lidar-technology

Characterizing Peat Swamp Forest Environments with Airborne LiDAR Data in Central Kalimantan (Indonesia), SilviLaser, Oct 2011

by Boehm, H.-D.V., Liesenberg, V., Frank, J, Limin, S.

In the Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on LiDAR, Applications for Assessing Forest Ecossystems. Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 16-19 Oct 2011

 Peat drilling and LiDAR-survey 2007 between Katingan and Rungan river, res. Kasongan and Tangkiling cities

Abstract

We investigated how measures derived from both small footprints airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data and Ortho-Photo images can be used to characterize Peat Swamp Forest (PSF) environments in Central Kalimantan (Indonesia). In August 2007 we mapped by helicopter several transects using Riegl LiDAR (LMS-Q560) Technology. In this study, our main objectives were:
a) to evaluate the peat surface/profile and their associated domes;
b) to estimate the dependence of tree canopy height with both peat dome thickness and peat dome slope variations;
c) to estimate Above Ground Biomass (AGB) variations based on tree canopy height and physiognomy variations; and
d) to demonstrate the applicability of LiDAR technology to detect logging activities in tropical peat swamp forest environments.
Additionally, we would like to demonstrate the first results of our second LiDAR survey conducted in August 2011. We found that in an undisturbed tropical PSF area the average tree-height increased from 15.32m (2007) to 17.18m (2011) by difference of 1.86m which is 12%. This clearly shows the forest recovery capacity in secondary tropical PSF under protected conditions (e.g. conservation status).  
Hence, we would like to demonstrate preliminary results of change detection method over this endangered ecosystem as well as the retrieval of forest attributes (e.g. AGB, LAI, Canopy Coverage, etc) in the frame of REDD+ knowledge.

Keywords: tropical peat swamp forest, tree height variations, peat dome slope, peat thickness, LiDAR, ABG, REDD+, MRV, Kalimantan

 LiDAR profile between river Kasongan and Rungan showing a double peat dome