TV081
Forest metrics derived from the 2008 Lidar point clouds, includes canopy closure, percentile height, and stem mapping for the Andrews Experimental Forest.

CREATOR(S): Thomas A. Spies

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR(S): Thomas A. Spies

ORIGINATOR(S): Thomas A. Spies

DATA SET CONTACT PERSON: Keith A. Olsen

METADATA CONTACT: Theresa J. Valentine

METHOD CONTACT: Keith A. Olsen

METADATA CREATION DATE:

21 Feb 2014

MOST RECENT METADATA REVIEW DATE:

21 Feb 2014

KEYWORDS:

communities, stand structure, ecology, community composition, diversity, plant species composition, trophic structure, LiDAR, modeling, landscape change, canopies, forests, trees, vegetation, stems, landscape dynamics

PURPOSE:

can inform many landscape models and provide insight on how much light will reach the forest floor, describe the forest canopy, and provide information on individual trees (heights, locations, canopy size).

METHODS:

Processing Procedures - TV081:

Description: Canopy closure was computed with the FUSION software. See below for an example of the COVER command in FUSION. Projection info was copied from the Lidar dataset. Also, a bare earth DTM was created from the Watershed Sciences 1m Bare Earth raster. This is used to normalize the Lidar points to height above ground so the height thresholds can be assessed.

Processing Procedures - TV081 (1):

Description: Percentile height was computed with the FUSION software. See below for an example of the GRIDMETRICS command in FUSION. Projection info was copied from the Lidar dataset. Also, a bare earth DTM was created from the Watershed Sciences 1m Bare Earth raster. This is used to normalize the Lidar points to height above ground so the height thresholds can be assessed. The GRIDMETRICS command was run with a python script (runFusion_height3.py). The Lidar data were tiled into pieces small enough to process and then clipped back to remove erronious edges. gridmetrics /minht:2 /gridxy:" + str(llx_current) + "," + str(lly_current) + "," + str(llx_current + windowSize) + "," + str(lly_current + windowSize) + " " + lidarRoot + beDTMfile + " 2 " + str(cellSize) + " " + lidarRoot + runName + " " + lidarRoot + tileNameFile)

Processing Procedures - TV081 (2):

Description: Using the 0.5m canopy model, some window thresholds between 3 and 23 meters, and a tree height to crown radii relationship the TreeVaW software was used to generate the stem maps. The height to crown radii relationship for 10-60m trees was created from equations in the literature. The 60m and taller trees were not found in the literature so I ran the TreeVaW software to create tree stem greater than 60m. I then used these points to create a relationship which I fed back info TreeVaW for trees greater than 60m. Eq 2 for 10-60m trees: y = 0.0000310796916048496 * x3 -0.00267405906767456 * x2 + 0.195530509685481 * x + 1.61296048520958 Eq 3 for 60m and greater trees: y = -0.0001257013x3 + 0.0320289985x2 - 2.4045426313x + 65.1344974471

TAXONOMIC SYSTEM:

None

GEOGRAPHIC EXTENT:

Andrews Experimental Forest within the Willamette National Forest, western Cascades, Oregon, USA.

PROGRESS DESCRIPTION:

Complete

UPDATE FREQUENCY DESCRIPTION:

notPlanned

CURRENTNESS REFERENCE:

Ground condition