Lin Xiong / 熊林

Assistant Research Professor
Department of Geographical Sciences
University of Maryland, College Park

My research uses terrestrial, airborne, and spaceborne lidar to investigate forest structure, carbon stocks, and coastal ecosystem change. As part of the NASA GEDI Mission Team, I develop algorithms for data fusion, calibration, and validation.

My work spans forest biomass mapping, mangrove disturbance and recovery, coastal erosion, and landslide monitoring.

Before joining UMD, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the Coastal Studies Institute, East Carolina University (2021–2023). I earned my PhD in geophysics from the University of Houston in 2020 and my bachelor’s degree in geology from the School of Earth & Space Sciences at Peking University.

Research Areas

Forest structure and carbon
Integrating GEDI, ICESat-2, and other remote sensing observations to map canopy height, biomass, and carbon stocks.

Mangroves and coastal wetlands
Characterizing ecosystem structure, disturbance, and recovery to advance understanding of blue carbon.

Coastal and landscape change
Using lidar, UAV observations, and geospatial analysis to monitor coastal erosion and landslides.

Methods: Lidar remote sensing · Data fusion · Machine learning · Calibration and validation

News archive · 2021–2026

2026

[08/2026] I will give an oral presentation at IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium.

[07/2026] I attended NASA Biosphere meeting in person.

[06/2026] I submitted a proposal to the NASA Early Career Investigator Program in Earth Science.

[04/2026] PI gave GEDI mission presentations in ESD 2026 Senior Review.

2025

[12/2025] AGU meeting is held in New Orleans.

[09/2025] GEDI/IS2 paper discussion.

[08/2025] Visiting Scholars to Present Seminars. Here is the link.

[08/2025] GEDI annual review meeting.

[07/2025] Big tree scanning with TLS in Maryland.

[06/2025] Wrote a proposal for Calibration and Validation of the Biomass Mission.

[05/2025] Work on the GEDI L4A candidate models perfomance evaluation.

[04/2025] GEDI Science Team Meeting. Here is the summary link.

2024

[12/2024] AGU meeting

[09/2024] 2024 CMS Science Team Meeting and Applications Workshop.

[09/2024] 2024 ForestSAT.

[07/2024] Join Geo Center Remote Sensing Summer School 24 Talks from July 9- July 17.

[06/2024] 2024 ICESat-2 Applications Workshop is held in Hybrid.

[05/2024] NASA Biodiversity and Ecological Conservation Team Meeting was held in Silver Spring Hotel.

[04/2024] I attended NASA PANGEA scoping workshop (April 9-11).

[03/2024] I worked on hybrid inference model for forest survey.

[02/2024] I worked on ICESat-2 measurement error model.

[01/2024] I worked on ICESat-2 measurement error model.

2023

[12/2023] I attended 2023 AGU meeting online. Here is the poster link.

[11/2023] I virtually attended meeting of Surface Topography and Vegetation (STV) .

[10/2023] GEDI completed science meeting was held 10/17-10/19!

[10/2023] I gave a presentation about 'Application of GNSS and lidar in Earth Sciences'

[09/2023] I presented on NASA Carbon Monitoring System Blueflux science meeting.

[09/2023] SiviLaser 2023 will be livestreamed.

[08/2023] Tiago did a workshop for conda environment setup and using GEDI tools.

[07/2023] I attended UAVCO InSAR short course.

[07/2023] I am working on the GEDI error modelling.

[06/2023] I attended MAAP users' workshop.

[05/2023] I attended environmental data science meeting holed by ESIIL in Boulder.

[05/2023] I attended NASA joint science workshop (https://cce.nasa.gov/meeting_2023/index.html).

[04/2023] I moved to Univeristy of Maryland, College Park as an Assistant Research Professor!

[03/2023] We submitted two proposals: NASA CSDA and Climate AI.

[03/2023] Second TLS coastal resilience mapping was done in Nags Head, NC.

[03/2023] We finished Blueflux field trip data collection during dry season in Everglades.

[02/2023] Our coastal resilience story is online.

[02/2023] We conduct Bathymatry mapping in Currituck Sound, NC.

[02/2023] Our work has been interviewed by currentTV.

[01/2023] Guest lecture in Marine Biology class.

[01/2023] Hurricane disaster damage and reovery assessment Step-1 Proposal submitted.

[01/2023] Work on proposals of NASA CSDA, NC Sea Grant, and Climate AI.

2022

[12/2022] Attend AGU meeting in Chicago. Check my iposter here and folks in our lab.

[12/2022] Field trip for coastal laser scanning at Nags Head, NC.

[11/2022] Give a lightning talk in the North Carolina Coastal Conference

[11/2022] Give a guest lecture in Coastal Geoscience class.

[10/2022] NASA blueflux field work (10/15-10/22)

[10/2022] NC minigrant kickoff meeting. Slides are here.

[09/2022] Our paper is online! https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1569843222002199

[09/2022] Attend NASA biodiversity meeting. Group photo is here. Mangrove structure and growth slides are here.

[08/2022] Draft paper about mangrove height and machine learning is done.

[07/2022] NC mingrant is done.

[06/2022] ECU CSI open house.

[05/2022] NASA coastal resilience proposal is prepared.

[05/2022] Coastal laser scanner developed.

[04/2022] Moved to office in Greenville, NC.

[03/2022] Blueflux field trip in South Florida. Using TLS to scan ghost forest. Group photo is here.

[02/2022] Moved to Wanchese, NC.

2021

[12/2021] Attend AGU meeting in New Orleans and present lightning talk about mangrove recovery.

[11/2021] Manuscript revision.

[09/2021] Moved to Houston, TX and work remotely.

[08/2021] Draft paper is done.

[07/2021] Moved to Wanchese, NC.

[06/2021] ICESat-2 learning and meeting.

[05/2021] Mangrove seedling meeting.

[04/2021] GEDI learning and meeting.

[03/2021] G-LiHT learning and meeting.

[02/2021] Join ECU CSI as a postdoc and work remotely in Houston.