Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8866839 | Remote Sensing of Environment | 2018 | 15 Pages |
Abstract
A thorough evaluation of the capability of modeling vegetation lidar returns is a critical aspect of deriving vegetation structure from lidar measurements. This study assesses the performance of the Analytical Clumped Two-Stream (ACTS) canopy radiative transfer model to simulate large-footprint lidar waveforms. Modeled lidar waveforms were compared to airborne Laser Vegetation Imaging Sensor (LVIS) data collected in deciduous and conifer forests: Harvard Forest, MA; Bartlett Experimental Forest, NH; and Howland Experimental Forest, ME. The simulated and LVIS lidar waveforms have coefficients of determination R2Â >Â 0.9 and RMSEÂ ~Â 0.01 at both plot and stand level for most sites. The ACTS model also produces realistic multi-peak returns from vegetation for the multi-layer and multi-species canopies with R2Â ~Â 0.79-0.86 and RMSEÂ ~Â 0.01 between the simulated and LVIS waveforms. This validation work lays the foundation to retrieve vegetation structure and above-ground biomass directly from lidar waveforms through model inversion with the ACTS model.
Keywords
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Earth and Planetary Sciences
Computers in Earth Sciences
Authors
Wenge Ni-Meister, Wenze Yang, Shihyan Lee, Alan H. Strahler, Feng Zhao,