Characterization of Forested Landscapes from Remotely Sensed Data Using Fractals and Spatial Autocorrelation.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Advances in Civil Engineering Volume 2012, Article ID 945613, 14 pages doi:10.1155/2012/945613 Research Article Characterization of Forested Landscapes from Remotely Sensed Data Using Fractals and Spatial Autocorrelation Mohammad Z. Al-Hamdan,1 James F. Cruise,2 Douglas L. Rickman,3 and Dale A. Quattrochi3 1 Universities Space Research Association at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, National Space Science and Technology Center, NASA Global Hydrology and Climate Center, Huntsville, AL 35805, USA 2 Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35899, USA 3 Earth Science Offi ce at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, National Space Science and Technology Center, NASA Global Hydrology and Climate Center, Huntsville, AL 35805, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Mohammad Z. Al-Hamdan, mohammad.alhamdan@ Received 5 August 2011; Accepted 27 December 2011 Academic Editor: Kirk Hatfield Copyright © 2012 Mohammad Z. Al-Hamdan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The characterization of forested landscapes is frequently required in civil engineering practice. In this study, some spatial analysis techniques are presented that might be employed with Landsat TM data to analyze forest structure characteristics. A case study is presented wherein fractal dimensions (FDs), along with a simple spatial autocorrelation technique (Moran’s I ), were related to stand density parameters of the Oakmulgee National Forest located in the southeastern United States (Alabama). The results indicate that when