TROPICAL TREE MORPHOLOGY USING AIRBORNE LIDAR DATA

Mangrove crowns were delineated using active sensor LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) data by a crown delineating model developed in this study. LIDAR data were acquired from airborne survey by a helicopter for the estuary of Macouria in the northeast coast of French Guiana. The canopy height image was derived from LIDAR vector data by calculating the difference between ground and non-ground data. The mangrove site in the study area was classified to three sectors by the time of mangrove settlement; Mangrove 1986, 2002 and 2003. The estimated crown of Mangrove 1986 was reliable defined for their size, number and volume because of larger crown size and bigger variation of crown height. The tree crown size of Mangrove 2002 and 2003 by the model was overestimated and the number of trees was much underestimated. The estimated crown was not for single crown but a crown group due to homogenous crown height and spatial resolution of LIDAR data. However the canopy height image derived from LIDAR data provided three-dimensional information of mangroves.