TERN Data Discovery Portal

Description

This dataset is a collection of drone lidar data from plots across Australia (AusPlots, SuperSites, Cal/Val sites to be established in the future). The aim of these drone surveys is to capture vegetation structure. The standardised data collection and data processing protocols developed in 2022 are based on the DJI Matrice 300 (M300) RTK drone platform. Lidar sensor DJI Zenmuse L1 is used with DJI Matrice 300 (M300) RTK platform to capture RGB colourised 3D point clouds. The data is georeferenced using the onboard GNSS in M300 and the D-RTK 2 base station. DJI Terra software was used to generate 3D point clouds from the raw lidar data. The protocols include flight planning and data collection guidelines for a 100 x 100 m TERN plot, and the processing workflow used on DJI Terra. Mission-specific metadata for each plot is provided in the imagery/metadata folder (please refer to the imagery collection). The Drone Data Collection and Lidar Processing protocols can be found at https://www.tern.org.au/field-survey-apps-and-protocols/ .

Credit
We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
This project was funded by TERN Landscapes.

Purpose
The aim of the drone-based lidar surveys is to achieve consistent and robust data collection of vegetation structure to facilitate ecosystem monitoring. Vegetation structure is an important indicator of aboveground biomass and carbon storage. Drone lidar captures detailed information on the three-dimensional structure of vegetation and landscape. Critical characteristics that can be measured through this data include crown projection area, crown diameter, tree height. Lidar data can be used to generate precise digital elevation model under the forest canopy, track changes in erosion and deposition of soil, assess aboveground biomass, and fuel loads in terrestrial ecosystems.

Temporal coverage

From 5/16/2022

Dates

Creation date

5/16/2022

Publication date

12/7/2022

Revision date

5/12/2024

Citation information

How to cite this collection:

TERN Landscapes, TERN Surveillance Monitoring, Stenson, M., Sparrow, B. & Lucieer, A. (2022): Drone Lidar Data from TERN plots across Australia. Version 1. Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network. (Dataset). https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/TERN/e7a93b30-860d-4757-9ef5-02a11f801c30

Access data

These data can be accessed from following links:

Access metadata

Point-of-truth metadata URL

Rights and Licensing

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

TERN services are provided on an "as-is" and "as available" basis. Users use any TERN services at their discretion and risk. They will be solely responsible for any damage or loss whatsoever that results from such use including use of any data obtained through TERN and any analysis performed using the TERN infrastructure.
Web links to and from external, third party websites should not be construed as implying any relationships with and/or endorsement of the external site or its content by TERN.

Please advise any work or publications that use this data via the online form at https://www.tern.org.au/research-publications/#reporting

Please cite this dataset as {Author} ({PublicationYear}). {Title}. {Version, as appropriate}. Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network. Dataset. {Identifier}.