Abstract This study aims at developing specific allometric biomass equations that can be integrated into a remote sensing (RS) based model for assessing carbon sequestered in date palms. Assessing the potential of date palms to improve soil carbon sequestration was another objective. In a previous study, the authors demonstrated that combinations of visible and short wave single bands (Red, SWIR1, SWIR2) besides vegetation indices (DVI, NDI and RVI) derived from Landsat imagery correlated significantly with date palms’ biomass. Here and based on field and lab work, relevant structural variables were identified and used in the development of allometric equations. Results showed that the crown area (CA) best estimated both crown biomass (CB) and soil organic carbon (SOC). Likewise, the trunk height (Ht) was the best estimator of trunk biomass (TB). Using these variables, allometric equations were developed for date palms at different age stages and were used to estimate CB, TB and SOC with coefficients of determination (R2) of: 0.884, 0.835 and 0.952, respectively. Furthermore, the average ratios of below ground biomass (BGB) to above ground biomass (AGB) varied with palm maturity stages averaging 0.332, 0.925 and 0.496 for young, medium and mature palms, respectively. Moreover, the present study demonstrated that the amounts of organic carbon (OC) stored in date palms were considerable with values of: 15.88 kg/palm for young, 96.62 kg/palm for medium, and 225.58 kg/palm for mature palms. Substantially higher amounts of SOC were measured compared to other local plants with values of: 18.092 kg/palm, 62.594 kg/palm, and 92.908 kg/palm under young, medium and mature palms, respectively. The main achievement of the current study was the development of new and unprecedented allometric equations for date palm species in arid land. Such equations allow the development and calibration of a RS-based model for estimating biomass and Carbon Sequestration (CS) of date palms in the region with high accuracy.

中文翻译：

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异速生长方程结合遥感变量估算枣椰树的碳储量

摘要 本研究旨在开发特定的异速生长生物量方程，该方程可以集成到基于遥感 (RS) 的模型中，用于评估椰枣中固存的碳。另一个目标是评估枣椰树改善土壤固碳的潜力。在之前的一项研究中，作者证明，除了源自 Landsat 图像的植被指数（DVI、NDI 和 RVI）之外，可见光和短波单波段（红色、SWIR1、SWIR2）的组合与椰枣的生物量显着相关。在这里，根据现场和实验室工作，确定了相关的结构变量并将其用于异速生长方程的开发。结果表明，冠部面积 (CA) 对冠部生物量 (CB) 和土壤有机碳 (SOC) 的估计最好。同样，树干高度 (Ht) 是树干生物量 (TB) 的最佳估计值。使用这些变量，为不同年龄阶段的枣椰树开发了异速生长方程，并用于估计 CB、TB 和 SOC，决定系数 (R2) 分别为：0.884、0.835 和 0.952。此外，地下部生物量 (BGB) 与地上部生物量 (AGB) 的平均比率随棕榈成熟阶段而变化，对于年轻、中型和成熟棕榈树，平均分别为 0.332、0.925 和 0.496。此外，本研究表明，椰枣中储存的有机碳 (OC) 量相当可观，其值为：年轻棕榈树 15.88 千克/棕榈，中等棕榈树 96.62 千克/棕榈，成熟棕榈树 225.58 千克/棕榈。与其他当地植物相比，测得的 SOC 含量明显更高，分别为：18.092 千克/棕榈、62.594 千克/棕榈和 92.908 千克/棕榈，分别在年轻、中型和成熟棕榈树下。当前研究的主要成就是为干旱地区的枣椰树物种开发了新的和前所未有的异速生长方程。此类方程允许开发和校准基于 RS 的模型，以高精度估计该地区枣椰树的生物量和碳封存 (CS)。