New Topographic-Bathymetric Lidar Technology for Post-Sandy Mapping

TitleNew Topographic-Bathymetric Lidar Technology for Post-Sandy Mapping
Publication TypeConference Abstract
Year2014
AuthorsAslaksen, M, Parrish, CE
Conference NameCanadian Hydrographic Conference
Conference Dates14-17 April

Hurricane Sandy, one of the costliest storms in U.S. history, made landfall near Brigantine, New Jersey, on October 29, 2012. With storm damage extending over a significant portion of the U.S. East Coast and on both sides of the land-water interface, innovative remote sensing tools and techniques are needed to effectively assess the impacts. Along with private sector and government partners, NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey (NGS) has been investigating new topographic-bathymetric (“topo-bathy”) lidar technology, which offers enhanced capabilities for high-resolution, seamless data acquisition across the backshore, intertidal and shallow nearshore zones. In June and September, 2013, NOAA acquired data with a new Riegl VQ-820-G topo-bathy lidar system in Barnegat Bay, a shallow, lagoonal estuary located along the New Jersey coast, and other areas that experienced extensive damage from Sandy. Lessons learned from these projects were then used in creating a Scope of Work for contracted lidar acquisition in support of the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013. In this paper, we provide a technical overview of new topo-bathy lidar systems and present recent results from the post-Sandy mapping efforts.