Airborne and terrestrial laser scanning for measuring vegetation canopy structure

Terrestrial vegetation covers 60% of the Earth’s land surface, varying spatially and temporally in cover, composition and function with climatic gradients and disturbance patterns. The vegetation canopy is the interface between the land surface and the atmospheric boundary layer and controls radiative energy exchanges and the fluxes of gases including water vapour and carbon dioxide. At regional to global scales these processes are closely coupled to climate dynamics and there is growing evidence of the importance of terrestrial vegetation as both a source and a sink within the global carbon cycle.