Collaborative Research: Facility Support to Renew Operation of the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping (NCALM)

0518615 Dietrich也被称为机载光探测和测距（LIDAR），ALSM允许以分米级精度和1米空间分辨率测量表面地形特征。 高分辨率，地理参考，数字高程模型（DEM）从原始ALSM数据处理是至关重要的，观察大量的地貌特征，在规模适当的基本过程，管理他们的地形表达。 例子包括断层结构、山坡、河流地貌、海岸地貌、冰川、火山建筑和植被冠层结构。 从ALSM开发的DEM可用于建模，从而更好地了解这些地貌的动态和形成它们的基本过程。 该技术在土木工程中也有明显的应用。这笔赠款为国家机载激光测绘中心（NCALM）的管理和运作提供了三年的持续支持。 佛罗里达大学（UF; CN-0518962）和加州大学伯克利分校（UC-B; NCALM提供项目规划服务，ALSM飞行和地勤人员操作，数据分析技术支持，以及获得计算资源和软件，以提供给更广泛的地球科学界，高质量，研究级，数字地形数据 NCALM向科学界提供了一个由佛罗里达大学和佛罗里达国际大学共同拥有的Optech 33 kHz ALSM系统，该系统可以在配备GPS设备和惯性测量系统的佛罗里达大学双引擎塞斯纳337飞机上飞行。 NCALM的工作人员还参与：1）开发新的激光测距技术，包括Mhz光子计数ALSM，其工作波长允许水渗透，用于浅海海岸绘图; 2）开发多传感器数据收集和融合的方法和软件; 3）开发ALSM数据集自动分类软件（通过子奖给金融情报）; 4）培训学生在ALSM技术和应用，通过新开发的UF研究生课程在遥感工程; 5）管理种子补助金计划的学生调查员; 6）通过ALSM研讨会和在国家会议上组织ALSM科学会议进行社区宣传。 NCALM由PI管理，并由指导委员会（SC）监督。常设委员会就以下事项提供指导和审查：1）项目的时间安排和优先顺序; 2）中心的成本效益管理; 3）信息传播; 4）技术升级的机会和必要性; 5）与主要计划（PBO、CUASHI、Margins等）的联系和协调。和机构（NASA，FEMA，USGS）。在NCALM存在的头两年，超过17个项目得到了广泛的研究支持，这些研究已经或将包括NCALM ALSM数据收集。 已经飞行或计划飞行的项目包括但不限于：对新英格兰沿海岛屿湿地生态系统动力学的研究;对沿着圣安德烈亚斯断层系统的小尺度断层结构的新构造调查;对阿拉斯加东南部气候、造山过程和侵蚀的相互作用的研究;对加州沿海古滑坡沉积物和频率的调查;以及北卡罗来纳州外海岸屏障海滩动态的季节性研究。***

0518615DietrichAlso known as airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), ALSM allows for the measurement of surface topographic features with decimeter-level accuracies and 1 meter spatial resolution. High resolution, georeferenced, digital elevation models (DEMs) processed from raw ALSM data are critical for observing a multitude of geomorphic features at scales appropriate to the fundamental processes that govern their topographic expression. Examples include, fault structures, hill slopes, riverine features, coastal features, glaciers, volcanic edifices and vegetative canopy structure. DEMs developed from ALSM can be used to model and therefore better understand the dynamics of these landforms and the underlying processes that form them. The technique also has obvious applications in civil engineering. This grant provides three years of continued support for the management and operation of the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping (NCALM). A collaborative effort between the University of Florida (UF; EAR-0518962) and the University of California - Berkeley (UC-B; EAR-0518615), NCALM provides project planning services, ALSM flight and ground crew operations, technical support for data analysis, and access to computational resources and software to make available to the broader geosciences community, high quality, research-grade, digital topographic data. NCALM makes available to the science community, an Optech 33 kHz ALSM system jointly owned by UF and Florida International University (FIU), that can be flown on a UF twin engine Cessna 337 aircraft equipped with GPS equipment and an inertial measurement system. NCALM staff are also involved in: 1) development of new laser ranging technologies including Mhz photon counting ALSM operating at wavelengths that allow water penetration for neritic coastal mapping; 2) developing methods and software for multi-sensor data collection and fusion; 3) developing software for automated classification of ALSM data sets (through a subaward to FIU); 4) training students in ALSM techniques and applications through a newly developed UF graduate program in Geosensing Engineering; 5) administering a seed grant program for student investigators; and 6) community outreach through ALSM workshops and organization of ALSM science sessions at national meetings. NCALM is managed by the PIs and overseen by a steering committee (SC). The SC provides guidance and review on the following: 1) scheduling and prioritizing projects; 2) cost effective management of the Center; 3) information dissemination; 4) opportunities and necessities for technological upgrades; and 5) contact and coordination with major programs (PBO, CUASHI, Margins, etc.) and agencies (NASA, FEMA, USGS). In the first two years of NCALMs existence, over 17 projects have been supported for wide arrange of research that has or will include NCALM ALSM data collects. Projects that have been flown or are scheduled for missions include but are not limited to: studies of wetland ecosystem dynamics on a New England coastal island; neotectonic investigations of fine scale fault structures along the San Andreas fault system; studies of the interaction of climate, orogenic processes and erosion in SE Alaska; investigations of paleolandslide deposits and frequency in coastal California; and studies of the seasonality of barrier beach dynamics in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. ***