UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Data acquisition considerations for Terrestrial Laser Scanning of forest plots

Wilkes, P; Lau, A; Disney, M; Calders, K; Burt, A; de Tanago, JG; Bartholomeus, H; ... Herold, M; + view all (2017) Data acquisition considerations for Terrestrial Laser Scanning of forest plots. Remote Sensing of Environment , 196 pp. 140-153. 10.1016/j.rse.2017.04.030. Green open access

[thumbnail of 1-s2.0-S003442571730189X-main.pdf]
Preview
Text
1-s2.0-S003442571730189X-main.pdf - Published Version

Download (3MB) | Preview

Abstract

The poor constraint of forest Above Ground Biomass (AGB) is responsible, in part, for large uncertainties in modelling future climate scenarios. Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) can be used to derive unbiased and non-destructive estimates of tree structure and volume and can, therefore, be used to address key uncertainties in forest AGB estimates. Here we review our experience of TLS sampling strategies from 27 campaigns conducted over the past 5 years, across tropical and temperate forest plots, where data was captured with a RIEGL VZ-400 laser scanner. The focus is on strategies to derive Geometrical Modelling metrics (e.g. tree volume) over forest plots (≥1 ha) which require the accurate co-registration of 10s to 100s of individual point clouds. We recommend a 10 m × 10 m sampling grid as an approach to produce a point cloud with a uniform point distribution, that can resolve higher order branches (down to a few cm in diameter) towards the top of 30+ m canopies and can be captured in a timely fashion i.e. ∼3–6 days per ha. A data acquisition protocol, such as presented here, would facilitate data interoperability and inter-comparison of metrics between instruments/groups, from plot to plot and over time.

Type: Article
Title: Data acquisition considerations for Terrestrial Laser Scanning of forest plots
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2017.04.030
Publisher version: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.04.030
Language: English
Additional information: © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords: Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Technology, Environmental Sciences, Remote Sensing, Imaging Science & Photographic Technology, Environmental Sciences & Ecology, Terrestrial Laser Scanning, Forests, Data acquisition protocol, Above Ground Biomass, Tree structure, ABOVEGROUND BIOMASS, CANOPY STRUCTURE, CARBON-CYCLE, TREE MODELS, LIDAR, SCANS, STEM
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Geography
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1555700
Downloads since deposit
211Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item