Measuring terrestrial net primary productivity in arctic ecosystems with AVHRR satellite imagery

Accurate estimates of terrestrial net primary productivity (NPP) are critical for monitoring the effects of climate change, managing wildlife, and for sustainable resource management in Canada's northern National Parks. The remoteness, inaccessibility, and large spatial extent of the Canadian arctic makes remote sensing a necessary tool for estimating NPP at the landscape scale. Parks Canada currently receives GEOCOMP-n AVHRR cloud-free composite images for all of Canada every 10-days and is currently developing methods to utilize this imagery for ecosystem monitoring in Canada's National Parks. The primary objectives of this thesis are: (1) To develop methodology for estimating arctic NPP using the 1 x 1 km resolution AVBRR satellite imagery produced by the GEOCOMP-n image processing system. (2) To assess the influence of variable topography and sub-pixel water bodies on AVHRR reflectance measurements. (3) To evaluate the correspondence between the GECOMP-n AVHRR image products and ground data.; A method is presented for computing terrestrial NPP of arctic vegetation using the satellite image products produced by the GEOCOMP-n image processing system. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...