Vegetation Structure and 3-D Reconstruction of Forest Canopies Using Ground-Based Echidna® Lidar
Alan
Strahler, Boston University, alan@bu.edu
(Presenting)
Tian
Yao, Boston University, tianyao@bu.edu
Feng
Zhao, Boston University, zhao26@bu.edu
Xiaoyuan
Yang, Boston University, xiaoyuan@bu.edu
Curtis
Woodcock, Boston University, curtis@bu.edu
Crystal
Schaaf, Boston University, schaaf@bu.edu
David
Jupp, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, david.jupp@csiro.au
Darius
Culvenor, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, darius.culvenor@csiro.au
Glenn
Newnham, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, glenn.newnham@csiro.au
Jenny
Lovell, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, jenny.lovell@csiro.au
Wenge
Ni-Meister, Hunter College of CUNY, wenge.ni-meister@hunter.cuny.edu
A ground-based, scanning, near-infrared lidar, the Echidna® validation instrument (EVI), built by CSIRO Australia, retrieves structural parameters of forest stands rapidly and accurately, and by merging multiple scans into a single point cloud, also provides 3-D stand reconstructions. The Echidna lidar scans with pulses of light at 1064 nm wavelength and digitizes the light returns sufficiently finely to recover and distinguish the differing shapes of return pulses as they are scattered by leaves, trunks, and branches. Instrument deployments in the New England region in 2007 and 2009 and in the southern Sierra Nevada of California in 2008 have documented the ability of the EVI to retrieve forest structural parameters with very good accuracy, as compared to manual field measurements, stem maps, and LVIS RH100 values. Rescanning two 2007 New England sites--Harvard hemlock and Howland shelterwood--in 2009 showed measurable growth in diameter and an increase in canopy height. The shapes of foliage profiles from LVIS match EVI-derived foliage profiles well, although the EVI profiles appear to be more accurate in middle and lower canopy layers. Three-D reconstructions, using point clouds from 5-9 merged scans, provide new ways of estimating leaf area index and foliage profile, as well as better accommodation for varying terrain in retrieval of structural parameters. A second-generation instrument, the Dual-Wavelength Echidna Lidar (DWEL), is currently under development by the Echidna Lidar Team at Boston University with NSF support. This research was supported by NASA grants NNG06GI92G and NNX08AE94A and NSF grant DBI-0923389.
Presentation Type: Poster
Poster Session: Field Campaigns
NASA TE Funded Awards Represented:
Strahler, Alan
Retrieval of Vegetation Structure and Carbon Balance Parameters Using Ground-Based Lidar and Scaling to Airborne and Spaceborne Lidar Sensors