Satellite Imagery data is used to find very recent changes in the forest and the Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development (DNRED) uses it to find harvests and natural disturbances within the forest from one year to the next. Satellite imagery may one day be used to automate tree species determination. The resolution of typical satellite imagery ranges from 30m down to 1.5 m pixels.
Satellite and Aerial Imagery
Digital Aerial Imagery is captured at a high resolution 10 cm to 30 cm pixels. DNRED has acquired digital aerial photography since 2013.
The New Brunswick digital aerial imagery schedule 2013-2020
Photo interpreters can see the forest in enough detail to identify the species of individual trees or groups of trees, also known as “stands”. Photo interpreters look at the forest and interpret what they see and build a database that may include up to 5-individual tree species for each forest stand.
Forest, Non-forest and Wetlands Data
Example of a photo interpreted forest stand and the list of interpreted tree species.