Weighing Trees with Lasers

New measurements of trees and forests to improve global observations for climate and carbon studies have been developed by Professor Mathias Disney and the UCL-NCEO team. They have designed a new approach to making 3D measurements of trees and forests to improve estimates of forest carbon stocks and validate new space-based observations from NASA and ESA.

Building on significant NERC, ESA and NASA investment, Mathias Disney and colleagues have developed tools and datasets from a wide range of forest systems that indicate current forest biomass estimates are often underestimated, particularly in the tropics, but also in UK woodlands. 

This work has: improved the way ESA and NASA are conducting measurements of forest carbon; changed the IPCC recommendations for national GHG inventory reporting targets; provided new ways to assess and communicate the value of forests more widely to the public and non-academic audiences. Disney has also co-led development of the CEOS protocol to incorporate these new approaches in making best use of space-based forest carbon measurements.