THERE IS A LARGE UNCERTAINTY REGARDING THE ABOVEGROUND CARBON BALANCE OF TROPICAL FORESTS; IN PARTICULAR THE NET EFFECT OF DISTURBANCE AND SUBSEQUENT REGROWTH. ADDITIONALLY THE VERTICAL STRUCTURE OF FORESTS ACROSS SUCCESSIONAL STATES AS FORESTS RECOVER FROM DISTURBANCE IS POORLY QUANTIFIED. LIGHT DETECTION AND RANGING (LIDAR) TECHNOLOGIES INCREASINGLY ARE USED FOR ABOVEGROUND BIOMASS AND CANOPY HEIGHT ESTIMATION. HOWEVER THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL CANOPY STRUCTURE INFORMATION DERIVABLE FROM LIDAR HAS NOT BEEN FULLY EXPLORED. VERTICAL STRUCTURE SUCH AS FOLIAGE PROFILES POTENTIALLY PROVIDES IMPORTANT INFORMATION THAT CAN BE USED TO BETTER QUANTIFY NOT ONLY BIOMASS AND ITS CHANGES BUT ALSO TO IDENTIFY AND MONITOR THE SUCCESSIONAL STATUS OF FORESTS. ADDITIONALLY THE VERTICAL FOLIAGE DISTRIBUTION COULD REFINE INPUT VARIABLES OF ECOSYSTEM MODELS AND HELP IMPROVE CARBON FLUX ESTIMATES. THE OVERALL GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP AND APPLY METHODS FOR PHYSICALLY-BASED DERIVATION OF LAI PROFILES FROM LIDAR DATA FOR DETERMINING TROPICAL FOREST SUCCESSIONAL STATES AND IMPROVING CARBON FLUX ESTIMATES OF ECOSYSTEM MODELS USING THESE PROFILES. RESULTS FROM THIS RESEARCH SHOULD IMPROVE OUR ABILITY TO DETERMINE THE CARBON SEQUESTRATION POTENTIAL OF DISTURBED AND DEGRADED TROPICAL FORESTS CONTRIBUTION TO NASA EFFORTS TO DEVELOP DATA AND METHODS IN SUPPORT OF CLIMATE TREATY ACTIVITIES SUCH AS REDD+.