Canopy height and structure measurements of Gabon from medium-footprint waveform lidar

Abstract

NASA's Land, Vegetation and Ice Sensor (LVIS) is a wide-swath, medium-footprint, waveform recording laser altimeter (lidar) sensor. In 2016, the sensor was used to image sub-canopy topography, canopy topography and structure at several sites in Gabon as part of the NASA and ESA Afrisar Campaign. Afrisar is a joint remote sensing mission involving multiple airborne and ground-based data collection activities that support the calibration and validation of future spaceborne missions, particularly GEDI, NISAR and BIOMASS, as well as other investigations. LVIS data products available at lvis.gsfc.nasa.gov include footprint-level canopy height, ground topography and canopy metrics, as well as vertically and horizontally-geolocated lidar return waveforms that enable end users to produce additional georeferenced data products as needed.