Proceedings Article | 30 January 2013
KEYWORDS: LIDAR, Remote sensing, Ecosystems, Vegetation, Aerosols, Raman spectroscopy, Signal detection, Laser applications, Molecular lasers, Nitrogen
Since the emergence of laser and henceforth laser remote sensing in the 1960's, lidar (light detecting and ranging)
technology has became a significant tool for the detection of various phenomena like wind direction and intensity,
atmospheric temperature, urban and rural topography, forest fires, ocean planktonic development, and detection of
various constituants such as tropospheric aerosols, stratospheric ozone, trace chemicals and etc.
In 2009, a homemade multiwavelength Raman aerosol lidar (named MRC K09) was designed, developed and installed in
the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) Marmara Research Center (MRC), and since
21 February 2011, it has been accepted to EARLINET (European Aerosol Research Lidar Network). Since 2009, aerosol
spatio-temporal distribution and microphysical properties have been investigated in the extremely industrialized vicinity
[1,2]. MRC K09 lidar uses a Quantel Brilliant B Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm) with the second and third optical harmonics at
532 and 355 nm, and a homemade Newtonian 40 cm aperture 120 cm focal length telescope. It has 7 channel spectrum
analyzer detecting: parallel and perpendicular polarizations at 355 nm, elastic signals at 532 and 1064 nm, Raman signal
of molecular nitrogen at 387 nm and Raman signal of water vapor at 408 nm (excited with 355 laser line), and Raman
signal for molecular nitrogen at 608 nm (excited with 532 nm laser line).
In Spring 2010, preliminary applications for the determination of forest tree species and of forest health in the Black Sea
Area using an aeroborne lidar in collaboration with Bartin University, Bartin, Turkey have been made. In early 2011, a
fluorescence module utilizing a Princeton Instruments PI-MAX3 1024x256 resolution CCD camera with a Princeton
Instruments Acton SP 2500 0.500 m Imaging Triple Grating Monochromator/Spectograph was connected to the MRC
K09 lidar system, and the first remote measurements of chlorophyll from different types of trees were made. Figure 1
demonstrates the results of these measurements, which must be considered as preliminary and in the future, the
measurements can be carried out by the lidar mounted on an aircraft to cover large spatial areas.
One of the most important reasons for biodiversity loss, habitat loss and fragmentation can be monitored in large areas
by aeroborne lidars and therefore the extent of the situation can be accessed precisely, faster and more efficiently. This
paper aims to give a brief overview to show the possibility of detecting the detailed situations of the habitats on terrain
surfaces using lidar technology by summarizing the successful examples which have been realized thus far in different
types of ecosystems like savannas, forest and grasslands.
