There will be two sessions at the 2009 Fall American Geophysical Union (AGU) Meeting in San Francisco (December 14-18, 2009) specifically targeted at Earth science applications of LiDAR.
One session is focused on terrestrial LiDAR (TLS):
G17: Ground Based Geodetic Techniques and Science Applications
Conveners: Gerald W Bawden- US Geological Survey, Benjamin Brooks - University of Hawaii, David Phillips - UNAVCOGround-based geodesy is a rapidly expanding and evolving technology and because of their portability, relative ease of use, long acquisition ranges, and sub-cm spatial resolution, tools such as terrestrial laser scanners (TLS) and/or ground-based radars (GBR) promise to expand our detailed understanding of the fundamental processes that drive a broad range of spatial (3D) and temporal (4D) science applications. This special session invites contributions that discuss both the technical aspects of the technology and process-based geoscience studies using ground-based geodetic tools such as, but not limited to, TLS and GBR. What are the strengths, weaknesses, and limitations of the technologies? How is the technology being used to address static and dynamic scientific problems? We envision contributions from many disciplines such as natural hazards, geomorphology, structural geology, glaciology, hydrology, snow science, biological science, tectonic, and volcanology.
while the other emphasizes airborne data:
G13: Airborne Geodetic Imaging: Advances in Instrumentation and Methods
Conveners: William Eugene Carter - University of Florida, Ramesh L Shrestha - University of Florida, Mahta Moghaddam - University of MichiganModern airborne geodetic imaging sensors, including airborne laser swath mapping (ALSM), interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR, UAV SAR), multi-band digital photography, and hyperspectral imaging make it possible to collect high resolution (few meters down to sub-meter scales) topographic data over areas of hundreds to thousands of square kilometers, in time periods of hours. The resolution of these geodetic images is sufficient for developing and testing theories pertaining to land surface processes, and are increasingly being used for such other applications as surface-water hydrology, bathymetric mapping, landscape ecology, mapping of wildlife habitats, and forestry research and management. The focus of this session will be on recent advances in geodetic imaging technologies and methods, and more specifically on advances in the state-of-the-art of the instrumentation, operating procedures, processing, and filtering of observations to achieve the highest resolution and accuracy. Also of interest will be presentations focusing on possible improvements to the information content that might be achieved by combining observations from different geodetic imaging sensors (particularly of different resolutions), and combining geodetic imaging data with other types of observations. Presentations reporting scientific results obtained using geodetic images will be welcome, but the emphasis should be on the geodetic aspects of the research as opposed to discoveries more appropriate for presentation in sessions organized under other disciplines.
The AGU abstract submission deadline is September 3rd, 2009, 23:59 EST