ESTIMATING BIOMASS AND CARBON STORAGE OF GRASSLANDS USING VERY HIGH-RESOLUTION SATELLITE IMAGES IN THE CORUH RIVER BASIN (NORTHEASTERN TURKEY)

Coruh River basin predominantly characterized by its vast grasslands and by potential biodiversity richness due to its climatic and topographic variation throughout the basin. Despite its well-known ecological importance, there is not much work conducted in the basin that deals with the estimation of biomass and carbon storage of the grassland. Thus, the aim of this study was to estimate belowground biomass (BGB), aboveground biomass (AGB) and carbon sequestration in the grasslands of 11 sub-basins within the Coruh River Basin using very high-resolution (0.5 m) WorldView-2 satellite imagery and meteorological data. For BGB and AGB estimations, 1196 soil root samples and 49 harvested biomass (wirecage) samples, respectively, were collected from total of 299 sampling plots. The mean AGB and BGB in the sampling plots were estimated to be 1.58 t ha-1 and 4.02 t ha-1, respectively. As a result, mean total biomass (TB) calculated as 5.60 t ha·1 in the entire study areas. The mean TB values showed significant differences among the sub-basins (p