The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences
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Articles | Volume XLI-B8
https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLI-B8-589-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLI-B8-589-2016
23 Jun 2016
 | 23 Jun 2016

EVALUATION OF FOREST CANOPY AND UNDERSTORY GAP FRACTION DERIVED FROM TERRESTRIAL LASER SCANNING

K. C. Chen and C. K. Wang

Keywords: Forest structure, Understory, Gap fraction, Terrestrial laser scanner

Abstract. The quantification of forest carbon sequestration is helpful to understand the carbon storage on the Earth. The estimation of forest carbon sequestration can be achieved by the use of leaf area index (LAI), which is derived from forest gap fraction. The hemispherical image-based technique is the most popular non-destructive means for obtaining such information. However, only the gap fraction of the top canopy is derived due to the limitation of imaging technique. The gap fraction information of understory is thus neglected. In this study, we evaluate the use of a terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) to obtain the forest canopy and understory gap fraction. The forest TLS data were manually classified as the top canopy and understory layers to facilitate the estimation of top canopy and understory gap fraction, respectively.