PE&RS December 2006

In this month’s cover image, the background image and upper inset show the canopy height model (CHM) of a patch of forest in Appomattox Buckingham State Forest, Virginia. Vegetation is composed of various coniferous (Pinus taeda, P. virginiana, P. echinata, and P. strobus), deciduous (Quercus coccinea, Q. alba, and Liriodendron tulipifera), and mixed forests. The CHM was derived from lidar data collected by Spectrum Mapping, LLC in September, 2002 with the Digital Airborne Topographic Imaging System II (DATIS II) sensor (footprint = 0.46 m, average point distance = 0.75 m). The images at the bottom show forest growth from 1999 to 2002. The 1999 CHM (left bottom image) was derived from a lidar acquisition in September, 1999 using the AeroScan (EarthData, Inc.) sensor (footprint = 0.65 m, average point distance = 1.5 m). The 2002 CHM (middle bottom image) is the same CHM as the background image. The growth image (right bottom image) was generated by subtracting the 1999 CHM from the 2002 CHM. Positive growth in the 3-year period is shown in red; areas with no growth or with removals are shown in green. Images courtesy of the Center for Environmental Applications of Remote Sensing at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA, cears.fw.vt.edu.

Foreword

1337 Lidar Applications in Forest Assessment and Inventory (Adobe PDF 4.67Mb)
Randolph H. Wynne and Ross F. Nelson

Highlight Article

1310 Lidar Remote Sensing of Forest Resources at the Scale of Management (Adobe PDF 1305Kb)
Randolph H. Wynne

Columns & Updates
1317 Grids and Datums— Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Adobe PDF 121Kb)
1319 Book Review — Remote Sensing for GIS Managers (Adobe PDF 198Kb)
1323 Book Review — Remote Sensing of the Environment: An Earth Resource Perspective, 2nd Edition (Adobe PDF 250Kb)
1325 Headquarters News— Provisional Certification Program (Adobe PDF 62Kb)
1326 Industry News

Announcements
1325 New Sustaining Member— Digital Aerial Solutions, LLC (Adobe PDF 62Kb)
1328 ISPRS Seeks Nominations for 2008 Award (Adobe PDF 62Kb)
1448 Call for Papers — The 21st Biennial Workshop on Aerial Photography, Videography, and High Resolution Digital Imagery for Resource Assessment (Adobe PDF 106Kb)
1448 Call for Papers — Artificial Intelligence in Remote Sensing

2006 Annual Index
1418 Subject Index (Adobe PDF 227Kb)
1439 Author Index (Adobe PDF 102Kb)

Departments
1330 New Member List
1330 Region of the Month
1331 Who’s Who in ASPRS
1332 Certification List
1333 Sustaining Member List
1335 Instructions to Authors
1368 Forthcoming Articles
1398 Calendar
1449 ASPRS Member Champions (Adobe PDF 159Kb)
1451 Classifieds
1452 Professional Directory
1453 Advertiser Index
1456 Membership Application

Peer-Reviewed Articles (Click the linked titles to see the full abstract)

1339 Change Detection Techniques for Canopy Height Growth Measurements Using Airborne Laser Scanner Data
Xiaowei Yu, Juha Hyyppä, Antero Kukko, Matti Maltamo, and Harri Kaartinen

The individual tree height growth of Scots pine was estimated from two laser surveys with three different techniques, and the accuracy of the estimation was evaluated with sample trees.

1349 Ground-based Laser Imaging for Assessing Three Dimensional Forest Canopy Structure
Jason G. Henning and Philip J. Radtke

Spatial distributions of plant area, leaf area, tree positions, canopy height, and terrain elevation were generated for a deciduous forest in an exploratory application of high-resolution ground-based laser imaging.

1359 Examining the Influence of Changing Laser Pulse Repetition Frequencies on Conifer Forest Canopy Returns
Laura Chasmer, Chris Hopkinson, Brent Smith, and Paul Treitz

The characteristics associated with differing laser pulse emission frequencies are found to vary the penetration of pulses within conifer forest canopies.

1369 Single Tree Segmentation Using Airborne Laser Scanner Data in a Structurally Heterogeneous Spruce Forest
Svein Solberg, Erik Naesset, and Ole Martin Bollandsas

A new method for single tree segmentation and algorithms for estimating crown base height are presented and tested.

1379 Using Laser Altimetry-based Segmentation to Refine Automated Tree Identification in Managed Forests of the Black Hills, South Dakota
Eric Rowell, Carl Seielstad, Lee Vierling, LLoyd Queen, and Wayne Shepperd

A comparison of landscape segmentation techniques, including using a combination laser based canopy height variance/percent canopy cover classification coupled with smoothing decisions to improve automated stem detection using a variable window-size algorithm.

1389 Using Tree Clusters to Derive Forest Properties from Small Footprint Lidar Data
Zachary J. Bortolot

A first test of an object-oriented small footprint lidar algorithm that uses properties of tree clusters to predict forest properties.

1399 The Application of Lidar in Woodland Bird Ecology: Climate, Canopy Structure, and Habitat Quality
Shelley A. Hinsley , Ross A. Hill , P.E. Bellamy , and Heiko Balzter

Measuring woodland vegetation structure and the relationship of climate in determining habitat quality for breeding birds.

1407 Evaluating A Small Footprint, Waveform-resolving Lidar Over Coastal Vegetation Communities
Amar Nayegandhi , John C. Brock , C. Wayne Wright , and Michael J. O’Connell

A new method based on the synthesis of individual, smallfootprint lidar waveforms to characterize vegetation canopy structure.