<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) measurements were carried out in mature birch, pine, and spruce stands in Järvselja, Estonia. The structure of stands has been previously studied. A simple special clustering procedure is developed for automatic detection of stem positions and estimation of tree stem dimensions from the TLS point cloud. Tree stem diameter at breast height (DBH), vertical profile of stem and size distribution of DBH is estimated with high precision in the pine stand where the second growth tree layer is almost missing. The presence of second growth limits estimating stem dimensions accurately in the birch stand, and the procedure fails in the dense spruce stand of rich undergrowth and low dead branches. In such stands the TLS measurements should be done in dense grid with short-range sounding setup only. The developed procedure is undemanding for computers and can be applied on simple PC-s.</p></abstract>

Terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) measurements were carried out in mature birch, pine, and spruce stands in Järvselja, Estonia. The structure of stands has been previously studied. A simple special clustering procedure is developed for automatic detection of stem positions and estimation of tree stem dimensions from the TLS point cloud. Tree stem diameter at breast height (DBH), vertical profile of stem and size distribution of DBH is estimated with high precision in the pine stand where the second growth tree layer is almost missing. The presence of second growth limits estimating stem dimensions accurately in the birch stand, and the procedure fails in the dense spruce stand of rich undergrowth and low dead branches. In such stands the TLS measurements should be done in dense grid with short-range sounding setup only. The developed procedure is undemanding for computers and can be applied on simple PC-s.

Tree stems from terrestrial laser scanner measurements

Tartu Observatory, 61602 Tõravere, Tartumaa, Estonia

Institute of Forestry and Rural Engineering, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 5, Tartu 51014, Estonia

Faculty of Civil Engineering, Chair of Geodesy, Tallinn University of Technology, Ehitajate tee 5, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia

Forestry Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Tree stems from terrestrial laser scanner measurements"}

Terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) measurements were carried out in mature birch, pine, and spruce stands in Järvselja, Estonia. The structure of stands has been...

Tree stems from terrestrial laser scanner measurements

Published Online: Jun 08, 2016

Page range: 44 - 55

Received: Jun 17, 2015

Accepted: Aug 05, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/fsmu-2015-0008

Keywords
forest, stand structure, stem shape, lidar measurements

© 2015 Andres Kuusk et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Tree stems from terrestrial laser scanner measurements

Published Online: Jun 08, 2016

Page range: 44 - 55

Received: Jun 17, 2015

Accepted: Aug 05, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/fsmu-2015-0008

Keywordsforest, stand structure, stem shape, lidar measurements

© 2015 Andres Kuusk et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
forest, stand structure, stem shape, lidar measurements