New video on SALCA research

This is an extract from the new University of Salford, Ecosystems and Environment Research Centre (EERC) video highlighting areas of research excellence. This extract features an interview with Mark Danson and Fadal Sasse in Peel Park on the University of Salford campus.

https://youtu.be/R0X9JYGxEXM

 

 

 

 

The full video can be viewed here: 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyTUGi6fTE4

The terrestrial laser scanning revolution in forest ecology

The full programme of 16 invited speakers for our Royal Society Theo Murphy Scientific meeting in February 2017 is now available at: https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/2017/02/forest-ecology/

We have around 50 participants to date and there are still places available. If you would like to attend (there is no registration fee) press the 'Request an invitation' button from the link above.

Poster contributions are welcomed and again follow the guidelines on the Royal Society's web page

PhD for Lucy Schofield

Congratulations to Lucy Schofield who successfully defended her PhD last week. Lucy's thesis is the first study to examine the application of dual-wavelength full-waveform data from the Salford Advanced Laser Canopy Analyser (SALCA) for measuring the phenology of woodland canopies. The thesis was entitled "Quantifying structural change in UK woodland canopies with a dual-wavelength full-waveform Terrestrial Laser Scanner". The thesis will be available as a pdf in a few weeks time. For further details contact Lucy at l.a.schofield@edu.salford.ac.uk

Lucy and SALCA at Delamere Forest, UK

TLSIIG researchers to lead Royal Society international research meeting

Professor Mark Danson, Dr Mat Disney, Dr Rachel Gaulton, and Professor Crystal Schaaf, all members of the Terrestrial Laser Scanner International Interest Group (TLSIIG) have won support from the Royal Society to lead a Theo Murphy International Scientific Meeting to be held at The Society’s Chicheley Hall in the UK in February 2017. The meeting will bring together a star line-up of researchers from around the world to discuss “The terrestrial laser scanning revolution in forest ecology”. The meeting organizers are from the University of Salford, UK, University College London, UK, University of Newcastle, UK and University of Massachusetts Boston, US, and are among the sixteen invited speakers from Australia, United States, Finland, Netherlands and the UK.

Terrestrial laser scanners, or TLS for short, provide detailed three-dimensional measurements of forests, by firing millions of laser pulses up into the canopy.  The information recorded can then be used to monitor changes in forest structure and biomass with unprecedented accuracy. These measurements are set to revolutionize the way in which ecologists measure forests, and will help determine whether forests are acting as carbon sinks, absorbing excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, or carbon sources, adding to the greenhouse effect. 

SALCA range image at Alice Holt, Hampshire

 

The meeting will lead to a Special Themed issue of the Royal Society’s inter-disciplinary journal Interface Focus, with Professor Danson as lead editor. Professor Danson said: “This support from the UK’s most eminent scientific society will be a showcase Salford’s world-leading research in TLS applications in ecology. It will also provide a forum for developing this research field, along with other key players from around the world”. The meeting will take place  27-28th February 2017 and the Programme will be released shortly.

Neural Network calibration of SALCA

This new paper just published decribes our research to calibrate the SALCA data to apparent reflectance. This method is now being applied to the SALCA data routinely to support quantitative analysis of the dual-wavelength spectral information.

To read the paper click this link