Voulez-vous “Do you want…” To Fight Climate Change?
Ghana, Africa 2023, A new study unveils 3D-printed HyperSpectral Fluorescence Lidar (HSFL), a lightweight and cost-effective technology poised to revolutionize remote vegetation monitoring, especially within emerging economies in Sub-Saharan Africa. An international team of researchers from Lund University and University of Cape Coast demonstrates the HSFL’s ability to identify fluorescence signatures of key local crops with implications for both fighting climate change and ensuring food security.
The reflected and fluorescent light spectra of a plants, particularly the shape and position of the red edge, provides data on chlorophyll photosynthesis efficiency and carbon assimilation.
The team’s 2022 paper Remote Vegetation Diagnostics in Ghana with a Hyperspectral Fluorescence Lidar, is open access. Their innovation was to build a single instrument with practicality for the jungle. It can simultaneously acquire hyperspectral data of vegetation fluorescence and canopy structure with perfect spatial overlap. They demonstrate simultaneous range and fluorescence measurements of forest canopy, conducted in full sunlight. Results indicate that the upper side of the leaves shows a more substantial deviation for stressed plants, while the lower side shows greater contrast for plant species. This new and simple tool provides a combined method for hyperspectral classification and assessment of the physiological state while also reporting the vegetation height over ground and its diversity.
And what soundtrack pairs best with a Swedish-Ghana study of the future of vegetation monitoring? Voulez-vous by ABBA. “People everywhere – there’s a sense of expectation hanging in the air. Giving out a spark” – which is then detected by the CMOS imager and the fluorescence signature is interpreted for data on water content, nitrogen levels, and plant vitality. The proof is here – be sure to like and subscribe. Also, be thankful that the story of the study doesn’t take the whole length of ABBA’s extended dance version of Voulez-vous!
Media Contact Details: Kristen Amoroso
IEEE Photonics Society
445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854
k.amoroso@ieee.org
