📡 LiDAR
Light Detection and Ranging — LiDAR — is a remote sensing technology that uses laser pulses to measure distances with extraordinary precision, building detailed three-dimensional models of the surfaces they illuminate. Applied to forests from aircraft or drones, LiDAR can penetrate the forest canopy to map not just the top of the trees but the complete three-dimensional structure of the forest — individual tree crowns, the understory, and even the ground surface beneath dense vegetation. The result is a detailed digital model of the forest that reveals structural characteristics impossible to observe from satellite imagery or field surveys alone.
laser pulses per square metre
vertical accuracy of airborne LiDAR
area mapped per hour by aircraft
complete forest structure mapping
An airborne LiDAR system fires hundreds of thousands of laser pulses per second at the forest below. Each pulse may strike the top of the canopy and return immediately — or penetrate through gaps in the vegetation to strike lower layers or the ground, returning multiple echoes from different heights. By precisely timing the return of each echo and combining the data from thousands of flight lines, the LiDAR system constructs a three-dimensional point cloud representing the complete vertical structure of the forest. Processing software then identifies individual tree crowns, measures their height and width, and extracts structural metrics that are closely correlated with biomass and carbon content.
LiDAR is not only useful for carbon measurement — it is increasingly used as a predictor of biodiversity. Forest structural complexity — the variety of heights, crown sizes, and gap distributions in a forest — is closely correlated with species diversity. Complex, multi-layered forests with diverse structural attributes support more species than structurally simple forests, because structural complexity creates more ecological niches. LiDAR-derived structural complexity metrics have been used to predict bird species richness, mammal diversity, and overall biodiversity across large forest areas, enabling conservation prioritisation at regional scales without the need for exhaustive field surveys of every area.
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Dr. Nair has spent 14 years developing and deploying technology solutions for tropical forest conservation across Southeast Asia, the Amazon, and the Congo Basin. Her research bridges satellite remote sensing, AI, and community-based monitoring to make conservation technology accessible at scale.