The vertical structure of forests has been successfully studied using airborne laser/lidar scanning and is regarded as the “Gold Standard” for forestry surveys. In addition, lidar is proven technique to validate canopy height measurements acquired from spaceborne measurements like TanDEM-X, Very High Reoslution, and SRTM. The travel time the laser pulse takes from emission to detection by the receiver is directly related to the distance between the sensor and the object. Information about the forest canopy height, forest structure, and ground surface can be deciphered by collection travel time measurements for thousands of laser pulses.
Mangrove Science 