I develop lidar and remote sensing methods to characterize forest structure, quantify carbon stocks, and monitor ecosystem change.
Forest canopy height and biomass · GEDI and ICESat-2 data fusion (2023–present)
Mangrove ecosystems · Structure, disturbance, and recovery (2022–present)
Research objective. Combine complementary spaceborne lidar observations to improve estimates of forest canopy height and support biomass and carbon mapping.
Approach. This project integrates GEDI and ICESat-2 footprint measurements using a measurement error model and hybrid inference. We compare GEDI L2A (Version 2) and ICESat-2 ATL08 (Version 6) height metrics across plant functional types, then estimate canopy height within 1 km grid cells while accounting for measurement and sampling uncertainty.
Contribution. The framework combines the missions’ complementary sampling to improve spatial coverage and provide uncertainty estimates for ecosystem structure, carbon, biodiversity, and habitat applications.
GEDI footprints within 1 km grid cells.
ICESat-2 observations within 1 km grid cells.
Global mangrove canopy height. Source: Simard et al. (2019).
Mangrove forests support carbon storage, biodiversity, water quality, and coastal protection. Understanding their three-dimensional structure and response to disturbance is central to assessing these ecosystem functions (Donato et al., 2011; Lee et al., 2014; Friess et al., 2019; Menéndez et al., 2020).
Research objective. Characterize mangrove forest structure, disturbance, and recovery using ground-based, airborne, and spaceborne lidar.
Approach. I integrate GEDI and ICESat-2 observations with Landsat and Sentinel imagery to map canopy height and estimate aboveground biomass. Combining observations across platforms and time supports analysis of structural change and ecosystem recovery.
Applications. This work supports mangrove monitoring and blue carbon research by linking three-dimensional vegetation structure with patterns of disturbance and regrowth.
GEDI waveform response and footprint size (gedi.umd.edu)
ICESat-2 beams over forested mountains (svs.gsfc.nasa.gov)
2022–2023 · Coastal resilience and vulnerability
Assessment conducted September 2022–October 2023. Project report
2015–2022 · Texas coastal erosion
Mapping shoreline change using GNSS, lidar, and UAV observations.
2019–2021 · Slumgullion landslide, Colorado
Detecting landscape change using airborne lidar.
2012–2015 · Yushu–Xianshuihe fault system
Reconstructing approximately 300 years of stress evolution using three-dimensional finite element models.
2010–2012 · Wenchuan earthquake
Modeling Coulomb stress changes on active faults near the Longmenshan fault.