Use of Terrestrial Laser Scanner to access plant structure and tree volume at Gardens by the Bay – Singapore

The forestry sector is one of the important pillars in the Canadian contributing to 1,6% for the country`s GDP. Access forest structure and quantifying leaf and wood elements is essential to understand productivity and environmental contribution of trees and forested areas. Light Detection And Range (LiDAR) produces a 3-Dimension point cloud with high spatial resolution, therefore, Terrestrial Laser Scanners (TLS) arises as an important tool to measure efficiently forestry metrics fast and at a low cost. There are several TLS sensors that have different spatial resolution, field of view, range and laser wavelength. Diverse methods have been used to access different forest parameters. The presence of wind, dust and humidity on the atmosphere are limitation for accurately measure forest metrics. We will be using two TLS systems to generate high spatial resolution digital models and calculate tree volume and biomass in a controlled environment at Singapore Gardens by the Bay (GB). The possibility of scanning in a complete controlled area brings the possibility of testing different approaches and methodologies, on a diverse group of trees from temperate to tropical ecosystems, which could be used on natural areas increasing the performance and accuracy of the measurements.

Faculty Supervisor:

Gerardo Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa;Stephen Johnston

Student:

Felipe Barbosa de Alencastro

Partner:

Discipline:

Geography / Geology / Earth science

Sector:

Forestry

University:

University of Alberta

Program: