = 0.88, RMSE = 26.68 Mg ha⁻¹, slope = 0.99 at the hexagon scale.
• Analysis is performed at two spatial scales: 64,000-hectare hexagons and US counties.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Geographic coverage is limited to three US states: Utah, Nevada, and Washington.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

figshare, author Xiuyu Cao.

Collection Method

Validation study comparing terraPulse, Inc. AGBD estimates with US Forest Service FIA data.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-11 05:55:23; freshness should be verified.

Geography

US states of Utah, Nevada, and Washington.