A comparison of foliage profiles in the Sierra National Forest obtained with a full-waveform under-canopy EVI lidar system with the foliage profiles obtained with an airborne full-waveform LVIS lidar system

•Local topography affects foliage profiles, particularly topmost height retrieval.•Scanning perspective also influences the foliage profile retrievals.•Foliage profiles retrieved from two lidar systems agree well with each other.

Foliage profiles retrieved from a scanning, terrestrial, near-infrared (1064 nm), full-waveform lidar, the Echidna Validation Instrument (EVI), agree well with those obtained from an airborne, near-infrared, full-waveform, large footprint lidar, the Lidar Vegetation Imaging Sensor (LVIS). We conducted trials at 5 plots within a conifer stand at Sierra National Forest in August, 2008. Foliage profiles retrieved from these two lidar systems are closely correlated (e.g., r = 0.987 at 100 m horizontal distances) at large spatial coverage while they differ significantly at small spatial coverage, indicating the apparent scanning perspective effect on foliage profile retrievals. Also we noted the obvious effects of local topography on foliage profile retrievals, particularly on the topmost height retrievals. With a fine spatial resolution and a small beam size, terrestrial lidar systems complement the strengths of the airborne lidars by making a detailed characterization of the crowns from a small field site, and thereby serving as a validation tool and providing localized tuning information for future airborne and spaceborne lidar missions.