Generating pseudo large footprint waveforms from small footprint full-waveform airborne LiDAR data for the layered retrieval of LAI in orchards.

Leaf area index (LAI) is a key parameter for the study of biogeochemical cycles in ecosystems. Remote sensing techniques have been widely used to estimate LAIs in a wide range of vegetation types. However, limited by the sensor detection capability, considerable fewer studies investigated the layered estimation of LAIs in the vertical direction, which can significantly affect the precision evaluation of vegetation biophysical and biochemical processes. This study tried to generate a kind of pseudo large footprint waveform from the small footprint full-waveform airborne LiDAR data by an aggregation approach. The layered distribution of canopy heights and LAIs were successfully retrieved based on the large footprint waveform data in an agricultural landscape of orchards with typical multi-layer vegetation covers. The Gaussian fitting was conducted on the normalized large footprint waveforms to identify the vertical positions for different vegetation layers. Then, the gap theory was applied to retrieve the layered LAIs. Statistically significant simple linear regression models were fitted between the LiDAR-retrieved and field-observed values for the canopy heights and LAIs in different layers. Satisfactory results were obtained with a root mean square error of 0.36 m for the overstorey canopy height (R2 = 0.82), 0.29 m for the understory canopy height (R2 = 0.76), 0.28 for overstorey LAI (R2 = 0.75), 0.40 for understory LAI (R2 = 0.64), and 0.38 for total LAI (R2 = 0.69), respectively. To conclude, estimating the layered LAIs in the multi-layer agriculture orchards from the pseudo large footprint waveforms is feasible and the estimation errors are acceptable, which will provide some new ideas and methods for the quantitative remote sensing with vegetation.

• Publication year

  2016

• Venue

  Optics Express

• Publication date

  2016-05-02

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1364/OE.24.010142PMID 27137623
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Deriving backscatter reflective factors from 32-channel full-waveform LiDAR data for the estimation of leaf biochemical contents.

  2016cited by this paper
• Estimating leaf area index of maize using airborne full-waveform lidar data

  2016cited by this paper
• Characterizing Radiometric Attributes of Point Cloud Using a Normalized Reflective Factor Derived From Small Footprint LiDAR Waveform

  2015cited by this paper
• Synergistic application of geometric and radiometric features of LiDAR data for urban land cover mapping.

  2015cited by this paper
• Height Extraction of Maize Using Airborne Full-Waveform LIDAR Data and a Deconvolution Algorithm

  2015cited by this paper
• Combined Use of Airborne LiDAR and Satellite GF-1 Data to Estimate Leaf Area Index, Height, and Aboveground Biomass of Maize During Peak Growing Season

  2015cited by this paper
• Validation of Canopy Height Profile methodology for small-footprint full-waveform airborne LiDAR data in a discontinuous canopy environment

  2015cited by this paper
• Detecting understory plant invasion in urban forests using LiDAR

  2015cited by this paper
• Airborne LiDAR technique for estimating biomass components of maize: A case study in Zhangye City, Northwest China

  2015cited by this paper
• Estimation of wetland vegetation height and leaf area index using airborne laser scanning data

  2015cited by this paper
• Impact of understorey on overstorey leaf area index estimation from optical remote sensing in five forest types in northeastern China

  2014cited by this paper
• Deriving pseudo-vertical waveforms from small-footprint full-waveform LiDAR data

  2014cited by this paper
• Correlating the Horizontal and Vertical Distribution of LiDAR Point Clouds with Components of Biomass in a Picea crassifolia Forest

  2014cited by this paper
• Estimation of leaf biochemical content using a novel hyperspectral full-waveform LiDAR system

  2014cited by this paper
• Estimating FPAR of maize canopy using airborne discrete-return LiDAR data.

  2014cited by this paper
• International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation

  2014cited by this paper
• Estimating the Leaf Area Index, height and biomass of maize using HJ-1 and RADARSAT-2

  2013cited by this paper
• Retrieving leaf area index using ICESat/GLAS full-waveform data

  2013cited by this paper
• Direct retrieval of canopy gap probability using airborne waveform lidar

  2013cited by this paper
• Estimating leaf area index in intensively managed pine plantations using airborne laser scanner data

  2012cited by this paper
• Toward an Optimal Algorithm for LiDAR Waveform Decomposition

  2012cited by this paper
• Retrieval of vertical LAI profiles over tropical rain forests using waveform lidar at La Selva, Costa Rica

  2012cited by this paper
• Airborne discrete-return LIDAR data in the estimation of vertical canopy cover, angular canopy closure and leaf area index

  2011cited by this paper
• Predicting leaf area index in wheat using angular vegetation indices derived from in situ canopy measurements

  2010cited by this paper
• Mapping gap fraction, LAI and defoliation using various ALS penetration variables

  2010cited by this paper
• Lidar waveform stacking techniques for faint ground return extraction

  2010cited by this paper
• Modeling approaches to estimate effective leaf area index from aerial discrete-return LIDAR

  2009cited by this paper
• Mapping snags and understory shrubs for a LiDAR-based assessment of wildlife habitat suitability

  2009cited by this paper
• Lidar-based mapping of leaf area index and its use for validating GLOBCARBON satellite LAI product in a temperate forest of the southern USA

  2009cited by this paper
• Single and two epoch analysis of ICESat full waveform data over forested areas

  2008cited by this paper
• Vegetation class dependent errors in lidar ground elevation and canopy height estimates in a boreal wetland environment

  2005cited by this paper
• Review of methods for in situ leaf area index determination Part I. Theories, sensors and hemispherical photography

  2004cited by this paper
• Ground-based measurements of leaf area index: a review of methods, instruments and current controversies.

  2003cited by this paper
• Modeling lidar waveforms in heterogeneous and discrete canopies

  2001cited by this paper
• Laser altimeter canopy height profiles: methods and validation for closed-canopy, broadleaf forests

  2001cited by this paper
• Lidar Remote Sensing of the Canopy Structure and Biophysical Properties of Douglas-Fir Western Hemlock Forests

  1999cited by this paper
• Defining leaf area index for non‐flat leaves

  1992cited by this paper

• Deep Imbalanced Multi-Target Regression: 3D Point Cloud Voxel Content Estimation in Simulated Forests

  2025cites this paper
• Spaceborne LiDAR Systems: Evolution, Capabilities, and Challenges

  2025cites this paper
• Multichannel Weak Signal Extraction Based on Multispectral LiDAR

  2024cites this paper
• A Semiempirical Approach for Decomposition of Remotely Sensed Leaf Area Index Into Overstory and Understory Components Over Russian Forests

  2023cites this paper
• Generalized Gaussian decomposition for full waveform LiDAR processing

  2022cites this paper
• LiDAR Echo Gaussian Decomposition Algorithm for FPGA Implementation

  2022cites this paper
• A Method for Quantifying Understory Leaf Area Index in a Temperate Forest through Combining Small Footprint Full-Waveform and Point Cloud LiDAR Data

  2021cites this paper
• Influence of voxel size on forest canopy height estimates using full-waveform airborne LiDAR data

  2020cites this paper
• HIGH-PRECISION RANGING BASED ON MULTISPECTRAL FULL-WAVEFORM LIDAR

  2020cites this paper
• Retrieval of forest vertical leaf area index and clumping index through field measurement and remote sensing techniques: A review

  2020cites this paper
• Combining hyperspectral imagery and LiDAR pseudo-waveform for predicting crop LAI, canopy height and above-ground biomass

  2019cites this paper
• A new waveform decomposition method for multispectral LiDAR

  2019cites this paper
• Simple method for direct crown base height estimation of individual conifer trees using airborne LiDAR data.

  2018cites this paper
• Automatic Segmentation of Tree Structure From Point Cloud Data

  2018cites this paper
• Comparative Performances of Airborne LiDAR Height and Intensity Data for Leaf Area Index Estimation

  2018cites this paper
• Estimating Leaf Area Density of Individual Trees Using the Point Cloud Segmentation of Terrestrial LiDAR Data and a Voxel-Based Model

  2017cites this paper