scholarly journals Airborne laser scanning for terrain modeling in the Amazon forest

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 271-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana Silva ANDRADE ◽  
Eric Bastos GORGENS ◽  
Cristiano Rodrigues REIS ◽  
Roberta Zecchini CANTINHO ◽  
Mauro ASSIS ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Very few studies have been devoted to understanding the digital terrain model (DTM) creation for Amazon forests. DTM has a special and important role when airborne laser scanning is used to estimate vegetation biomass. We examined the influence of pulse density, spatial resolution, filter algorithms, vegetation density and slope on the DTM quality. Three Amazonian forested areas were surveyed with airborne laser scanning, and each original point cloud was reduced targeting to 20, 15, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1, 0.75, 0.5 and 0.25 pulses per square meter based on a random resampling process. The DTM from resampled clouds was compared with the reference DTM produced from the original LiDAR data by calculating the deviation pixel by pixel and summarizing it through the root mean square error (RMSE). The DTM from resampled clouds were also evaluated considering the level of agreement with the reference DTM. Our study showed a clear trade-off between the return density and the horizontal resolution. Higher forest canopy density demanded higher return density or lower DTM resolution.

2020 ◽  
pp. 95
Author(s):  
P. Crespo-Peremarch ◽  
L. A. Ruiz

<p class="Bodytext">This PhD thesis addresses the development of full-waveform airborne laser scanning (ALS<sub>FW</sub>) processing and analysis methods to characterize the vertical forest structure, in particular the understory vegetation. In this sense, the influence of several factors such as pulse density, voxel parameters (voxel size and assignation value), scan angle at acquisition, radiometric correction and regression methods is analyzed on the extraction of ALS<sub>FW</sub> metric values and on the estimate of forest attributes. Additionally, a new software tool to process ALS<sub>FW</sub> data is presented, which includes new metrics related to understory vegetation. On the other hand, occlusion caused by vegetation in the ALS<sub>FW</sub>, discrete airborne laser scanning (ALS<sub>D</sub>) and terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) signal is characterized along the vertical structure. Finally, understory vegetation density is detected and determined by ALS<sub>FW</sub> data, as well as characterized by using the new proposed metrics.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1917
Author(s):  
Alma Elizabeth Thuestad ◽  
Ole Risbøl ◽  
Jan Ingolf Kleppe ◽  
Stine Barlindhaug ◽  
Elin Rose Myrvoll

What can remote sensing contribute to archaeological surveying in subarctic and arctic landscapes? The pros and cons of remote sensing data vary as do areas of utilization and methodological approaches. We assessed the applicability of remote sensing for archaeological surveying of northern landscapes using airborne laser scanning (LiDAR) and satellite and aerial images to map archaeological features as a basis for (a) assessing the pros and cons of the different approaches and (b) assessing the potential detection rate of remote sensing. Interpretation of images and a LiDAR-based bare-earth digital terrain model (DTM) was based on visual analyses aided by processing and visualizing techniques. 368 features were identified in the aerial images, 437 in the satellite images and 1186 in the DTM. LiDAR yielded the better result, especially for hunting pits. Image data proved suitable for dwellings and settlement sites. Feature characteristics proved a key factor for detectability, both in LiDAR and image data. This study has shown that LiDAR and remote sensing image data are highly applicable for archaeological surveying in northern landscapes. It showed that a multi-sensor approach contributes to high detection rates. Our results have improved the inventory of archaeological sites in a non-destructive and minimally invasive manner.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 1864
Author(s):  
Peter Mewis

The effect of vegetation in hydraulic computations can be significant. This effect is important for flood computations. Today, the necessary terrain information for flood computations is obtained by airborne laser scanning techniques. The quality and density of the airborne laser scanning information allows for more extensive use of these data in flow computations. In this paper, known methods are improved and combined into a new simple and objective procedure to estimate the hydraulic resistance of vegetation on the flow in the field. State-of-the-art airborne laser scanner information is explored to estimate the vegetation density. The laser scanning information provides the base for the calculation of the vegetation density parameter ωp using the Beer–Lambert law. In a second step, the vegetation density is employed in a flow model to appropriately account for vegetation resistance. The use of this vegetation parameter is superior to the common method of accounting for the vegetation resistance in the bed resistance parameter for bed roughness. The proposed procedure utilizes newly available information and is demonstrated in an example. The obtained values fit very well with the values obtained in the literature. Moreover, the obtained information is very detailed. In the results, the effect of vegetation is estimated objectively without the assignment of typical values. Moreover, a more structured flow field is computed with the flood around denser vegetation, such as groups of bushes. A further thorough study based on observed flow resistance is needed.


2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 882-893 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Doneus ◽  
Christian Briese ◽  
Martin Fera ◽  
Martin Janner

2013 ◽  
Vol 39 (sup1) ◽  
pp. S32-S40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Werner Mücke ◽  
Balázs Deák ◽  
Anke Schroiff ◽  
Markus Hollaus ◽  
Norbert Pfeifer

2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 981-996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norris Lam ◽  
Jason W. Kean ◽  
Steve W. Lyon

The rating curve enables the translation of water depth into stream discharge through a reference cross-section. This study investigates coupling national scale airborne laser scanning (ALS) and acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) bathymetric survey data for generating stream rating curves. A digital terrain model was defined from these data and applied in a physically based 1-D hydraulic model to generate rating curves for a regularly monitored location in northern Sweden. Analysis of the ALS data showed that overestimation of the streambank elevation could be adjusted with a root mean square error (RMSE) block adjustment using a higher accuracy manual topographic survey. The results of our study demonstrate that the rating curve generated from the vertically corrected ALS data combined with ADCP data had lower errors (RMSE = 0.79 m3/s) than the empirical rating curve (RMSE = 1.13 m3/s) when compared to streamflow measurements. We consider these findings encouraging as hydrometric agencies can potentially leverage national-scale ALS and ADCP instrumentation to reduce the cost and effort required for maintaining and establishing rating curves at gauging station sites similar to the Röån River.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 661 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sami Ullah ◽  
Matthias Dees ◽  
Pawan Datta ◽  
Petra Adler ◽  
Mathias Schardt ◽  
...  

Digital stereo aerial photographs are periodically updated in many countries and offer a viable option for the regular update of information on forest variables. We compared the potential of image-based point clouds derived from three different sets of aerial photographs with airborne laser scanning (ALS) to assess plot-level forest attributes in a mountain environment. The three data types used were (A) high overlapping pan-sharpened (80/60%); (B) high overlapping panchromatic band (80/60%); and (C) standard overlapping pan-sharpened stereo aerial photographs (60/30%). We used height and density metrics at the plot level derived from image-based and ALS point clouds as the explanatory variables and Lorey’s mean height, timber volume, and mean basal area as the response variables. We obtained a RMSE = 8.83%, 29.24% and 35.12% for Lorey’s mean height, volume, and basal area using ALS data, respectively. Similarly, we obtained a RMSE = 9.96%, 31.13%, and 35.99% and RMSE = 11.28%, 31.01%, and 35.66% for Lorey’s mean height, volume and basal area using image-based point clouds derived from pan-sharpened stereo aerial photographs with 80/60% and 60/30% overlapping, respectively. For image-based point clouds derived from a panchromatic band of stereo aerial photographs (80%/60%), we obtained an RMSE = 10.04%, 31.19% and 35.86% for Lorey’s mean height, volume, and basal area, respectively. The overall findings indicated that the performance of image-based point clouds in all cases were as good as ALS. This highlights that in the presence of a highly accurate digital terrain model (DTM) from ALS, image-based point clouds offer a viable option for operational forest management in all countries where stereo aerial photographs are updated on a routine basis.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 1411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ole Risbøl ◽  
Daniel Langhammer ◽  
Esben Schlosser Mauritsen ◽  
Oula Seitsonen

This paper gives a presentation of how airborne laser scanning (ALS) has been adopted in archaeology in the North over the period 2005–2019. Almost two decades have passed since ALS first emerged as a potential tool to add to the archaeologist’s toolbox. Soon after, it attracted the attention of researchers within archaeological communities engaged with remote sensing in the Fenno-Scandinavian region. The first archaeological ALS projects gave immediate good results and led to further use, research, and development through new projects that followed various tracks. The bulk of the research and development focused on studying how well-suited ALS is for identifying, mapping, and documenting archaeological features in outfield land, mainly in forested areas. The poor situation in terms of lack of information on archaeological records in outfield areas has been challenging for research and especially for cultural heritage management for a long period of time. Consequently, an obvious direction was to study how ALS-based mapping of cultural features in forests could help to improve the survey situation. This led to various statistical analyses and studies covering research questions related to for instance effects on detection success of laser pulse density, and the size and shape of the targeted features. Substantial research has also been devoted to the development and assessment of semi-automatic detection of archaeological features based on the use of algorithms. This has been studied as an alternative approach to human desk-based visual analyses and interpretations of ALS data. This approach has considerable potential for detecting sites over large regions such as the vast roadless and unbuilt wilderness regions of northern Fennoscandia, and has proven highly successful. In addition, the current review presents how ALS has been employed for monitoring purposes and for landscape studies, including how it can influence landscape understanding. Finally, the most recent advance within ALS research and development has been discussed: testing of the use of drones for data acquisition. In conclusion, aspects related to the utilization of ALS in archaeological research and cultural heritage management are summarized and discussed, together with thoughts about future perspectives.


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