Ground cover identification and mapping by CO2 lidar imaging

We report examples of the use of a scanning tunable CO2 laser lidar system in the 9-11 mm region to construct images of vegetation and rocks at ranges of up to 5 km from the instrument. Range information is combined with horizontal and vertical distances to yield an image with three spatial dimensions simultaneous with the classification of target type. Reflectance spectra in this region are sufficiently distinct to discriminate between several tree species, between trees and scrub vegetation, and between natural and artificial targets. Limitations imposed by laser speckle noise are discussed.

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