LiDAR metadata over FLUXNET sites
Please use one form for each measurement campaign. Return filled forms to: mbeland@berkeley.edu
Airborne LiDAR
Site
Site name, location, and vegetation
classification
Site vegetation info (if available)
Groundhog River Flux Site near Foleyet, Ontario. Mature boreal mixedwood site.
 mean canopy height +/-
21.6m +/- 10m
 mean stems per hectare
937
 mean crown size
Vegetation state at time of acquisition
Measurements
Date of acquisition
LiDAR instrument used
Area covered (m2 or ha)
Discrete returns or full waveform (if
discrete provide number of returns per
pulse)
Spatial resolution (pulse per m2)
Size of pulse footprint
Maximum off-nadir scan angle
Accuracy of georeference at ground level
Processing
Main objective of acquisition
Processing applied (please provide a
general description)
Products derived from processing of data
If an image (jpeg/tiff) of the lidar data is
available please send along with this form
Mean crown depth = 8.5m
Leaf on. Peak of growing season.
First week of August 2003
Optech ALTM 2050.
~3.2km2 (3X106m2)
Discrete returns. First and Last (2 returns per pulse)
3-8 pulses/m2
~1 foot
20o
12.5cm
To collect data regarding structure of the upper forest canopy.
Data initially filtered and extracted using Terrascan. Data available for distribution in ascii format.
Original REALM data, in binary format, is also available with no processing.
1.First pulses, 2. All shots, 3. Last return ground, 4. Extracted features.
See attached.
The following metadata was posted on the Fluxnet-Canada DIS.
ALTM_lidar_2003_ascii
The ALTM_lidar_2003 data were collected and preprocessed by Airborne1 Inc. with Optech’s ALTM
2050 (50 kHz system with a wavelength of 1067 nm; Optech Incorporated, Toronto, Ontario, Canada). A
flying altitude of approximately 800 feet above ground level (AGL) and multiple flight lines resulted in an
average point spacing ranging from 3 to 8 pulses/m2 (i.e., 3–8 first returns and 3–8 last returns), with a
mean point spacing of 4 pulses/m2. The estimated positional accuracy at this flight altitude is approximately
12.5 cm in the x–y direction and an error of less than 15 cm in the z direction.
These datasets contain lidar points in ascii text format. Each file is a compressed zip archive
containing 57 files which are arranged as spatial tiles that cover the full extent of the Groundhog River Flux
Site and slightly beyond (see figure below). There are 4 columns of data, including: X location (UTM Easting,
m); Y location (UTM Northing, m); Z location (Height above ellipsoid (m)); and intensity. The coordinate
system is UTM (Zone 17 N).
There are 4 archives, described as follows:
1) FirstPulse.zip = these files contain the lidar first returns.
2) Allshots.zip = these files contain all lidar returns, including both first and last returns.
3) LastReturnGround.zip = these files contain last returns that have been classified as ground
returns. Canopy last returns have been filtered out during pre-processing by Airborne 1, Inc.
4) extracted-features.zip = these files contain features that have been extracted from the raw data
during pre-processing (by Airborne 1, Inc.).
Ancillary file:
5) altm_tile_layout.jpg = this jpeg file shows the spatial arrangement of the lidar tiles relative to the 1 km
radius surrounding the flux tower.
Date imagery collected: first week of August, 2003.
To request these files, please contact the principle investigator for the OMW site:
J.H. McCaughey (Principle Investigator), Department of Geography, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L
3N6
Tel: 613-533-6035 E-mail: mccaughe@post.queensu.ca
Within your request, please reference the following dataset: ALTM_lidar_2003_ascii
REALM_ALTM_2003_binary
The REALM_ALTM_2003_binary data correspond to the same lidar data as in the ALTM
_lidar_2003_ascii dataset, except that the data are in binary format created by Optech's REALM Survey
Suite software package. These data contain additional metadata information such as scan angle, etc. The
dataset contains a zipped archive with two binary files, as well as an executable program to convert binary
to ascii.
Note: This is not the recommended format. These data are in a raw form and are difficult to work
with. If you wish to view the x,y,z, and intensity lidar point cloud, refer to the ascii dataset.
To request the binary files, please contact the principle investigator for the OMW site:
J.H. McCaughey (Principle Investigator), Department of Geography, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L
3N6 Tel: 613-533-6035 E-mail: mccaughe@post.queensu.ca
Within your request, please reference the following dataset:
REALM_ALTM_2003_binary