A research team led by Professor Kang WanMo of the Department of Forest and Environmental Systems at Kookmin University (President Jeong Seung Ryul), in collaboration with the Urban Biodiversity Conservation Division of the National Sejong Arboretum under the Korea Arboretum and Botanical Garden Service, has developed a technology that uses ground-based LiDAR to non-destructively measure the carbon storage capacity of trees.

Kookmin University and the National Sejong Arboretum have been conducting joint research since signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in September 2024 titled “Technology Development to Enhance Carbon Absorption in Urban Forests.” Following the development last year of a drone LiDAR-based carbon storage prediction model for trees in community gardens, the research team further refined the technology this year to enable more precise measurements of carbon storage in trees within residential areas using ground-based LiDAR.

This study focused on four major tree species planted at the Sejong National Arboretum and in residential gardens: zelkova, metasequoia, pine, and seven-leaf tree. The researchers used ground-based LiDAR equipment to non-contactly measure the height, trunk diameter, branch size, and volume of the trees. They then applied the Quantitative Structure Model (QSM) technique to reconstruct the three-dimensional structure of the trees based on the point cloud data obtained during the measurement process. This allowed them to precisely capture the complex geometric shapes of trunks and branches, non-destructively calculate the volume of individual trees, and determine above-ground biomass and carbon storage with high accuracy.

This technology is significant in that it can be applied to residential gardens and small-scale urban green spaces, which feature complex spatial structures and a diverse range of tree species. It is expected to play a key role in objectively verifying the carbon sequestration effects of green spaces in residential areas, such as arboretums, gardens, and urban forests.

Hwang Se-yeon (a master’s student in the Department of Forest Resources at Kookmin University’s Graduate School), who played a leading role in the research, stated, “Residential gardens have diverse growing environments and management practices, so there were limitations to accurately calculating carbon storage using only existing relative growth models developed for forested areas,” she said. “This study is highly significant in that it has laid the groundwork for automating the process—from tree structure extraction to carbon storage calculation—and applying it to urban green spaces with complex spatial structures and diverse tree form conditions.”

Meanwhile, the methodology and results of this study were published in the *Journal of the Korean Society of Geoinformation Science* in April 2026.

△ (From left) Student Hwang Se-yeon, Professor Kang WanMo, and aerial photography of the National Sejong Arboretum using ground-based LiDAR