Observing the forest canopy with a new ultra-violet compact airborne lidar.

We have developed a new airborne UV lidar for the forest canopy and deployed it in the Landes forest (France). It is the first one that: (i) operates at 355 nm for emitting energetic pulses of 16 mJ at 20 Hz while fulfilling eye-safety regulations and (ii) is flown onboard an ultra-light airplane for enhanced flight flexibility. Laser footprints at ground level were 2.