Forest vertical structure is the most complex of all vegetation parameters which describes the vertical distributing characteristic of vegetation community. The forest vertical structure not only affects the contribution of vegetation components for canopy reflectance

but also constrains the extraction accuracy of forest characteristic parameters. It also has significance influences on land surface process. With the development of remote sensing technology

forestry remote sensing developed from early forest classification mapping to quantitative retrieval of forest characteristics parameters. At present

the forest parameters that retrieved from remote sensing data include leaf area index

forest biomass

concentrations of chlorophyll and carbon storage. These parameters mainly describe the forest biochemical characteristics and horizontal structures. There are few researches on the forest vertical parameters inversion. This paper firstly focuses on two parameters of Leaf Area Density （ LAD） at different heights and vertical Canopy Height Profiles （ CHP） which describes the forest vertical structure in remote sensing

and summarizes their extracting methods based on remote sensing technology. Secondly several vertical profiles of typical vegetation types are collected. Finally

issues in the forest vertical structure parameter extraction are discussed

and the new research directions in this area are suggested.