SPRUCE Terrestrial Laser Scans of Experimental Plots Beginning in 2015

This data set comprises terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) point clouds from the SPRUCE experimental plots located in the S1-Bog of the Marcell Experimental Forest (MEF) near Grand Rapids, Minnesota. In 2015 and 2020 the 12 experimental SPRUCE plots were scanned near peak foliage. In 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021 the 12 plots were scanned prior to green up and once near peak foliage (Table 1). Additional data will be added through summer 2023. A RIEGL VZ-1000 unit was used to collect all scans. Four TLS scans in each plot were registered to produce a single point cloud per plot using RiSCAN PRO v2.3 software. Up to six additional scans were registered to account for data occlusion when necessary. Point clouds are saved in LAS (.las) 1.2 format. Point clouds were geo-registered to surveyed plot locations. There are 156 *.las files provided with this dataset. A free, open source, and easy to use software for visualization (Figure 1) and processing of point clouds (CloudCompare, v2.12.3, 2022) can be found at http://www.cloudcompare.org.