• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.37 no.6_1
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• pp.1719-1729
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• 2021

Leaf area index (LAI) provides valuable information necessary for sustainable and effective management of forests. Although global high resolution LAI data are provided by European Space Agency using Sentinel-2 satellite images, they have not considered forest characteristics in model development and have not been evaluated for various forest ecosystems in South Korea. In this study, we proposed a LAI estimation model combining machine learning and the PROSAIL radiative transfer model using Sentinel-2 satellite data over a local forest area in South Korea. LAI-2200C was used to measure in situ LAI data. The proposed LAI estimation model was compared to the existing Sentinel-2 LAI product. The results showed that the proposed model outperformed the existing Sentinel-2 LAI product, yielding a difference of bias ~ 0.97 and a difference of root-mean-square-error ~ 0.81 on average, respectively, which improved the underestimation of the existing product. The proposed LAI estimation model provided promising results, implying its use for effective LAI estimation over forests in South Korea.