14 May 2012 | ECHO Journal

By Robert Booty
Radar Imaging for
Tree Risk Management
ECHO Journal | May 2012 15
A
s you are traveling home one
evening, you notice a consistent
dull pain in your lower back. As the
weeks pass the pain intensifies and
you become increasingly concerned.
You visit your family physician, and
after an examination he explains to
you your options to determine the
source of your pain. He describes
how exploratory surgery could pro-
vide him with some answers. But he
also describes other options includ-
ing non-invasive ones such as ultra
sound, MRI (electromagnetic imag-
ing) or an x ray. Knowing that com-
plications can develop using
exploratory surgery, the physician
doesnt take any chances and orders
an MRI scan on your lower back.
Trees are somewhat like people;
at some time during their life they
too will develop internal problems
that are not always able to be seen
just by an exterior examination.
Arborists have used all sorts of methods to
determine the internal structural condition
of a tree and its potential risk to a property.
Some of these methods were very invasive,
such as taking core samples, drilling or even
cutting away decay within a cavity. Those
were the standard methods used at one time,
and some continue to be used today. Theres
reason to believe that the term Tree
Surgeon may have been coined as a result of
these invasive procedures.
The Value of using Non-Invasive Testing
Methods for Tree Risk Management
What benefit is there in using non-invasive
diagnostic procedures with trees? Trees can
be adversely affected by the methods used to
evaluate their health especially using invasive
diagnostic procedures that penetrate the
outer bark.
The establishment of decay
1
in living trees
is affected by urban environmental stresses
that range from a general weakening of a
trees natural defense system to injuries that
allows wood-rotting agents to gain entry
through wounds. Trees have an internal pro-
tection system that uses a series of four inter-
nal walls, all beautifully designed to block the
spread of disease causing pathogens within
the tree. Its referred to as CODIT, an acro -
nym for Compartmen tali za tion of Decay in
Trees.
However when invasive testing methods
such as drilling are used, these four protec-
tive walls can be pierced by the drill bit,
allowing decay pathogens that at one time
may have been localized or contained to
spread throughout the tree. One concern
many people have always had with these test-
ing methods is the many holes being drilled
into a tree that one is trying to save.
When performing tree risk assessments,
knowing the internal structural condition of
a tree is only one part, but a very vital part, of
the process. If this internal data could be col-
lected without drilling or using other invasive
methods, and you could just walk away with
your data as if you were never there, then it
would be a win-win situation for the tree
under evaluation.
Use of Radar Technology
Today technology has advanced to the
point that this non-invasive type of data col-
lection is possible. It is being accomplished
by using ground penetrating radar that does
not harm the tree being evaluated. The use
of radar imaging on trees creates the same
type of high- resolution, non-invasive image
that a medical professional would utilize in
his diagnosis with his patient using MRI
imagery. This is the very latest method to
16 May 2012 | ECHO Journal
1 Nicolitti, Gonthier, Guglielmo, and Garbelotto, A
Biomolecular Method for the Detection of Wood
Decay Fungi: A Focus on Tree Stability
Assessment. Arboriculture & Urban Forestry,
Scientific Journal of the International Society of
Arboriculture. 2009.
Figure 1 Tree Trunk Inspection Procedure
ECHO Journal | May 2012 17
safely evaluate the internal structure of a tree
without invasion of the tree itself. Having the
ability to create and see an internal image of
a tree and then to identify any hidden inter-
nal problems fills a critical gap in tree
preservation.
How Does Radar Work?
Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) is an
established technique that has been used
worldwide for over 40 years. Radar is an
object-detection system that uses electromag-
netic wavesspecifically radio wavesto
identify the range, altitude, direction, or
speed of both moving and fixed objects. Its
uses today seem endless. When you look at
the weather report, you are looking at
Doppler weather radar that tells you where
the heaviest amounts of rain will fall in your
area. The radar, as it passes through the
clouds, measures the density of the moisture
in them and the speed they are traveling so
you can know approximately when it will start
raining and how much rain will fall. Radar is
used in aviation, automobiles, law enforce-
ment, and locating objects below ground.
When an electromagnetic wave
2
emitted
from a small surface transmit antenna
encounters a boundary between objects with
different electromagnetic properties, it will
reflect, refract and diffract from the bound-
ary in a predictable manner. Radar waves or
signals are reflected especially well by materi-
als of considerable electrical conductivity.
The radar signals that are reflected back
towards the transmitter are the desirable
ones that make radar work. An air-filled tree
trunk (decayed hollow) or partially air-filled
incipient decay zone (early stage) inside a
cell wall of a tree are excellent reflectors for
detection by GPR systems. Use of GPR instru-
mentation for internal tree trunk decay
detection is one of its latest uses in the field
of tree risk assessment.
How does radar imaging distinguish
between decayed and healthy wood? Wood
decay fungi
3
decompose lignified cell walls
in living wood tissue by using enzymatic and
non-enzymatic systems. This decay creates a
microscopically detectable hollow or void
within the cell walls of the wood, thereby
reducing normal wood strength. Radar imag-
ing can identify these small changes (voids)
in the wood composition. It is the loss of the
W
COMPASS
M A N A G E M E N T G R O U P
Guiding your HOA
in the right direction
2 Daniels, D.J. 1996. Surface-Penetrating Radar.
The Institute of Electrical Engineers, ISBN 0-85296-
862-0.
3 Nicolitti et al., Ibid.
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18 May 2012 | ECHO Journal
woods mechanical strength caused by these
organisms that is inherently linked to haz-
ardous situations, often resulting in signifi-
cant damage to property or injuries.
Radar imaging is one of the latest forensic
technologies used for wood decay analyses;
its sensitivity to hollows, internal cracks or
voids enables it to detect and create an image
of these small internal changes in wood
density and composition. Incipient or early-
stage decay is the very beginning of the
biodegradation process of living wood tissue
by decay causing pathogens; radar imaging
can detect these early changes.
Using the trunk inspection diagram in
Figure 1, you can see the radar antenna is
slowly moved around the circumference of
the tree. As it travels it sends out radar waves
every two-tenths of an inch; with no obstruc-
tions these waves penetrate to the center of
the tree as the antenna is moved around the
trunk.
The radar waves in turn are reflected back
to the antenna or receiver if decay is encoun-
tered anywhere within the tree. The presence
of sometimes hundreds of these reflected
radar waves creates an internal image of the
compromised area that was found inside the
tree, measuring the density of the wood and
indicating the level of severity of the newly
discovered decay.
In the process the remaining solid healthy
wood is identified and displayed to the tech-
nician and measured in inches. The trained
arborist, knowing the diameter of the whole
tree section being scanned, can use this
resulting image data to determine if the
internal decay is sufficient to warrant further
concern or action.
The Finished Product, A Case Study
This is a live oak tree about 100 years old
in front of a hospital. The concern was the
open cavities and the general decline in the
health of the tree. Since this area is open to
the public, hospital management wanted to
know their liabilities without further damag-
ing the tree. The radar scan provided infor-
mation needed to preserve the tree, with con-
tinued monitoring of the early stage decay.
The photograph (Figure 2) shows the
completed scan locations on the oak tree as
provided to the client. The gray areas on the
radar images indicate where the radar anten-
na lost contact with the bark surface; no data
was collected in these areas. The remaining
outer solid wood is 7.4 inches in the lower
two scans and 7.7 inches at the seven foot ele-
vation. All scan locations contain early-stage
decay developing through out the center of
the tree. The orange areas on the cross sec-
tional images indicate areas of advanced
decay.
Figure 2 Trunk Inspection of Case Study
The figure shows the locations of cross-sectional radar images of the oak tree at different elevations on
the trunk. Decay is indicated by red (near surface) and orange (advanced) areas on the scans.
Color Key for Radar Images
Sound Wood
Near Surface Decay
Advanced Decay
Incipient (Early-Stage) Decay
Surface Crack or Benign Reflector
Cross Sectional
Radar Image
44-inch Trunk Diameter
Cross Sectional
Radar Image
40-inch Trunk Diameter
Cross Sectional
Radar Image
40-inch Trunk Diameter
Partial
Scan
7 foot elevation
35 inch elevation
16 inch elevation
Evaluation Without Compromising
Tree Health
Today arborists have multiple options
when making tree risk assessments, but most
importantly there are tools available that will
not harm the tree under inspection. While
radar imaging does not create a picture of
the inside of a tree, it does yield an image or
likeness that allows for reasonable decisions
to be made regarding the future health of
the tree.
What does all this mean for homeowner
associations and planned communities that
may have hundreds of trees on their com-
mon areas without knowing which ones have
the highest risk of failure? It means that trees
that are very valuable to your community and
irreplaceable can be safely evaluated for the
risk they may pose, without compromising
their health in the process. This equates to
tree preservation for your community and
the retention of real property values.
Trees can be safely
evaluated for the risk
they may pose without
compromising health.
The use of ground penetrating radar has
opened up other doors recently in the field
of arboriculture. One that has also become
valuable in the area of tree protection is
below ground root mapping. How many trees
are irreparably damaged every year because
irrigation trenches are cut across their roots
unknowingly? Is that tree root causing that
damage to an associations sidewalks or drive-
way?
You didnt know in the past unless you
excavated! Now ground penetrating radar is
being used to locate and map tree roots
below ground non-invasively, without remov-
ing the concrete or digging up those roots
just to see if they are the nasty ones really
damaging the property. Watch for a future
article about locating and mapping below
ground roots, using ground penetrating
radar.
Robert Booty is a consultant at Arborist OnSite
Horticultural Consulting Inc. He is a Registered
Consulting Arborist and an ISA Certified Arborist.
You can reach him at Robert@arboristonsite.com.
ECHO Journal | May 2012 19