Topography, Vegetation Structure, and Ice Studies Using NASAs LVIS Sensor: An Airborne, Wide-Swath, Full-Waveform, Imaging Lidar

Bryan Blair, NASA/GSFC, bryan.blair@nasa.gov (Presenting)
Michelle Hofton, University of Maryland, mhofton@umd.edu
David Rabine, SSAI, david.rabine@nasa.gov

NASA’s Laser Vegetation Imaging Sensor (LVIS) is an medium-altitude (10km), medium-footprint (5-25m) Waveform-Digitizing Lidar.

- Measures canopy height, structure, and sub-canopy topography even in the densest forests (up to 99% canopy cover) for every footprint.

- Digitally records the shape of the returning laser pulse (waveform).

- Nominal dense forest mode: 20m footprint in a 2km swath from 10km above ground.

- 500-5,000 Hz laser repetition rate, 1064nm wavelength, 9 ns (FWHM) laser pulse.

- Auto Nadir-stabilization maximizes coverage.

- LVIS utilizes footprints the size of larger crown diameters to consistently penetrate to the ground and measure surface topography for every shot, even in dense (99% closed) forests.

- No loss of horizontal resolution in forested areas.

- By recording the entire time history of interaction between the laser pulse and the surface of the Earth (the waveform), multiple data products describing surface structure are extracted for every shot.

(https://lvis.gsfc.nasa.gov)

NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Active Awards Represented by this Poster:

• Award: NNG04GO05G
   
• Award: 281945.02.61.01.06