Interest of a Full-Waveform Flown UV Lidar to Derive Forest Vertical Structures and Aboveground Carbon

Amongst all the methodologies readily available to estimate forest canopy and aboveground carbon (AGC), in-situ plot surveys and airborne laser scanning systems appear to be powerful assets. However, they are limited to relatively local scales. In this work, we have developed a full-waveform UV lidar, named ULICE (Ultraviolet LIdar for Canopy Experiment), as an airborne demonstrator for future space missions, with an eventual aim to retrieve forest properties at the global scale. The advantage of using the UV wavelength for a demonstrator is its low multiple scattering in the canopy. Based on realistic airborne lidar data from the well-documented Fontainebleau forest site (south-east of Paris, France), which is representative of managed deciduous forests in temperate climate zones, we estimate the uncertainties in the retrieval of forest vertical structures and AGC. A complete uncertainty study using Monte Carlo approaches is performed for both the lidar-derived tree top height (TTH) and AGC. Our results show a maximum error of 1.2 m (16 tC ha‑1) for the TTH (AGC) assessment. Furthermore, the study of leaf effect on AGC estimate for mid-latitude deciduous forests highlights the possibility for using calibration obtained during only one season to retrieve the AGC during the other, by applying winter and summer airborne measurements.

[1]  R. Macarthur,et al.  Foliage Profile by Vertical Measurements , 1969 .

[2]  R. Measures.  Laser remote sensing : fundamentals and applications , 1984 .

[3]  J. Dhôte,et al.  Un modèle hyperbolique pour l'ajustement de faisceaux de courbes hauteur–diamètre , 1994 .

[4]  Robert M. Zink,et al.  Bird species diversity , 1996, Nature.

[5]  D. Harding,et al.  Observations of the Earth's topography from the Shuttle Laser Altimeter (SLA): Laser-pulse Echo-recovery measurements of terrestrial surfaces , 1998 .

[6]  J. Means.  Use of Large-Footprint Scanning Airborne Lidar To Estimate Forest Stand Characteristics in the Western Cascades of Oregon , 1999 .

[7]  W. Cohen,et al.  Surface lidar remote sensing of basal area and biomass in deciduous forests of eastern Maryland, USA , 1999 .

[8]  M. Lefsky,et al.  Laser altimeter canopy height profiles: methods and validation for closed-canopy, broadleaf forests , 2001 .

[9]  W. Cohen,et al.  Lidar remote sensing of above‐ground biomass in three biomes , 2002 .

[10]  J. Pelon,et al.  Determination by spaceborne backscatter lidar of the structural parameters of atmospheric scattering layers. , 2001, Applied optics.

[11]  Sandra A. Brown.  Measuring carbon in forests: current status and future challenges. , 2002, Environmental pollution.

[12]  Richard H. Grant,et al.  Ultraviolet leaf reflectance of common urban trees and the prediction of reflectance from leaf surface characteristics , 2003 .

[13]  H. Zwally,et al.  Derivation of Range and Range Distributions From Laser Pulse Waveform Analysis for Surface Elevations, Roughness, Slope, and Vegetation Heights , 2012 .

[14]  W. Cohen,et al.  Estimates of forest canopy height and aboveground biomass using ICESat , 2005 .

[15]  K. Soudani,et al.  Modeling annual production and carbon fluxes of a large managed temperate forest using forest inventories, satellite data and field measurements. , 2005, Tree physiology.

[16]  D. Harding,et al.  ICESat waveform measurements of within‐footprint topographic relief and vegetation vertical structure , 2005 .

[17]  Reply to comment by M. L. Kaiser et al. on “Rotation rate of Saturn's interior from magnetic field observations” , 2005 .

[18]  H. Zwally,et al.  Overview of the ICESat Mission , 2005 .

[19]  Sandra A. Brown,et al.  CREATING A VIRTUAL TROPICAL FOREST FROM THREE-DIMENSIONAL AERIAL IMAGERY TO ESTIMATE CARBON STOCKS , 2005 .

[20]  J. Dhôte,et al.  Development of total aboveground volume equations for seven important forest tree species in France , 2006 .

[21]  M. Kimberley,et al.  ESTIMATION OF CARBON STOCKS IN NEW ZEALAND PLANTED FORESTS USING AIRBORNE SCANNING LIDAR , 2007 .

[22]  Sandra A. Brown,et al.  Monitoring and estimating tropical forest carbon stocks: making REDD a reality , 2007 .

[23]  Albert Ansmann,et al.  Particle backscatter and extinction profiling with the spaceborne high-spectral-resolution Doppler lidar ALADIN: methodology and simulations. , 2007, Applied optics.

[24]  Patrick Chazette,et al.  New approach for aerosol profiling with a lidar onboard an ultralight aircraft: application to the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis. , 2007, Environmental science & technology.

[25]  R. Nelson,et al.  Regional aboveground forest biomass using airborne and spaceborne LiDAR in Québec. , 2008 .

[26]  B. Dawson,et al.  INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE (IPCC) , 2008 .

[27]  J. Dhôte,et al.  Species substitution for carbon storage: Sessile oak versus Corsican pine in France as a case study , 2009 .

[28]  Dominique Guyon,et al.  Observing the Forest Canopy with a New Ultra-Violet Compact Airborne Lidar , 2010, Sensors.

[29]  Jean-Stéphane Bailly,et al.  Potential of an ultraviolet, medium-footprint lidar prototype for retrieving forest structure , 2011 .

[30]  Hajime Okamoto,et al.  AEROSOL classification retrieval algorithms for EarthCARE/ATLID, CALIPSO/CALIOP, and ground-based lidars , 2011, 2011 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium.

[31]  Göran Ståhl,et al.  Model-assisted regional forest biomass estimation using LiDAR and InSAR as auxiliary data: A case study from a boreal forest area , 2011 .

[32]  F. Rocca,et al.  The BIOMASS mission: Mapping global forest biomass to better understand the terrestrial carbon cycle , 2011 .

[33]  Nicholas C. Coops,et al.  Lidar plots — a new large-area data collection option: context, concepts, and case study , 2012 .

[34]  M. Lefsky,et al.  Mapping tropical forest biomass with radar and spaceborne LiDAR in Lopé National Park, Gabon: Overcoming problems of high biomass and persistent cloud , 2012 .

[35]  S. Goetz,et al.  A meta-analysis of terrestrial aboveground biomass estimation using lidar remote sensing , 2013 .

[36]  N. Pounder,et al.  From CloudSat‐CALIPSO to EarthCare: Evolution of the DARDAR cloud classification and its comparison to airborne radar‐lidar observations , 2013 .

[37]  Corinne Le Quéré,et al.  Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis , 2013 .