Hemlock Removal Experiment - Canopy LiDAR Measurements

Data

• hf123-01: LiDAR measurements
• hf123-02: vertical profiles

Overview

• Lead: John Weishampel, Teresa Riedel
• Investigators:
• Contact: John Weishampel
• Start date: 2005-09-01
• End date: 2005-10-31
• Location: Simes Tract (Harvard Forest)
• Latitude: +42.47 to +42.48
• Longitude: -72.22 to -72.21
• Elevation: 200 to 240 meters
• Taxa:
• Research topic: plot
• Study type: short-term measurement
• LTER core area: disturbance
• Keywords: forest canopy, forest management, hemlock woolly adelgid, remote sensing
• Release date: 2009
• EML version: knb-lter-hfr.123.4
• Revisions:
• Related links:
• Hemlock Removal Experiment - Understory Vegetation
• Abstract:

  As the ecological functioning of a forest stand is often related to the spatial organization of the canopy, we used a portable canopy LiDAR (PCL; Parker et al. 2004) to measure volumetric canopy structure in the simulated HWA management treatments. In September and October 2005, prior to leaf abscission, we set up 16 parallel transects spaced 2 meters apart in the 900 m2 (30 x 30 m) interior of each of the eight treatment plots. The orientation of the transects were either north-south or east-west to minimize the difficulty of traversing the stand. The distances to canopy surfaces more than1 m above the ground along the transects were recorded with the PCL. Assuming a constant horizontal sampling rate, the continual height measures were binned into 1 m intervals. From these measures, vertical canopy profiles, canopy openness, canopy rugosity, and other metrics related to the three-dimensional structure of the canopy can be derived. These canopy measures will be repeated minimally at 5 and 15 year intervals to develop an understanding of early structural dynamics and micrometeorological consequences associated with the simulated HWA treatments. (Parker, G.G., D.J. Harding, and M.L. Berger. 2004. A portable LIDAR system for rapid determination of forest canopy structure. Journal of Applied Ecology 41, 755-767).

• Methods:

  The LiDAR data file consists of returns binned to 1m along track intervals for the eight hemlock removal plots. Plot numbers and coordinates correspond to the hemlock removal plot conventions (see HF106). The number of returns for each plot varies as a function of the time it takes to traverse the transects.

• Use:

  This dataset is released to the public and may be freely downloaded. Please keep the designated Contact person informed of any plans to use the dataset. Consultation or collaboration with the original investigators is strongly encouraged. Publications and data products that make use of the dataset must include proper acknowledgement. For more information on LTER Network data access and use policies, please see: http://www.lternet.edu/data/netpolicy.html.

• Citation:

  Weishampel J, Riedel T. 2009. Hemlock Removal Experiment - Canopy LiDAR Measurements. Harvard Forest Data Archive: HF123.

Detailed Metadata

hf123-01: LiDAR measurements

1. plot: plot number
2. X: location of return in west-east direction (meter )
3. Y: location of return in south-north direction (meter )
4. Z: range from PCL (open sky, i.e., no return is designated as “os”) (meter )
5. r: amount of pulse return (open sky, i.e., no return is designated as “os”) (number )

hf123-02: vertical profiles

1. vertical profiles: average vertical profiles of HWA treatment