Airborne Datasets

Airborne data provide a higher spatial resolution than that available from satellites, and are used in conjunction with field survey data to both validate satellite products and derive biophysical products.

The LiDAR datasets are of good to high quality and are used to derive high resolution digital elevation, terrain and/or surface models, and to identify individual trees and features for relating to field data. TERN AusCover plans to deliver a set of derived products from the LiDAR data in future.

The Hyperspectral data are of variable quality due to onboard instrument issues pre-2015. Sites flown after and including Warra (Feb 2015) and Injune (July 2015) are of good quality. The hyperspectral data can be used for species discrimination and to derive vegetation health and leaf chemistry information.

Some high resolution satellite imagery (e.g., WorldView-2) has been acquired to complement the field site surveys and airborne data. TERN AusCover’s high-resolution airborne and satellite data are available for collaborative research. Please contact us for details.

TERN AusCover have non-exclusively partnered with Airborne Research Australia to collect airborne data over most of the TERN AusCover field sites to date.

An emerging area of research is remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) or unmanned aerial vehicles or systems (UAV or UAS). Some preliminary data from hyperspectral, optical or infrared cameras and sensors have been collected over selected landscapes, including some AusCover sites. These datasets will be made available in future.