NEON

Canopy Height from Space

The National Ecological Observatory Network has invested in high-resolution airborne imaging of their field sites. Elevation models generated from LiDAR can be used to map the topography and vegetation structure at the sites. This data gets really powerful when you can compare ecological processes across sites. Download the elevation models for the Harvard Forest (HARV) and San Joaquin Experimental Range (SJER) and the plot locations for each of these sites. Often, plots within a site are used as representative samples of the larger site and act as reference areas to obtain more detailed information and ensure accuracy of satellite imagery (i.e., ground truth).

1. Map the digital surface model for SJER.
2. Create and map the Canopy Height Model using raster math (chm = dsm - dtm) for SJER site.
3. Creat a map that combines the Canopy Height Model from 3 with the corresponding plot locations from the plot_locations folder.
4. Extract the canopy heights at each plot location for SJER and display the values.
5. Extract the maximum canopy heights (using fun = max) in a buffer of 10 for each point at the HARV site and SJER plots. Create a single dataframe with two columns, one holding the maximum height values for each site at each plot_id.

[click here for output] [click here for output]