Submission + - Searching for The World's Tallest Trees with LIDAR
SoyChemist writes: The Save-the-Redwoods League is leading an effort to map all of Redwood National Park with light detection and ranging equipment. LIDAR simultaneously creates a 3D "point file" of the forest floor and canopy. Calculating tree heights is a simple matter of subtraction. Among other things, the maps will be used to locate immense redwood trees. Hyperion, the tallest known tree in the world, stands 378.1 feet tall and was recently discovered in that same park. The conservationists believe that they will find even taller trees. Wired is running a story that includes pictures and details about the twin-engine 1968 Aero Commander and the LIDAR equipment. Perhaps the coolest thing about this is that all of the map data will be released into the public domain.