Leaf area index (LAI) estimation of boreal forest using wide optics airborne winter photos

Abstract

A new simple airborne method based on wide optics camera is developed for leaf area index (LAI) estimation in coniferous forests. The measurements are carried out in winter, when the forest floor is completely snow covered and thus acts as a light background for the hemispherical analysis of the images. The photos are taken automatically and stored on a laptop during the flights. The R2 value of the linear regression of the airborne and ground based LAI measurements was 0.89. © 2009 by the authors; licensee Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland.