RAPID: Collecting Field Data in Support of LiDAR Acquisition During Maximum Snow Conditions and Maximum Leaf Out in the Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory

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This project will provide measurements of snow depth and vegetation characteristics of Boulder Creek watershed in Colorado that will be used to calibrate and validate airborne LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) data acquisition for the Critical Zone Observatories that will take place in May and August. The research team will measure snow conditions on the ground at the time of the LiDAR data acquisition in April-May, since snow conditions change rapidly. In addition, the team will collect control point data so that the two LiDAR flights can be carefully georeferenced, reducing errors in snow pack due to location errors. The team will also measure vegetation characteristics for the full leaf-on flights in late August-early September. The measurements made during the "bare-ground" season will also be used to calculate the snow depths that existed across the watershed during the earlier LiDAR flight.LiDAR is a powerful tool that provides detailed information concerning topography and landform characteristics at high resolution. Having such data available is crucial to the mission of the Critical Zone Observatories, which are exploring the processes in the region of the Earth's surface that important to sustaining life. This project will enable the LiDAR data to be used with extreme accuracy so that processes within the Boulder Creek watershed can be analyzed more effectively. The effort will help train a graduate student in spatial data acquisition, and several undergraduate students in the details of LiDAR processing and surveying.