From Canopy Layers to Vertical Profiles

Source: “This visualization is a close up view of GEDI’s 8 beams, depicting vegetation height (rh100) with a white line and vertical profiles of Plant Area Index (pai_z) represented by scaled, color-coded spheres” NASA Science Visualization Studio.

Learning Objectives

  • Compare the theoretical background for each of GEDI’s vegetation structure metrics and understand the advantages and limitations of each metric.
  • Guided exploration of GEDI’s Level 2B structural products and demonstrated recommended processing strategies and quality filters.
  • Analyze the distribution and interpretability of various data over several areas of interest.

Topics Overview

  1. Quick review of how the derived metrics are interrelated within the GEDI vegetation structure metrics algorithm.
  2. Defining each vegetation structure metric, how it is formatted and key applications considerations.
    1. Foundational variable: canopy gap directional probability
    2. Total canopy cover and canopy cover vertical profile metrics
    3. Total plant area index and plant area index vertical profile metrics
    4. Plant area volume density vertical profile metrics
    5. Foliage Height Diversity index (Shannon’s diversity index)
    6. Waveform Structural Complexity Index (WSCI)
  3. Recommended structural metrics processing techniques from GEDI user guide and literature.
  4. Hands-on tutorial demonstrating acquiring GEDI L2B footprint level data, exploring variable influences and final data product visualization and statistical analyses over four real-world application study areas.
  5. Hand-on tutorial validating GEDI plant area index with high resolution lidar in the Sewanee Domain, Tennessee.

Table of contents

Curtosy of EarthRISE at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and the Lab for Applied Scienecs at the University of Alabama in Huntsville