Terresense, Inc. Now Scanning the Forests for the Trees

Chicago Carbon Exchange Gives Nod to New Airborne Remote Sensing Methodology

Fairfax, VA – Terresense, Inc. has developed and fielded a new high-tech airborne technology designed to provide remote sensing of biomass and carbon in heavily wooded areas. Faster, more accurate, and less expensive than the standard manual timber cruising methods, the Terresense solution is now the first such technology approved and certified by the Chicago Carbon Exchange (CCX).

Terresense, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Zimmerman Associates, Inc. (ZAI). The R&D group at ZAI designed, developed, fabricated, and patented the Terresense sensor suite. The sensor suite, installed in a dedicated Terresense aircraft, includes a new type of downlooking radar, an optical laser radar, a hyperspectral imaging camera, a color video camera, and an inertial navigation system coupled with a dual channel Geographical Positioning System (GPS). All of the sensors look out of the bottom of the airplane at the same patch of ground directly beneath the aircraft. The airborne collected sensor data is processed and combined to produce data such as tree volume, tree biomass and carbon in tons per acre, tree height, and the percentage of canopy closure. The data is downloaded to a DVD into a Geographical Information System (GIS) format with each type of data forming a different layer in the GIS data stack. The Terresense aircraft can survey 20,000 acres or about 30 square miles per day with a 100% sample of the survey area. The resulting surveys are very accurate since the entire area is surveyed as opposed to all other manual methods that take small samples and extrapolate to estimate biomass and carbon.
Dr. Patrick Johnson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Terresense, Inc., is pleased by the recognition the new technology has received. “Our airborne methodology is the first remote sensing system approved and certified by the Chicago Carbon Exchange (CCX) for both baseline inventories and the monitoring and verification of carbon content in forested areas. The Terresense technology is the first remote sensing methodology to be approved by the CCX or any other carbon trading exchange. All other forestry carbon credit projects are required to use manual, on the ground, methods which are much more expensive, take much longer to complete, and are not as accurate in mixed and hardwood forest.”, said Johnson.
The Terresense, Inc. business plan is aimed primarily at the potential forestry carbon credit market. This market is expected to greatly expand with the passage of federal “Carbon Cap and Trade” legislation, and standard inventories are routinely required by forest land owners and timberland and lumber companies.

The cause of urban heat islands has been found and that included infrared images of a cut block being radiated after harvesting the lumber.

Removing trees or ground cover has another consideration in thermal regulation of the planet. If you expose the surface of the planet to radiation, we documented 60 to 94 degrees C.

Reflective, white paints, low e finishes, trees and shade eliminated urban heat islands as well as saved energy, lowered emissions immediately, etc.

Look at the 3rd infrared video at the link and see what happens on the inside of a house that becomes an urban heat island. It will shock you as to how framed lumber can get that hot inside a wall. The UN members in Copenhagen are oblivious to urban heat islands close to boiling temperature on the surface of the planet while they try to capture carbon generated treating the symptoms of urban heat islands. The cause will continue to superheat the atmosphere. http://www.thermoguy.com/urbanheat,html