A study of forest biomass estimates from lidar in the northern temperate forests of New England

► Results of two field campaigns at the Harvard and Howland Forests from 2009 are presented. ► Field biomass estimates from 38 1ha sites are compared with various full-waveform LVIS lidar metrics. ► LVIS metrics are strongly related to biomass at Howland, but poor correlation is seen at Harvard. ► In a unique and systematic way, the difference in lidar performance at the two sites is analyzed. ► Species composition and possible saturation of the lidar-biomass curve may explain the disparity.