
GEDI provides high quality laser ranging observations of the Earth’s forests and topography required to advance our understanding of important atmospheric and water cycling processes, biodiversity, and habitat.
GEDI has three science questions:
- What is the current state of Earth’s forest structure?
- What will forest dynamics look like in the future?
- How does forest structure affect habitat quality and biodiversity?
GEDI has four science objectives designed to address these questions:
- Quantify 3D forest structure
- Quantify the effects of disturbance on 3D forest structure
- Characterize future forest dynamics
- Quantify the spatial and temporal distribution of habitat structure and its influence on habitat quality and biodiversity
What is ecosystem structure?
Ecosystems can be characterized by their structure, function and composition. Together, these aspects influence processes such as biogeochemical fluxes and properties such as productivity, habitat quality, and biodiversity. Ecosystem structure refers to the horizontal and vertical distribution of ecosystem elements and their interactions. For example, landscape structure can be characterized by the horizontal distribution of canopy gaps within a forest. On a more local scale, vegetation structure can be characterized by the vertical distribution of stems, branches and leaves. GEDI provides high spatial and vertical resolution measurements of ecosystem structure.