OT Blog
Information and discussion related to high-resolution lidar topography for the Earth sciences
Apr 13, 2011
Via Joe Wheaton at Utah State comes this announcement on an upcoming workshop he'll be leading on using repeat topographic data to detect geomorphic change. Joe has been leading the development of the Geomorphic Change Detection (GCD) software package and has spent a lot of time thinking about uncertainties in digital elevation models and how those uncertainties impact the ability to detect real geomorphic change between surveys. The workshop is offered as part of the Stream Restoration course series offered by USU.
Restoration Monitoring: Geomorphic Change Detection Workshop
May 12-13,... more
Mar 9, 2011
A relatively common question from OpenTopography users is how they can filter or classify a lidar dataset that was delivered by the data provider without ground (bare earth) returns differentiated from vegetation returns. The B4 lidar dataset, which covers the southern San Andreas and San Jacinto faults is a good example of a dataset where the lack of classification can be problematic for users, especially those working at higher elevations where vegetation can be dense. In other cases, the classification was done hastily or not as well as a user would like, and thus re-classification is... more
Feb 14, 2011
This well done ~10 minute video from Oregon Public Broadcasting's Field Guide does an excellent job of highlighting the various earth science applications for the lidar data being collected by the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries' (DOGAMI) Lidar Consortium. The video features DOGAMI's Ian Madin talking about applications for bare earth lidar data, including identifying and mapping Missoula Flood deposits, landslides, and volcanic cones. The video also offers a nice overview of lidar data collection, with footage from inside Watershed Science's aircraft. More information... more
Feb 10, 2011
Erin Dimaggio, an ASU grad student working in part with OT Co-I Ramon Arrowsmith, has just announced an education and outreach project - SciNews - that she is working on as part of her ASU/NASA Space Grant. SciNews provides "middle and high school teachers timely, pre-packaged lessons on a science current event (such as an oil spill, earthquake, or shuttle launch) that are short (~15 min), easy to implement, and align to state standards". Although not directly related to lidar, SciNews is a resource that is likely of interest to the many geoscience educators who come to OT looking for data... more
Jan 11, 2011
The USGS has released a beautiful poster of Mount St. Helens created from high-resolution LiDAR topography data. The poster is USGS General Information Product 116 and is freely available for download in PDF format at either 17x22 inches or 32x42 inches.
Citation:
Queija, V.R., 2010, Mount St. Helens lidar: U.S. Geological Survey General Information Product 116, 1 p.
Dec 21, 2010
Now that the 2010 AGU meeting is over, it is time to start thinking about the 2011 European Geoscience Union General Assembly in Vienna, Austria, April 3-8, 2011. The EGU abstract submission deadline is January 10th, 2011.
In addition to the Digital Landscapes: Quantitative Interrogation... more
Nov 30, 2010
Via Paolo Tarolli, an announcement about a session at this year's European Geoscience Union Meeting in Vienna. The session emphasizes analysis techniques for high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) of Earth, seafloor or planetary landscapes:
Dear colleagues,
we would like to draw your attention to the session GM2.4/NH10.3/PS10.2 "Digital Landscapes: Quantitative Interrogation... more
Nov 23, 2010
Earlier this month a National Research Council report entitled Precise Geodetic Infrastructure: National Requirements for a Shared Resource was published via the National Academies Press. The report, authored by the National Research Council's Committee on the National Requirements for Precision Geodetic Infrastructure and the Committee on Seismology and Geodynamics, is freely available in PDF format.
The emphasis of the report is on:
Recognizing the growing reliance of a wide range of scientific and societal endeavors on infrastructure for precise geodesy, and recognizing geodetic... more
Oct 5, 2010
A NOAA expedition that concluded this past Sunday focused on mapping the offshore extent of the San Andreas fault at high-resolution. Using sonar mapping and other imaging and geophysical technologies, the NOAA-funded group, led by Chris Goldfinger from Oregon State University, is building a 3D model of the fault that they hope will reveal information about earthquake behavior as well as the role of the fault in undersea life:
While the fault on land is obscured by erosion, vegetation and urbanization in many places, scientists expect the subsea portion of the fault to include deep rifts... more
Sep 27, 2010
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)... more