Application of large GLAS footprint full waveform data on Savanna vegetation

Ehsan Khalefa; Heiko  Balzter

Application of large GLAS footprint full waveform data on Savanna vegetation

University of Leicester

Research output: Contribution to conference › Poster

Abstract

Savannas cover approximately half of the African land surface and considered to be one of the most important, but least understood terrestrial ecosystems. Growing recognition of the importance of the structural component of savanna landscapes has highlighted the need to understand the spatial distribution and temporal dynamics of woody plant structural diversity. The relatively new Ice, Cloud and Elevation Satellite (ICESat) and its sole onboard instrument, the Geosciences Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) has been an active area of research in recent years, specifically in temperate and boreal forests, but been insufficiently explored for ecological research in savanna ecosystems. The main objective of this research is to assess the ability of ICESat/ GLAS LiDAR full waveforms to retrieve canopy structure over savanna vegetation landscapes in Kruger National Park in South Africa to understand the landscape dynamics which has great implications for
land management. The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) instrument on ICESat provides various data products, of which GLA14 and GLA01 are of interest in this study. The GLA01 Level 1 product provides the transmitted and received waveform from the instrument, while the GLA14 Level 2 product is intended to represent the potential
complexities of returns from land. The results showed that the GLAS waveform data provides reasonable prediction for the savanna structural characteristics such as vegetation height and density which are comparable to the results obtained from airborne LiDAR data and field measurements.

Original language	English
Number of pages	1
Publication status	Published - 13 Sept 2011
Event	SPIE Remote Sensing, Co-located with SPIE Security+Defence 2011 - Prague, Czech Republic Duration: 19 Sept 2011 → 22 Sept 2011 https://spie.org/Documents/ConferencesExhibitions/ERS11-abstracts.pdf

Conference

Conference	SPIE Remote Sensing, Co-located with SPIE Security+Defence 2011
Country/Territory	Czech Republic
City	Prague
Period	19/09/11 → 22/09/11
Internet address	https://spie.org/Documents/ConferencesExhibitions/ERS11-abstracts.pdf

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Cite this

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title = "Application of large GLAS footprint full waveform data on Savanna vegetation",

abstract = "Savannas cover approximately half of the African land surface and considered to be one of the most important, but least understood terrestrial ecosystems. Growing recognition of the importance of the structural component of savanna landscapes has highlighted the need to understand the spatial distribution and temporal dynamics of woody plant structural diversity. The relatively new Ice, Cloud and Elevation Satellite (ICESat) and its sole onboard instrument, the Geosciences Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) has been an active area of research in recent years, specifically in temperate and boreal forests, but been insufficiently explored for ecological research in savanna ecosystems. The main objective of this research is to assess the ability of ICESat/ GLAS LiDAR full waveforms to retrieve canopy structure over savanna vegetation landscapes in Kruger National Park in South Africa to understand the landscape dynamics which has great implications forland management. The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) instrument on ICESat provides various data products, of which GLA14 and GLA01 are of interest in this study. The GLA01 Level 1 product provides the transmitted and received waveform from the instrument, while the GLA14 Level 2 product is intended to represent the potentialcomplexities of returns from land. The results showed that the GLAS waveform data provides reasonable prediction for the savanna structural characteristics such as vegetation height and density which are comparable to the results obtained from airborne LiDAR data and field measurements.",

author = "Ehsan Khalefa and Heiko Balzter",

year = "2011",

month = sep,

day = "13",

language = "English",

note = "SPIE Remote Sensing, Co-located with SPIE Security+Defence 2011 ; Conference date: 19-09-2011 Through 22-09-2011",

url = "https://spie.org/Documents/ConferencesExhibitions/ERS11-abstracts.pdf",

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TY - CONF

T1 - Application of large GLAS footprint full waveform data on Savanna vegetation

AU - Khalefa, Ehsan

AU - Balzter, Heiko

PY - 2011/9/13

Y1 - 2011/9/13

N2 - Savannas cover approximately half of the African land surface and considered to be one of the most important, but least understood terrestrial ecosystems. Growing recognition of the importance of the structural component of savanna landscapes has highlighted the need to understand the spatial distribution and temporal dynamics of woody plant structural diversity. The relatively new Ice, Cloud and Elevation Satellite (ICESat) and its sole onboard instrument, the Geosciences Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) has been an active area of research in recent years, specifically in temperate and boreal forests, but been insufficiently explored for ecological research in savanna ecosystems. The main objective of this research is to assess the ability of ICESat/ GLAS LiDAR full waveforms to retrieve canopy structure over savanna vegetation landscapes in Kruger National Park in South Africa to understand the landscape dynamics which has great implications forland management. The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) instrument on ICESat provides various data products, of which GLA14 and GLA01 are of interest in this study. The GLA01 Level 1 product provides the transmitted and received waveform from the instrument, while the GLA14 Level 2 product is intended to represent the potentialcomplexities of returns from land. The results showed that the GLAS waveform data provides reasonable prediction for the savanna structural characteristics such as vegetation height and density which are comparable to the results obtained from airborne LiDAR data and field measurements.

AB - Savannas cover approximately half of the African land surface and considered to be one of the most important, but least understood terrestrial ecosystems. Growing recognition of the importance of the structural component of savanna landscapes has highlighted the need to understand the spatial distribution and temporal dynamics of woody plant structural diversity. The relatively new Ice, Cloud and Elevation Satellite (ICESat) and its sole onboard instrument, the Geosciences Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) has been an active area of research in recent years, specifically in temperate and boreal forests, but been insufficiently explored for ecological research in savanna ecosystems. The main objective of this research is to assess the ability of ICESat/ GLAS LiDAR full waveforms to retrieve canopy structure over savanna vegetation landscapes in Kruger National Park in South Africa to understand the landscape dynamics which has great implications forland management. The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) instrument on ICESat provides various data products, of which GLA14 and GLA01 are of interest in this study. The GLA01 Level 1 product provides the transmitted and received waveform from the instrument, while the GLA14 Level 2 product is intended to represent the potentialcomplexities of returns from land. The results showed that the GLAS waveform data provides reasonable prediction for the savanna structural characteristics such as vegetation height and density which are comparable to the results obtained from airborne LiDAR data and field measurements.

M3 - Poster

T2 - SPIE Remote Sensing, Co-located with SPIE Security+Defence 2011

Y2 - 19 September 2011 through 22 September 2011

ER -