Mobile laser scanning (MLS) enables rapid, high-resolution measurement of forest structure, yet its reliability for estimating stem volume and aboveground biomass (AGB) in dense plantations and its sensitivity to tree height uncertainty remain insufficiently quantified. This study evaluates handheld MLS for tree-level stem volume and AGB estimation in a mature Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.) plantation in Ireland, using destructive sampling (n = 12) as a reference. MLS-derived diameter measurements were used to reconstruct stem profiles, with merchantable volume calculated by frustum integration to a 7 cm top-end diameter. The central objective was to quantify how uncertainty in tree height propagates through MLS-derived stem reconstruction and affects volume and AGB estimates. On average, 68.2% of merchantable stem volume was directly measured before upper-stem reconstruction. Under ideal validation conditions using true felled-stem height, MLS-derived merchantable volume and total AGB were estimated with RMSE values of 5.6% and 10.9%, respectively. Across practical height-input scenarios, error increased moderately, indicating that direct measurement of the lower stem constrained the propagation of height uncertainty. Compared with the nationally applied spruce allometric benchmark, the MLS-based workflow showed lower sensitivity to height-input uncertainty under the conditions evaluated. These findings demonstrate the potential of handheld MLS as a tree-level validation and calibration tool for measurement-based biomass assessment while highlighting the need for broader testing across stand types, species and operational plot-level workflows.
Dowd et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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