Estimating above ground biomass and determination of carbon storage capacity of trees from images acquired by unmanned aerial vehicle

The world is facing many challenges such as global climate change, population growth, global warming, urban growth, land changes and greenhouse effect. These challenges have created a clear need for a robust and applicable methods for estimating biomass carbon in all land use systems, including plantation forests. This study aimed to estimate the biomass and carbon capacities of individual trees using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images. Citrus aurantium (orange) was used as test data, the accuracy of the biomass and carbon data obtained by processing the UAV images were compared with values produced using traditional methods and equations were created for optimization. In this context, the study was carried out in two parts, estimating carbon and biomass values from UAV images and field data. Solid volumes of trees were extracted by processing the UAV data with photogrammetric methods. From the field data, solid volumes, real volumes, above-ground biomass and carbon sequestration capacities of the trees were obtained by traditional methods. In line with the obtained data, regression equations were produced to predict the above-ground biomass and carbon sequestration capacities of trees. The generated equations are exponential, linear, polynomial and exponential slope lines. These equations are used for the conversion of trees from solid volumes to real volumes obtained from field data and integration of transition from volume to biomass. Following results are found: The average above-ground biomass value obtained from Karbiyosis software was estimated as 38,595.17 gr, and the carbon storage capacity was estimated as 17,651.38 gr. The average above-ground biomass value produced by the exponential equation from the solid volume obtained from the UAV data to the actual volume obtained from the field data is 32,552.68 g, while the above-ground carbon value is 15,625.29 gr. Above-ground biomass and carbon values produced by the 2nd degree polynomial equation are 37,550.57 gr and 18,024.27 gr, respectively. From the solid volume obtained from the UAV data to the biomass obtained from Karbiyosis, the average above-ground biomass value produced by the exponential equation is 37,151.91 gr, while the above-ground carbon value is 17,832.91 gr. Above-ground biomass and carbon values produced by the 2nd degree polynomial equation are 36,839.78 gr and 17,683.09 gr, respectively. Results found by comparing the solid volume obtained from the UAV data to the real volume obtained from the field data, the biomass values produced by polynomial equations with the Karbiyosis results, are 85% and 84%, while the compatibility for carbon is 86% and 84%. The solid volume obtained from the UAV data to the biomass obtained from the Karbiyosis, the overall compatibility obtained by comparing the biomass and carbon values produced with the exponential and 2nd order polynomial equations with Karbiyosis results is 86%. In this thesis, estimations of volume, biomass and carbon sequestration for individual trees were obtained with high accuracy using UAV images. This study confirms that remote sensing technologies can be used and applied in carbon calculation, which is an important data within the scope of global climate change.