Beyond 3-D: The New Spectrum of Lidar Applications for Earth and Ecological Sciences

Abstract: Capturing and quantifying the world in three dimensions (x,y,z) using light detection and ranging (lidar) technology drives fundamental advances in the Earth and Ecological Sciences (EES). However, additional lidar dimensions offer the possibility to transcend basic 3-D mapping capabilities, including i) the physical time (t) dimension from repeat lidar acquisition and ii) laser return intensity (LRI?) data dimension based on the brightness of single- or multi-wavelength (?) laser returns. Th…