Lidar Canopy Maps

Current methods of quantifying biomass for regional studies are often at a coarse scale and ineffective for ecological decision makers attempting to address policy decisions. Lidar data provides a new opportunity to reduce field collection and data interpretation for quantifying vegetation at a scale appropriate for land use managers to improve the health and resilience of regions.

This study will investigate the new technology of Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) active sensing, for the quantification of vegetation at a high-resolution. Vegetation maps derived from Lidar, of the Puget Sound, will enable local and regional decision-makers to mitigate adverse environmental factors (Nowak, 2001), and improve regional resilience.

Presence of vegetation will be quantified through lidar data through vegetation surface models producing ecoregion vegetation maps.

1. Structures will be excluded from lidar vegetation surface models through imagery merged with lidar points.
2. Vegetation surface models will be differenced from bare-Earth surface models to determine percent of vegetation in ecoregion.