Northern Research Station

Title: Utility of LiDAR for large area forest inventory applications

Author: Skowronski, Nicholas S.; Lister, Andrew J.

Date: 2012

Source: In: Morin, Randall S.; Liknes, Greg C., comps. Moving from status to trends: Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) symposium 2012; 2012 December 4-6; Baltimore, MD. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-105. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. [CD-ROM]: 410-413.

Description: Multi-resource inventory data are used in conjunction with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data from the Pennsylvania Department of Natural Resource's PAMAP Program to assess the utility of extensive LiDAR acquisitions for large area forest assessments. Background, justification, and initial study designs are presented. The proposed study will involve three phases: 1) characterization of relationships between LiDAR cloud metrics and statistical summaries of tree information on forest inventory plots, 2) use of the inventory data to calibrate LiDAR-based forest biomass models, and 3) use of subsets of the LiDAR dataset as part of a ground-based forest inventory. Initial results of the first phase indicate moderate relationships between various combinations of ground inventory and LiDAR data.

Keywords: statistics, estimation, sampling, modeling, remote sensing, forest health, data integrity, environmental monitoring, cover estimation, international forest monitoring

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Citation

Skowronski, Nicholas S.; Lister, Andrew J.  2012.  Utility of LiDAR for large area forest inventory applications.   In: Morin, Randall S.; Liknes, Greg C., comps. Moving from status to trends: Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) symposium 2012; 2012 December 4-6; Baltimore, MD. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-105. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. [CD-ROM]: 410-413..