Fluorescence lidar method for remote monitoring of effects on vegetation

摘要

Plants constantly interact with environment, mainly, by means of photosynthesis and soil nutrition. The state of plant photosynthetic apparatus that reflects the general physiological state of a plant, can be analyzed remotely on a basis of laser-induced fluorescence using a fluorescence lidar. In this respect, a fluorescence lidar can be a technical means of remote sensing of the effects on vegetation including chemical soil pollution. Among a series of applications, of interest is development of a lidar technique for detecting the effects of oil products and mechanical disturbances. This paper is devoted to the application of the fluorescence lidar technique to monitoring mechanical and chemical impacts on the woody vegetation typical of Siberia. A physical basis of this technique is the red fluorescence of chlorophyll of green plants excited by the second harmonic (532 nm) of Nd:YAG laser. Red fluorescence of plants consists of two bands centered at 685 and 740 nm which is conditioned by functioning of two photosystems. As in situ experiments show, the indicated photosystems and, respectively, the fluorescence on these bands respond differently to feeding disturbances and mechanical impacts, making the increase in the fluorescence intensity informative. Time criteria of fluorescence characteristics were obtained at single and multiple effects on the vegetation. The paper describes a lidar system that meets the requirements for detecting the effects on vegetation.