Lasers in the Forest: The role of computer science in advancing fire ecolog

Lisa Bentley
Biology, SSU

Stevenson Hall 1300
12:00 PM - 12:50 PM

Land managers in California are being encouraged to manage forests to improve forest health in light of recent wildfires. To do so, various forest parameters must be estimated on an individual tree basis. This is usually accomplished through a forest inventory where trees are quantified with respect to stem diameter, basal area, and density. In this talk, I will discuss the use of remote sensing to sample forest structure as an alternative to traditional field methods. Specifically, I will present current research in my lab focused on using terrestrial laser scanning (TLS). I will discuss the acquisition of 3D point cloud data using TLS and subsequent analysis of 3D data related to registration, classification and quantitative structure modeling. My goal is to not only show the utility of the approach, but to also generate discussion related to current challenges for data processing and potential solutions.