What Is Tree Canopy Height?

The tree canopy provides shade for other living organisms, including humans.

Tree canopy height is a computation of how tall the trees are in a given area. Certain trees are measured and their individual heights are added together. This number is divided by the number of trees measured to arrive at an average height.

Features

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has released a map showing the earth's forest canopies and their average height. If a height figure is assigned to a particular canopy, it means at least 90 percent of the trees in that area are that tall or taller. According to this map, the tree canopies of the upper Pacific Northwest and parts of southeast Asia are the tallest in the world.

Function

Measuring tree canopy height is done manually by climbing the tallest trees and using metered poles, using a laser height finder or a clinometer, or performing simple tests using a stick and basic mathematical calculations.

Significance

Scientists are interested in the tree canopy height from an ecological standpoint. Trees store vast amounts of carbon dioxide, and determining how quickly it is released into the atmosphere could provide information on recent changes in global weather patterns.

References

• NASA; First-of-its-Kind Map Depicts Global Forest Heights; July 2010
• Utah State Forestry Extension; Tree Height Measurement; Michael Kuhns; September 24, 2003
• USDA; Five Instruments for Measuring Tree Height; Michael S. Williams, et al; 1994