OpenTopography Blog

Information and discussion related to high-resolution LiDAR topography for the Earth sciences

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Category: Research

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Call for NCALM Student LiDAR Seed Proposals

Posted on Mon, September 27, 2010 by Chris Crosby in Data • News • Research

The National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping (NCALM) has issued their annual call for proposals to their graduate student seed project program.  This program collects LiDAR data for up to ten graduate student PIs who require data for their research. Data collection is typically limited to 40 km² per project and must be targeted at a basic research question in the Earth sciences.  Email announcement:

The National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping (NCALM), funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), invites proposals from graduate students seeking airborne laser swath mapping (ALSM) observations covering limited areas (no more than 40 square kilometers) for use in research to earn an M.S. or Ph.D. degree.  Proposals must be submitted online.  For background information and complete guidelines for submitting a proposal, please see http://www.ncalm.org.  The deadline date for proposal submission is November 1, 2010.  For more information contact or call 832-842-8881

See http://www.ncalm.cive.uh.edu/content/seedproposals.html for more information

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Report compares LiDAR to aerial and multi-spectral imagery for identifying and mapping active faults

Posted on Wed, September 15, 2010 by Chris Crosby in Publications • Research

Ante Perez at the California Geological Survey recently forwarded me a link to a Final Technical Report they’ve submitted on research conducted with funding from the USGS National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP).  The report, entitled Utility of Combined Aerial Photography and Digital Imagery for Fault Trace Mapping in Diverse Terrain and Vegetation Regimes (project Co-PIs: Jerome A. Treiman, Florante G. Perez, and William A. Bryant, all CGS) compared various types of imagery for mapping and identifying active faults in southern California:

In this study we compared the effectiveness of shaded relief imagery derived from high-resolution LiDAR digital elevation models to standard aerial photography and to digital multi-spectral imagery for identifying and mapping active faults in moderate to sparsely vegetated terrain in southern California. The digital imagery included recently acquired digital stereo imagery. We also compared LiDAR-derived imagery to several combinations of draped or fused digital imagery. Additionally, we looked at the use of accurately georeferenced digital imagery for the accurate registration of interpreted data from older non-registered aerial photography. The study areas spanned varying terrain and geology.

The report is quite comprehensive and offers a nice comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the various types of imagery.  There are also many nice figures that show comparisons of imagery for a single study site, as well as fusions of the the imagery layers.

Among the report’s conclusions is that in areas of relatively sparse vegetation, the LiDAR data is not as useful as imagery due in part to tonal variations that can not be scene in the grey scale LiDAR hillshades:

We found that no single type of imagery could serve as a stand-alone product for fault interpretation, as most image types added some value not found in other imagery. However, stereo imagery (photographic or digital) proved the most useful in the areas evaluated in this study. The lack of tonal distinctions in the LiDAR imagery was a detriment in areas where geomorphic expression was absent, although combination with spectral imagery compensated for this to some small degree.

The B4 LiDAR data used in this study were accessed and gridded using OpenTopography.

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Geoscience Applications of High-Resolution Digital Topography in Arizona

Posted on Sun, August 01, 2010 by Chris Crosby in News • Publications • Research • TLS

The latest edition of the Arizona Geological Survey’s online Arizona Geology magazine has a nice article on recent applications of airborne and terrestrial LiDAR to geoscience research in Arizona written by David Haddad, a graduate student in ASU’s Active Tectonics, Quantitative Structural Geology and Geomorphology research group.  For his MS research, David used LiDAR data from both airborne and terrestrial platforms to characterize the geomorphic settings of precariously balanced rocks in the Granite Dells near Prescott, AZ.  Precariously balanced rocks (PBRs) can be used as negative indicators of strong ground motion caused by earthquakes, and their spatial distribution provides an indication of the intensity of ground shaking in a given location.  For more on PBRs, see David’s other Arizona Geology article: Nature’s Balanced Seismometers.

David’s article provides a nice overview of LiDAR technology, a few nice graphics like the one above, and a good intro to how these data have been applied to his PBR research in Arizona.

Arizona Geology article: High-Resolution Digital Topography in Arizona

Via: Lee Allison’s Arizona Geology blog

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