Project Funding: 2006 - 2011

NRA: 2005 NASA: Remote Sensing Science for Carbon and Climate   

Funded by NASA

Abstract:
We will demonstrate and refine the application of ground-based, upward-scanning hemispherical lidar to retrieve forest canopy structural information, including tree height, mean tree diameter, basal area, stem count density, crown diameter, woody biomass, and green biomass, and link this information to airborne and spaceborne lidars to provide large-area mapping of structural and biomass parameters. The terrestrial lidar instrument, Echidna(TM), developed by CSIRO Australia as part of its canopy lidar initiative, allows rapid acquisition of highly accurate vegetation structure data that can be readily integrated with downward-looking airborne lidar, such as LVIS, NASA's Laser Vegetation Imaging Sensor, and spaceborne lidar, such as transects of the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) acquired by ICESat. Lidar waveforms and vegetation structure will be linked for these three sensors through the hybrid geometric-optical radiative-transfer (GORT) model, which uses basic vegetation structure parameters and principles of geometric optics, coupled with radiative transfer theory, to model scattering and absorption of light by collections of individual plant crowns. Use of a common model for lidar waveforms at ground, airborne, and spaceborne levels will facilitate integration and scaling of the data to provide large-area maps and inventories of vegetation structure and carbon stocks. It will also provide a pathway to exploit multiangle optical sensors, such as MISR and MODIS, to retrieve canopy structure in conjunction with lidars such as LVIS and GLAS. Our research plan includes acquisition of Echidna(TM) under-canopy hemispherical lidar scans at North American test sites where LVIS and GLAS data have been or are being acquired; analysis and modeling of spatially coincident lidar waveforms acquired by the three sensor sys-tems; linking of the three data sources using the GORT model; mapping of vegetation structure and carbon-balance parameters at LVIS and GLAS resolutions based on Echidna(TM) measure-ments; and linking LVIS and GLAS to multiangle optical measurements from instruments such as Air-MISR, MISR, and MODIS, through GORT.

Publications:

Yang, X., Strahler, A. H., Schaaf, C. B., Jupp, D. L., Yao, T., Zhao, F., Wang, Z., Culvenor, D. S., Newnham, G. J., Lovell, J. L., Dubayah, R. O., Woodcock, C. E., Ni-Meister, W. 2013. Three-dimensional forest reconstruction and structural parameter retrievals using a terrestrial full-waveform lidar instrument (Echidna(r)). Remote Sensing of Environment. 135, 36-51. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2013.03.020

Yao, T., Yang, X., Zhao, F., Wang, Z., Zhang, Q., Jupp, D., Lovell, J., Culvenor, D., Newnham, G., Ni-Meister, W., Schaaf, C., Woodcock, C., Wang, J., Li, X., Strahler, A. 2011. Measuring forest structure and biomass in New England forest stands using Echidna ground-based lidar. Remote Sensing of Environment. 115(11), 2965-2974. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2010.03.019

Zhao, F., Yang, X., Schull, M. A., Roman-Colon, M. O., Yao, T., Wang, Z., Zhang, Q., Jupp, D. L., Lovell, J. L., Culvenor, D. S., Newnham, G. J., Richardson, A. D., Ni-Meister, W., Schaaf, C. L., Woodcock, C. E., Strahler, A. H. 2011. Measuring effective leaf area index, foliage profile, and stand height in New England forest stands using a full-waveform ground-based lidar. Remote Sensing of Environment. 115(11), 2954-2964. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2010.08.030

Ni-Meister, W., Lee, S., Strahler, A. H., Woodcock, C. E., Schaaf, C., Yao, T., Ranson, K. J., Sun, G., Blair, J. B. 2010. Assessing general relationships between aboveground biomass and vegetation structure parameters for improved carbon estimate from lidar remote sensing. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. 115(G2). DOI: 10.1029/2009JG000936

Strahler,Alan H., David L.B. Jupp, Curtis E. Woodcock, Crystal B. Schaaf,etc. (2008) Retrieval of forest structural parameters using a ground-based lidar instrument (Echidna), Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, 34,Suppl.2,S426-S440.

Ni-Meister, W., A.H. Strahler, C.E. Woodcock, C.B. Schaaf, D.L.B. Jupp, etc. (2008) Modeling the hemispherical scanning, below-canopy lidar and vegetation structure characteristics with a geometric-optical and radiative-transfer model, Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, 34,Suppl.2,S385-S397.

Jupp, D. L., Culvenor, D. S., Lovell, J. L., Newnham, G. J., Strahler, A. H., Woodcock, C. E. 2008. Estimating forest LAI profiles and structural parameters using a ground-based laser called 'Echidna(R). Tree Physiology. 29(2), 171-181. DOI: 10.1093/treephys/tpn022

2013 NASA Terrestrial Ecology Science Team Meeting Poster(s)

• Lidar derived canopy height models of Harvard Forest   --   (Ian Paynter, Edward Saenz, Xiaoyuan Yang, Yan Liu, Zhuosen Wang, Crystal Schaaf, Zhan Li, Alan Strahler, Bruce Cook, Keith Krause, Nathan Leisso, Courtney Meier, Darius Culvenor, Glenn Newnham, David Jupp, Jenny Lovell, Ewan Douglas, Jason Martel, Supriya Chakrabarti, Timothy Cook, Glenn Howe, Kuravi Hewawasam, Jeffrey Thomas, Jihyun Kim, Shabnam Rouhani, Yun Yang, Nima Pahlevan, Qingsong Sun, Francesco Peri, Angela Erb)   [abstract]

2011 NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop Poster(s)

• Retrieving Forest Structure using Echidna® Ground-Based Lidar   --   (Alan Strahler, Crystal Schaaf, Tian Yao, Feng Zhao, Xiaoyuan Yang, Curtis Woodcock, David Jupp, Darius Culvenor, Glenn Newnham, Jenny Lovell)   [abstract]

2010 NASA Terrestrial Ecology Science Team Meeting Poster(s)

• Field and Aircraft Observations in Support of DESDynI   --   (Ralph Dubayah, Kathleen Bergen, Bryan Blair, Bruce Cook, Peter Griffith, Forrest Hall, Megan McGroddy, Paul Montesano, Amy Morrell, Ross Nelson, Wenge Ni-Meister, Michael O'Connell, Jon Ranson, Chelsea Robinson, Jeremy Rubio, Sassan Saatchi, Marc Simard, Paul Siqueira, Alan Strahler, Guoqing Sue, Anuradha Swatantran)   [abstract]   [poster]
• Vegetation Structure and 3-D Reconstruction of Forest Canopies Using Ground-Based Echidna® Lidar   --   (Alan Strahler, Tian Yao, Feng Zhao, Xiaoyuan Yang, Curtis Woodcock, Crystal Schaaf, David Jupp, Darius Culvenor, Glenn Newnham, Jenny Lovell, Wenge Ni-Meister)   [abstract]   [poster]

2008 NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop Posters

• Retrieving New England Forest Structure from a Ground-Based Lidar (Echidna®)   --   (Alan H. Strahler, Curtis E. Woodcock, Crystal B. Schaaf, Wenge Ni-Meister, Glenn Newnham, Darius Culvenor, David L. B. Jupp, Jenny Lovell, Xiaowen Li, Tian Yao, Feng Zhao, Xiaoyuan Yang, Qingling Zhang, Mitchell Schull, Miguel Roman, Shihyan Lee, Zhuosen Wang, Yanmin Shuai)   [abstract]
• Retrieval of the Leaf-Area Index and Foliage Profile of New England Forest Stands Using a Ground-Based Lidar Instrument (Echidna®)   --   (Feng Zhao, Miguel Roman, Alan Strahler, Curtis Woodcock, Crystal Schaaf, Jicheng Liu, Glenn Newnham, David Jupp, Darius Culvenor, Jenny Lovell, Wenge Ni-Meister, Shihyan Lee, Xiaowen Li, Qingling Zhang, Zhuosen Wang, Yanmin Shuai)   [abstract]
• Combining Above-Canopy Downward-Looking and Below-Canopy Upward Hemispherical-Scanning LIDAR for Improved Above-Ground Biomass Retrieval   --   (Wenge Ni-Meister, Shihyan Lee, Alan Strahler, James Bryan Blair)   [abstract]

More details may be found in the following project profile(s):

• NASA Terrestrial Ecology (TE) Project Profile
• North American Carbon Program (NACP) Project Profile