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3 October 2011The design of a space-borne multispectral canopy lidar to estimate global carbon stock and gross primary productivity
Understanding the dynamics of the global carbon cycle is one of the most challenging issues for the scientific
community. The ability to measure the magnitude of terrestrial carbon sinks as well as monitoring the short and long
term changes is vital for environmental decision making. Forests form a significant part of the terrestrial biosystem and
understanding the global carbon cycle, Above Ground Biomass (AGB) and Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) are critical
parameters. Current estimates of AGB and GPP are not adequate to support models of the global carbon cycle and more
accurate estimates would improve predictions of the future and estimates of the likely behaviour of these sinks. Various
vegetation indices have been proposed for the characterisation of forests including canopy height, canopy area,
Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Photochemical Reflectance Index (PRI). Both NDVI and PRI are
obtained from a measure of reflectivity at specific wavelengths and have been estimated from passive measurements.
The use of multi-spectral LiDAR to measure NDVI and PRI and their vertical distribution within the forest represents a
significant improvement over current techniques. This paper describes an approach to the design of an advanced Multi-
Spectral Canopy LiDAR, using four wavelengths for measuring the vertical profile of the canopy simultaneously. It is
proposed that the instrument be placed on a satellite orbiting the Earth on a sun synchronous polar orbit to provide
samples on a rectangular grid at an approximate separation of 1km with a suitable revisit frequency. The systems
engineering concept design will be presented.
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Jim Jack, Emal Rumi, David Henry, Iain Woodhouse, Caroline Nichol, Malcolm Macdonald, "The design of a space-borne multispectral canopy lidar to estimate global carbon stock and gross primary productivity," Proc. SPIE 8176, Sensors, Systems, and Next-Generation Satellites XV, 81761O (3 October 2011); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.898166