Retrieval of Gap Fraction and Effective Plant Area Index from Phase-Shift Terrestrial Laser Scans

Remote Sensing

Pyare Pueschel²  Glenn Newnham¹ 

[1] CSIRO Land and Water, Private Bag 10, Clayton South, VIC 3169, Australia; E-Mail:;Department of Environmental Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics, University of Trier, D-54286 Trier, Germany; E-Mail:

关键词: forestry;    LAI;    LiDAR;    laser scanning;    phase-shift;   

DOI  :  10.3390/rs6032601

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The characterization of canopy structure is crucial for modeling eco-physiological processes. Two commonly used metrics for characterizing canopy structure are the gap fraction and the effective Plant Area Index (PAI_e). Both have been successfully retrieved with terrestrial laser scanning. However, a systematic assessment of the influence of the laser scan properties on the retrieval of these metrics is still lacking. This study investigated the effects of resolution, measurement speed, and noise compression on the retrieval of gap fraction and PAI_e from phase-shift FARO Photon 120 laser scans. We demonstrate that FARO’s noise compression yields gap fractions and PAI_e that deviate significantly from those based on scans without noise compression and strongly overestimate Leaf Area Index (LAI) estimates based on litter trap measurements. Scan resolution and measurement speed were also shown to impact gap fraction and PAI_e, but this depended on leaf development phase, stand structure, and LAI calculation method. Nevertheless, PAI_e estimates based on various scan parameter combinations without noise compression proved to be quite stable.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland