Integration of first and last return LiDAR with hyperspectral data to characterize forested environments.

The fusion of active LiDAR and passive optical hyperspectral data allows us to characterize the forest environments in ways that have not been possible previously with only one data source. This paper describes an airborne platform configured to collect data from multiple sensors simultaneously. Data from the platform have been applied to describe forest environments both in terms to species and structure. Integration of the data yields information and characterization of forest environments than has been possible in the past.