With laser altimetry, that is light detection and
LiDAR (Light Detection
and Ranging) for Wetland
Study
Laxmi Kant Sharma
Rajashree Naik
Central University of Rajasthan, India
Ecosystem mapping, modeling, and other studies
have all benefited greatly from advances made
possible by remote sensing. Suitable applica-
tions of remote sensing include either dataset
collection from passive optical systems, such as
aerial photography and satellite images, or active
sensors like the Canadian RADARSAT program
(Pasetto et al. 2018). These types of sensors have
proven to be reliable for a wide range of ecolog-
ical applications, such as classification, dynamics
studies, hydrological and ecological modeling,
habitat analysis, and ecosystem fragmentation,
and they enable research of spatiotemporal
patterns. However, conventional active and
passive remote sensing sensors have numerous
limitations for ecological studies, with sensitivity
and accuracy of the sensors decreasing with
increasing vertical depth in both ground-surface
and underwater applications. Such datasets are
limited in their ability to provide information
on 3-D spatial patterns as only the 2-D (x and y)
imageries are meaningful. Ecologists, however,
have known for a long time that the presence
and diversity of particular organisms are strongly
influenced by the 3-D spatial pattern. Specific
3-D landscapes in forests can be associated
with specific birds or forest canopy structures.
The International Encyclopedia of Geography.
Edited by Douglas Richardson et al.
© 2023 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2023 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg2163
ranging (LiDAR), research can be improved by
biophysical measurements that extend the spatial
analysis into the third (z) dimension. By directly
measuring plant canopy and subcanopy topog-
raphy, LiDAR sensors produce high-resolution
maps and highly precise estimates of vegetation
height, cover, and canopy structure.
Application of this technology is very limited
in wetland ecosystems, which are among the
most productive in the world. Wetlands are
defined as “areas of marsh, fen, peatland or
water, whether natural or artificial, permanent
or temporary, with water that is static or flowing,
fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine
water the depth of which at low tide does
not exceed six meters.” (Ramsar Convention,
Article 1.1; www.ramsar.org/sites/default/files/
documents/library/info2007-01-e.pdf ). Ramsar
Convention was founded in 1971 and is the
world’s foremost wetland conservation organi-
zation. Wetlands that meet the requirements of
categories A and B are designated as Ramsar
sites of global importance. Wetlands provide a
wide range of ecosystem services such as salt
extraction, rainwater collection, hydropower
generation, flood control, scientific research,
groundwater recharge nutrient recycling, and
microclimate stabilization. They have a wide
variety of natural characteristics and can be found
in polar, temperate, and tropical regions, as well
as all other climatic zones. Wetland ecosystems
share three characteristics: hydric soil, water,
and aquatic vegetation. They do, however, differ
in terms of seasonal behavior, physicochemical
composition, and biological characteristics.

L I DAR (LI GH T DETE C TI O N A N D R A N G I N G ) F OR WETL A ND S TU DY
Concepts and broad applicability
LiDAR is also known as laser technology. Each
LiDAR sensor has a Global Positioning System
(GPS), transmitter or source, receiver, inertial
measurement unit (IMU), and time or ranging
electronics (Manivasagam et al. 2020). The
source emits rapid laser light pulses at the target
surfaces up to 150 000 pulses per second, also
known as footprints, and generates five return
signals per pulse. Timing electronics measure
the time lag between sources and return signals
in combination with the GPS and IMU. This
provides 3-D profiling of the landscape from
which digital elevation models (DEM), digital
terrain models (DTM) and digital surface models
(DSM) are easily and accurately derived (Ma,
X. et al. 2020). LiDAR sensors are installed on
multiple platforms like fixed terrestrial stations,
mobile surfaces, aircraft, satellites, interplane-
tary probes, and planetary landers and rovers.
Laser technology has widespread applications for
landform identification, dune pattern, watershed
delineation, streamflow detection, urban feature
extraction, disaster assessment, 3-D construc-
tion, height estimation, slope and roughness
analysis, mapping, and monitoring, and is also
used for remote sensing studies. LiDAR tech-
nology with its widespread uses is classified
into numerous groups based on application,
as shown in Figure 1. According to platform
they are classified as terrestrial, airborne, or
spaceborne LiDAR. Based on the source it
is classified as discrete or full-waveform, and
differentiated according to ranging techniques
such as time of flight, triangulation, and phase
difference. Further differentiation is based on
working principles, such as scattering, fluores-
cence, and reflection, and upon application,
such as atmospheric, bathymetric, navigational,
and mapping. LiDAR technology has numerous
advantages compared with other remote sensing
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02 Sources 04 Working principle
1. Discrete 1. Scattering
2. Full waveform 2. Fluorescence
3. Reflection
01 02 03 04 05
01 Platform 03 Ranging technique 05 Applications
1. Terrestrial 1. Time of flight 1. Bathymetry
2. Airborne 2. Triangulation 2. Atmospheric
3. Spaceborne 3. Phase differences 3. Navigation
4. Mapping
Figure 1 Classification of LiDAR technology.
technologies with its higher vertical accuracy at
5–15 cm and horizontal accuracy at 30–50 cm,
high data density up to 150 000 pulses per
second, multiple returns from a single pulse, fast
acquisition time for mapping 1000 km2 in 12 h,
minimum human dependence as major processes
are automatic, its light-independent technology,
ability to penetrate canopy, independent ground
control point (GCP) technology requiring only
few data for fine resolution DEM, DTM, or
DSM 3-D mapping. Although this technology
has been available for some time it is only in
the past few decades that it has seen widespread
use in the field of ecosystem studies, and among
these studies only a few have been applied to
wetland ecosystems.
Technical prospects
LiDAR technology has grown enormously since
its first use, but wetlands are so diverse their
complete profiling cannot be achieved using a
single technology (Brovelli and Muñoz 2016).
For wetland ecology, the primary advantage
of LiDAR is its ability to enhance other kinds
of datasets. Fusion of data along these lines is
a general and important practice undertaken
by all disciplines for some time which enables
integration of datasets from different sources,
as shown in Figure 2. This provides scope for
improvement in data quality and interpretation

L I DAR (L I G H T DE TEC TION A ND R A NGING) F OR WETL A ND S TU DY
capability. Applications of data fusion have been
successful for object identification, classifica-
tion, monitoring, and enhancement of decision
support systems. In the field of remote sensing
combined with geographic information systems
(GIS), this technique is applied to datasets from
different spaceborne, airborne, and ground plat-
forms at various spatiotemporal scales. Fusion
techniques for remote sensing applications are
classified into three categories: pixel level, feature
level, and decision level. LiDAR data are very
effective for fusion with optical, microwave, and
hyperspectral datasets.
Data fusion with optical datasets
Optical remote sensing uses the visible and
infrared ranges of the electromagnetic spec-
trum. Visible wavelengths cover a range
from approximately 0.4 to 0.7 μm. The
longest visible wavelength is red and the
shortest is violet. The wavelengths are violet
(0.4–0.446 μm), blue (0.446–0.500 μm), green
(0.500–0.578 μm), yellow (0.578–0.592 μm),
orange (0.592–0.620 μm), and red (0.620–0.7 μm).
Infrared wavelength ranges from 0.7 μm to
100 μm, and is divided into reflected (0.7 μm
to 3.0 μm) and emitted (3.0 μm to 100 μm)
regions. Optical remote sensing produces a wide
range of both spatial and temporal data. Satellites
are classified as high spatial resolution, 0.4–4 m
(KOMPSAT 3A with 0.55 m; Worldview-4 has
1.24 m), medium resolution, 4–30 m (RapidEye
with 5 m; Sentinel 2A with 10 m; CBERS
with 20 m; Landsat 8 with 30 m), and coarse
resolution, 30 m and above (MODIS, Moderate
Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer). Sim-
ilarly, satellites are classified as high temporal
resolution, 24 h to 3 days, medium temporal res-
olution, 4–16 days, and low temporal resolution
satellites, > 16 days. Satellites with various com-
binations of spatial and temporal resolutions have
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been successfully used for regional to national
level wetland inventory projects, including wet-
land mapping, classification, change dynamics
(Huang et al. 2014), habitat suitability, flood
inundation mapping, biodiversity conservation
(Leimgruber, Christen, and Laborderie 2005),
biomass assessment, water quality and hydric
soil assessment, vegetation community change,
and geomorphological and trace gases analyses.
These data have been investigated to reveal
vegetation cover, vegetation density, moisture
content, water level fluctuations, and seasonal
characteristics of the wetlands. However, there
are many features of wetlands that are inextri-
cably linked with the vertical structure of their
environment, including height and elevation
relative to mean sea level, which could not be
resolved sufficiently with these optical data-
sets (Xu et al. 2019). Mapping of high-altitude
wetlands, vegetation strata, and hydrological
gradients requires 3-D information on structure
along with spectral characteristics. Therefore,
integration of LiDAR with Landsat datasets
was undertaken in order to measure water level
and water volumes of lakes and reservoirs using
MABEL (Multiple Altimeter Beam Experimen-
tal LiDAR) and photo-LiDAR algorithms, for
which the R2 value for both water volumes and
levels was 0.99, with root-mean-square errors of
0.31 km3 and 0.96 m respectively (Ma, U. et al.
2019). Huang et al. (2014) also used LiDAR
with Landsat datasets for investigation of wetland
inundation dynamics. LiDAR was used to gen-
erate a subpixel inundation percentage map at
30 m resolution and Landsat for deriving inun-
dation changes. LiDAR datasets have also been
subjected to convolution neural network (CNN)
analysis for feature extraction, and then fused
with Landsat images in a support vector machine
(SVM) classifier for accurate land use/land cover
(LULC) classification, outperforming traditional
methods by 2.65% (Xu et al. 2019). Integration
3

L I DAR (LI GH T DETE C TI O N A N D R A N G I N G ) F OR WETL A ND S TU DY
Land use/land cover
Optical
Mapping
remote
Habitat analysis sensing
Biomass estimation
Water quality
Species identification
Hyperspectral
Vegetation chemistry
remote
Soil chemistry sensing
Water chemistry
Figure 2 Data fusion efficacy of different remote sensing technologies with LiDAR datasets.
of LiDAR with ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne
Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer)
was undertaken by Pavri, Dailey, and Valen-
tine (2011) for mapping coastal wetlands and
the outcomes demonstrated accurate mapping
for small aquatic vegetation and detection of
water signals that were underestimated by the
individual technologies. Data fusion with an
IKONOS (Earth observation satellite) dataset
for wetland mapping also increased accuracy
level up to 74.5% due to reduced complications
among classes in a complex wetland, along with
lowland vegetation species, shrubs, and mosses
(Maxa and Bolstad 2009). LiDAR datasets have
also been extended for gross and net productivity
estimation integrating with Quickbird (Earth
observation satellite) and Flux tower datasets, in
order to compute carbon use efficiency; there
was a more noticeable improvement for upland
wetlands than for lowland wetlands.
Data fusion with microwave datasets
Microwave remote sensing utilizes the electro-
magnetic range between 1 cm and 1 m. Due to
4
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Microwave Classification
remote Wetland delineation
sensing Biomass estimation
Wildfires
Disease identification
Unmanned
aerial Landscape structure
vehicles Height estimation
technology Extent mapping
larger wavelengths, microwaves have a tremen-
dous capability to penetrate clouds, fog, smoke,
smog, and ash (Jahncke et al. 2018). There are
two types of microwave remote sensing, namely
passive and active: passive sensors depend on
an external source of light while active sen-
sors operate with light provided both day and
night. Microwave sensors transmit signals at the
microwave bandwidth and receive backscattered
signals. Different objects are identified by the
power of the backscattered signals while the
distance of the target object is measured by
the time lag between transmitted and received
signals; radio detection and ranging (radar) also
works on this principle. The greatest advantage
of this technology is its functionality even in
a cloudy, hazy, and smog covered atmosphere.
Unlike optical sensors, microwave sensors (such
as ALOS PALSAR, RADARSAT, ASAR, AIR-
SAR) provide information on wetland extent,
water level, flooding situation, vegetation status,
and stratification level during monsoon seasons.
Fusion of microwave data (such as SAR, Syn-
thetic Aperture Radar) with airborne LiDAR is
very effective for wetland mapping as it provides
information on the physiognomic dynamics for

L I DAR (L I G H T DE TEC TION A ND R A NGING) F OR WETL A ND S TU DY
wetlands while LiDAR provides canopy height.
Jahncke et al. (2018) integrated RADARSAT-2
C-band polarimetric SAR images with LiDAR
and QuickBird images and used the Random
Forests (RF) classifier. The combination of
three remote sensing techniques provided 89.2%
accuracy level, compared with 69.9% accuracy
by optical datasets, for classification of a wetland
complex.
Data fusion with hyperspectral datasets
Hyperspectral remote sensing provides spatial
and spectral information at the microscopic to
macroscopic scale. These datasets have 100–200
contiguous bands with a 5–10 nm bandwidth.
Such high spectral information helps to identify
objects and phenomena at a near laboratory
spectroscopic level. The wetland ecotone has
random vertical and horizontal stratification and
spectral analysis of wetland vegetation is compli-
cated compared with its terrestrial counterpart,
due to interference from the surrounding water
and hydric soils (Geerling et al. 2007). These
factors limit the efficiency of optical remote
sensing for meaningful study of species-level
wetland vegetation, geochemical properties,
morphological features, sedimentation and silta-
tion, and mineral and radioactive materials in the
wetland ecosystems. With the introduction of
hyperspectral remote sensing these shortcomings
have been resolved. Availability of a large number
of narrow spectral bands facilitates different band
combinations for retrieving spectral curves of
LULC classes at a microscopic level in different
wetland ecosystems, enhancing the existing spec-
tral library. In the context of wetlands, species of
mangroves, salt marshes, halophytes, halophiles,
the vegetation of tidal creeks, forested wetlands,
and riparian vegetation are unveiled using this
advanced technology. Application of airborne
platforms, such as the Airborne Visible-Infrared
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Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) and Com-
pact Airborne Spectrographic Imager (CASI),
and spaceborne sensors, such as Hyperion, has
been beneficial for studying wetland hydric soil
as well as floating, emergent, and submerged
vegetation. However, due to coarse spatial res-
olution, different vertical hydrological patterns
of the wetlands have remained comparatively
unexplored. The integration of hyperspectral
data with digital elevation data provides datasets
that enhance the total characterization of geo-
graphically remote wetland ecosystems. The
fusion of LiDAR and hyperspectral datasets has
been successfully applied in wetland studies by
Geerling et al. (2007), who integrated CASI and
LiDAR datasets at pixel level to assess the level
of classification accuracy for a floodplain. Their
results show that classification with only LiDAR
accounted for 41%, that with only CASI gave
74% accuracy, but their combination yielded
81% accuracy.
Unmanned aerial vehicle survey combined
with LiDAR
The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has
become one of the most important additions
to the ecological research toolkit, and has great
potential. UAV surveys have an advantage over
satellite methods in that they can deliver data
quickly and with a very high spatiotemporal
resolution. Numerous complex ecosystems can
be studied more often because of the short time
it takes to launch and the ease with which data
can be collected and transmitted. UAVs are now
recognized as being very beneficial tools for
monitoring, mapping, search and rescue, investi-
gation, logistics, and transportation (Li and Tang
2016). As technology has advanced, the practical
applications of such missions in both civilian and
military contexts have grown significantly. Due
to the rapidly declining prices of drones and the
5

L I DAR (LI GH T DETE C TI O N A N D R A N G I N G ) F OR WETL A ND S TU DY
sensors attached to them, their use has begun
to grow rapidly. Complex algorithms are used
to gather data and process it in real-time or in
the cloud platform. Many studies have proven
the usefulness of LiDAR for wetland mapping,
LULC change analysis, conservation, and health
and condition assessment. Recently though,
combination of LiDAR with UAVs has enabled
surveys of a few hundred or thousand hectares
per day, that are less expensive, have greater
autonomy, are quick to plan and respond to, and
facilitate recurrent data collection more easily.
Thus UAV-LiDAR can provide a much higher
return than individual LiDAR. These systems
can greatly facilitate a monitoring strategy by
providing high spatial and temporal resolution
multitemporal surveys at low cost. LiDAR has
been integrated with UAV for analyzing patterns
of mangrove inundation for an estuarine wetland
(Zhu et al. 2019). This study highlighted the
spatial inundation regime and canopy heights
of mangrove species at the landscape level with
an accuracy of greater than 90%. The detail
required for successful management practices
could only be achieved through the spatial and
digital elevation information of the study area
acquired by UAV-LiDAR.
Application prospects
LiDAR datasets, like those gathered by other
remote sensing methods, have been acquired for
different purposes in wetland research (Figure 3).
They have been used for identification, detec-
tion, classification, and monitoring, but also
LiDAR datasets have been used extensively
for mapping purposes (of wetland vegetation,
habitat (Rapinel et al. 2019), playas, streams
(Lang et al. 2012), geomorphology, and floods
(Geerling et al. 2007)), modeling, and nutrient
estimation.
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Wetland classification and mapping
Human activities and consequent climate change
have been continuously degrading wetlands
around the world. Wetland areas are shrinking,
vegetation is changing, and land cover is shifting
as a result of these changes. Wetland ecosystems
can be evaluated and environmental protection
agencies can be informed if these changes are
recognized. Uncovering long-term change will
lead to an understanding of the trends and
abrupt changes that have affected wetlands and
to investigate their dynamics, thereby ensuring
protection, restoration, and sustainability of wet-
lands. Mapping wetland ecosystems, classifying
them, and analyzing change in their dynamics
are the most immediate research priorities at
different spatiotemporal scales. Streams are one
of the most important components of wet-
lands in their contribution to the hydrology
of wetlands, either seasonally or permanently,
and they are vital for maintaining the hydric
soils of wetlands. Detection of all branches of a
stream, however, is possible only at finer spatial
scales, hence the use of DEMs for this purpose.
LiDAR-derived DEMs have been reported to
increase mapping efficiency by 27% when com-
pared satellite-derived DEMs (Lang et al. 2012),
thus demonstrating the efficacy of this approach
for mapping wetland streams. LiDAR has proved
to be a promising technology for mapping
heterogeneous floodplains that form temporary
wetland ecosystems. Seasonal vegetation struc-
ture of wetlands is distinctly different and datasets
derived from LiDAR DEMS have been able to
classify even meadows separately, whereas they
are underestimated in other datasets. As wetlands
have different types of vegetation at different
levels, mapping of wetlands during summer
when there is less stratification is recommended.
Forested wetlands have a more stratified structure
than other types of wetlands, such as water mead-
ows and peatlands. As vegetation communities

L I DAR (L I G H T DE TEC TION A ND R A NGING) F OR WETL A ND S TU DY
3-D mapping
Classification
Ecological modeling
Biomass estimation
Vegetation structure
Species identification
Eco-health assessment
Monitoring Canopy structure
Flood mapping
Figure 3 Characteristics of wetlands explored with LiDAR datasets.
vary seasonally, mapping is highly recommended
in order to understand their dynamics. LiDAR
datasets utilized to investigate wetland vegetation
structure and coverage, height, density, and dis-
tribution of herb and shrub communities, and to
differentiate between meadows and unvegetated
areas (Rapinel et al. 2019) have increased accu-
racy from 15% to 80% at various scales. Primarily
LiDAR-derived DEMs have been fused with
sensor-derived DEMs for classification purposes.
Inland forested wetlands have been explored in
combination with Landsat MSS, with IKONOS,
and with Lag Width and Lateral Slope indices,
floodplain vegetation mapping and monitoring
in combination with CASI, mapping of tidal
wetlands and geomorphology in combination
with the Lag Width and Lateral Slope indices,
coastal area mapping in combination with
ASTER, mapping of coastal wetland streams
and bog wetlands in combination with SAR.
Other combined studies include coastal plant
community identification, swamp area mapping,
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Landscape mapping
Hydrological modeling
Bathymetry Nutrient efficiency analysis
Species identification
Runoff modeling
Inundation mapping
Wildfire mapping
Streamflow modeling
Groundwater modeling
wetland complex delineations, salt marsh map-
ping, inundation pattern analysis of mangrove
wetland, and invertebrate identification within a
lacustrine benthic zone.
Height estimation
Optical datasets have been widely used for many
remote sensing and GIS studies, such as agri-
cultural monitoring, urban planning, landscape
change detection, and disaster risk assessment
and recovery. However, these presentations
are rendered chiefly as 2-D maps, with poor
representation of 3-D information leading to
inadequate knowledge of vertical structure.
Combination of LiDAR with optical datasets
for height estimation of wetland vegetation has
shown significant results from which mean tree
height, dominant height, and maximum tree
height could be derived (Hopkinson et al. 2005).
As for terrestrial forest ecosystems, biomass,
timber volume, and stem number and diameters
of forested wetlands have been calculated, but
7

L I DAR (LI GH T DETE C TI O N A N D R A N G I N G ) F OR WETL A ND S TU DY
LiDAR data improves the mapping of lower
strata vegetation, which are more often inun-
dated and difficult to map using coarser DEMs
(Luo et al. 2017). Low-level wetlands structures
like herbaceous vegetation, low shrubs, grass-
lands, reeds, marshy and swampy vegetation, and
submerged emergent vegetation that are always
missed by satellite-derived DEMs are reported
to be well mapped by this combined dataset.
Results from laser technology have provided
better information on the vertical structure
of wetland ecosystems at 10 points per square
meter, promising widespread scope in the future.
Wetland hydrological modeling
Climate change and human activity have
both impacted the intricate processes of the
water cycle. Hydrologists have long sought to
understand the water cycle through the use of
computer simulations. Many different reasons
have led to the development of various types of
hydrological models, but primarily their purpose
is to accomplish one of two goals: in hydrolog-
ical modeling, the goal is to better understand
the hydrological processes that take place in a
catchment and how these processes change as a
result of change in the catchment; the other goal
is to create synthetic sequences of hydrological
datasets for future prediction. In the past few
decades, hydrological datasets have been used to
research potential impacts of land use and climate
change, hydrodynamic streamflow routing, reser-
voir operation, and real-time flood inundation
evaluation. Even though significant progress has
been made challenges remain, such as the lack
of a reflective mechanism for understanding the
influences of a changing environment on water
cycle, and a corresponding operative modeling,
as well as uncertainty related to data, parameters,
model, and structure. With respect to wet-
lands hydrology, they are characterized by their
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hydrology, soil, and vegetation, and the structure
changes as the hydrological properties of the
wetland ecosystem change. Modeling of hydro-
logical characteristics provides estimates of water
budgets and groundwater table, surface, and
subsurface water levels of wetlands. Such details
are useful for watershed management at the local
level, and for wetland protection and restoration
plans at the national level. Traditional hydrolog-
ical models incorporating optical datasets lack
accuracy as they underestimate contributions
from small streams that may lead to large-scale
hydrological changes. Hydrological models using
LiDAR datasets, however, have provided details
of connected and unconnected streams with one
point in 10 m2 (Toyra et al. 2003). Such datasets
have been used to model and estimate the water
potential of different wetland ecosystems, such
as palustrine and scrub-shrub wetlands (Ma, Y.
et al. 2019), as well as estimates of dissolved
oxygen (Rogers et al. 2012).
Wetland nutrient efficiency estimation
Wetlands have different physicochemical prop-
erties, such as pH, electrical conductivity,
turbidity, and dissolved organic matter, and
different biological properties, such as seasonal
changes in chlorophyll content. Estimating such
parameters is vital for inferring the status of
wetland ecosystems because any slight change
in these properties would lead to a change in
species composition, pollution, and eutrophi-
cation causing disturbance in the food web of
the wetlands. LiDAR data have been used to
successfully estimate dissolved organic matter in
comparison with laboratory testing, and also the
nitrate load, with results indicating potential for
these datasets to be used to test other parameters
also (Tomer et al. 2013).

L I DAR (L I G H T DE TEC TION A ND R A NGING) F OR WETL A ND S TU DY
Wetland biomass estimation
Vegetation is one of the prime elements of
the wetland ecosystem and is essential to sus-
taining its structure and function. Biomass of
wetland vegetation is an important indicator of
ecosystem health and is used to assess carbon
sequestration capacity. Regional vegetation
biomass variations are correlated to wetland
ecosystem functional features and carbon bal-
ance. Accurate approximation of vegetation
biomass is the foundation for studying material
circulation, bioproductivity, and energy flow.
This provides a better understanding of the
spatiotemporal dynamics of the wetland as well
as basic information for assessing its ecological
status and sustainable operation as a wetland
natural resource, especially in floodplains where
seasonal water level variations often result in
potential differences in vegetation growth and
dispersal. Therefore, fast and efficient biomass
estimation of wetland vegetation is essential.
Traditionally, methods of vegetation biomass val-
uation are based on field surveys, which are very
exact and can be used for remote-sensing-based
ecological modeling. However, large-scale field
studies are time-consuming and tedious due
to poor accessibility of wetlands, especially in
the core regions. Thus, conventional surveying
methods are markedly limited in spatiotem-
poral scope. Conversely, remote sensing and
geospatial technology, accompanied with a few
field datasets can provide rapid, dynamic, and
regional to global scale monitoring of wetland
vegetation. However, there are still difficulties
in selecting suitable remote sensing datasets,
and modeling algorithms for diverse ecological
applications. LiDAR can have various advantages
in such instances, and Luo et al. (2017) found
20% enhancement by combining LiDAR with
hyperspectral data for biomass estimation, when
compared with the origibal datasets. Fusion of
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LiDAR and Quickbird datasets also proved suc-
cessful for biomass estimation. Types of wetlands
explored with this technology and the limited
number of studies are given in Figure 4.
Future scope
Airborne LiDAR has been used the great-
est number of times for studies of wetland
ecosystems, compared with terrestrial and space-
borne platforms. The major airborne LiDAR
companies providing datasets are Teledyne
Technologies (USA), Saab AB (Sweden), Leica
Geosystems (Switzerland), Faro Technologies
(USA), FLIR Systems (USA), Leosphere SAS
(France), Raymetrics S.A. (Greece), RIEGL
Laser Measurement Systems (North Africa),
3D Laser Mapping (England), Firmatek (USA)
and Quanergy Systems Inc. (USA). There
are many spaceborne LiDAR sensors, such as
MESSENGER, ICESat, ASCENDS, and LIST,
that provide free and fair scope for widespread
application to wetland ecosystems research. The
full potential of terrestrial laser scanners has yet
to be explored. Application of airborne LiDAR
has been applied to very limited types of wet-
land ecosystems: floodplains, forested, riverine,
deltaic, and tidal wetlands, peatlands, bogs, and
salt meadows. However, saline lakes, constructed
wetlands, fens, swamps, seagrasses, littoral wet-
lands, freshwater wetlands, geothermal wetlands,
reservoirs, barrages, dams, saltpans, and mining
pools have yet to be explored.
Results from LiDAR datasets depend on their
scan pattern, flying height, beam divergence, and
detection threshold. These parameters vary from
terrestrial to airborne to spaceborne platforms.
Alhough terrestrial and airborne platforms pro-
vide accurate profiles of landscapes, they are
expensive. It is rarely possible using these two
platforms to provide regular monitoring of a
9
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L I DAR (LI GH T DETE C TI O N A N D R A N G I N G ) F OR WETL A ND S TU DY

Wetland complexes
Floodplain
Coastal
Forested wetland
Swamp
Tidal
Playa wetland
Riverine
Wetland type

Lacustrine
Freshwater
Boreal
Deltaic
Prairie
Mangrove
Palustrine
Peatland
Salt marsh
Bog
Estuarine
Salt meadow
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Number of publications

Figure 4 Types of wetland investigated with LiDAR datasets.

wetland in order to analyze change dynamics.
The greatest problem with spaceborne LiDAR
is the scope of data available; there are few
data available for limited types of wetland. The
second issue concerns footprints: spaceborne
LiDAR has a large footprint but its capability
for accurate vertical profiling is limited. Other
than data collection and availability problems,
LiDAR technology is challenged by the bulk
data processing required. Availability of software
and algorithms to generate DEMs from point
clouds is a major obstacle for new technology to
overcome. Hurdles like laser power to determine
the structure of wetland, the reflectivity of the
landscape soil properties, the arrangement of
leaves in the vegetation, and effects due to
multipath reflectivity of the vegetation are yet
to be resolved with the advancements of tech-
nology. Since wetlands are seasonally inundated,
mapping submerged and floating vegetation is
difficult. Despite these technological challenges,
there is a wide potential scope for application of
LiDAR to wetland research. This is an evolving
technology in the field of remote sensing and
a number of spaceborne LiDAR platforms are
planned to be launched. These open sources will
provide a multitude of wetland ecologists with an
opportunity to characterize wetlands in greater
detail at the landscape level. There is scope for
further improvements, such as: machine learn-
ing techniques to improve model calibration;
hydrological models accounting for watershed
modifications; ways of integrating LiDAR with
other remote sensing techniques to map land use
and catchment topography; ways of intergrating
LiDAR with atmospheric forcing datasets in
order to retrieve wetland hydrological variables
such as soil moisture, evapotranspiration, and

10

L I DAR (L I G H T DE TEC TION A ND R A NGING) F OR WETL A ND S TU DY
interception; novel approaches to assess and
evaluate observations and model uncertainties,
to upscale/downscale eco-hydrological variables,
to forecast streamflow and runoff responses, to
attribute research application at all levels from
landscape to individual trees; integration of
remote sensors for the structural representation
of forest and trees; for analysis of the distribution
and density of fauna and flora.
SEE ALSO: Biodiversity; Ground-based
LiDAR; LiDAR; Processing LiDAR data;
Space; Spatiotemporal analysis; Unmanned
aerial vehicle (UAV); Water quality; Wetland
biogeography; Wetlands hydrology
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Further reading
Dong, P., and Chen, Q. 2017. LiDAR Remote Sensing
and Applications. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
Nakano, S.I., Yahara, T., and Nakashizuka, T., eds.
2016. Aquatic Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem
Services. Singapore: Springer.
Weng, Q., ed. 2011. Advances in Environmental Remote
Sensing: Sensors, Algorithms, and Applications. Boca
Raton: CRC Press.