Evaluating forest hurricane damage with AI and lasers

As hurricanes continue to increase in intensity and frequency in the Gulf of Mexico, the risk of damage to homes and businesses continues to rise. Hurricanes can also destroy forests and timber farms, impacting local and regional economies. Getting an accurate assessment of how much timber is damaged by hurricanes is essential for environmental management decisions, salvaging logging operations, tree farms’ insurance estimates and climate change studies. These data help emergency managers and environmental managers make fast, smart decisions in the aftermath of a hurricane. 

University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers are using a combination of remote sensing and artificial intelligence technologies to create pre- and post-hurricane three-dimensional maps of forests. These comprehensive pictures of impacts on forest ecosystems help emergency managers know which areas are most affected by a hurricane and where to prioritize immediate assistance or specialized action at a later time.

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