The Taiwan Forestry Research Institute on Friday announced it had captured an unprecedentedly detailed 3-D digital scan of a 79.1-meter tall cypress tree thought to be the tallest documented in East Asia.
Assistant research fellow Rebecca Hsu (徐嘉君) said the institute had teamed up with researchers from the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) to take detailed lidar scans of the Taoshan Sacred Tree.
The cypress, estimated to be over 1,000 years old, was first discovered in 2019 while the team conducted aerial reconnaissance over Shei-Pa National Park, which covers parts of Taichung, Hsinchu and Miaoli counties.
In early October, institute researchers and a NCKU team led by geomatics professor Wang Chi-kuei (王驥魁) mapped 1.5 billion lidar points over the course of a week using cloud imaging technology, Hsu said.
This was the first time data from a tree had been collected in such detail in Taiwan, adding that a replica could be created using 3D printing should the tree cease to exist due to climate change, she added.
The Taiwanese researchers were joined on the week-long expedition by members of The Tree Projects, a tree-photography organization led by Australia’s award-winning wilderness and adventure photographer Steven Pearce.
Hsu said the Australian team was able to shoot a full-length portrait of the tree, adding that there were only about five to six locations in the world with the right conditions to allow trees to grow over 70 meters tall.
The mission was not the first time The Tree Projects had visited Taiwan.
In 2017, Pearce spent 17 days on the slopes of Qilan Mountain to produce a full-length portrait of a massive conifer as a part of the team’s founding mission to raise awareness of the world’s forests.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel