Airborne Doppler Wind Lidar Post Data Processing Software DAPS-LV

Science.gov (United States)

Beyon, Jeffrey Y. (Inventor); Koch, Grady J. (Inventor); Kavaya, Michael J. (Inventor)

2015-01-01

Systems, methods, and devices of the present invention enable post processing of airborne Doppler wind LIDAR data. In an embodiment, airborne Doppler wind LIDAR data software written in LabVIEW may be provided and may run two versions of different airborne wind profiling algorithms. A first algorithm may be the Airborne Wind Profiling Algorithm for Doppler Wind LIDAR ("APOLO") using airborne wind LIDAR data from two orthogonal directions to estimate wind parameters, and a second algorithm may be a five direction based method using pseudo inverse functions to estimate wind parameters. The various embodiments may enable wind profiles to be compared using different algorithms, may enable wind profile data for long haul color displays to be generated, may display long haul color displays, and/or may enable archiving of data at user-selectable altitudes over a long observation period for data distribution and population.

High resolution wind turbine wake measurements with a scanning lidar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Herges, T. G.; Maniaci, D. C.; Naughton, B. T.

2017-01-01

High-resolution lidar wake measurements are part of an ongoing field campaign being conducted at the Scaled Wind Farm Technology facility by Sandia National Laboratories and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory using a customized scanning lidar from the Technical University of Denmark. One...

Re-Normalization Method of Doppler Lidar Signal for Error Reduction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Nakgyu; Baik, Sunghoon; Park, Seungkyu; Kim, Donglyul [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Dukhyeon [Hanbat National Univ., Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2014-05-15

In this paper, we presented a re-normalization method for the fluctuations of Doppler signals from the various noises mainly due to the frequency locking error for a Doppler lidar system. For the Doppler lidar system, we used an injection-seeded pulsed Nd:YAG laser as the transmitter and an iodine filter as the Doppler frequency discriminator. For the Doppler frequency shift measurement, the transmission ratio using the injection-seeded laser is locked to stabilize the frequency. If the frequency locking system is not perfect, the Doppler signal has some error due to the frequency locking error. The re-normalization process of the Doppler signals was performed to reduce this error using an additional laser beam to an Iodine cell. We confirmed that the renormalized Doppler signal shows the stable experimental data much more than that of the averaged Doppler signal using our calibration method, the reduced standard deviation was 4.838 Χ 10{sup -3}.

Coherent Doppler lidar for automated space vehicle rendezvous, stationkeeping and capture

Science.gov (United States)

Bilbro, James A.

1991-01-01

The inherent spatial resolution of laser radar makes ladar or lidar an attractive candidate for Automated Rendezvous and Capture application. Previous applications were based on incoherent lidar techniques, requiring retro-reflectors on the target vehicle. Technology improvements (reduced size, no cryogenic cooling requirement) have greatly enhanced the construction of coherent lidar systems. Coherent lidar permits the acquisition of non-cooperative targets at ranges that are limited by the detection capability rather than by the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) requirements. The sensor can provide translational state information (range, velocity, and angle) by direct measurement and, when used with any array detector, also can provide attitude information by Doppler imaging techniques. Identification of the target is accomplished by scanning with a high pulse repetition frequency (dependent on the SNR). The system performance is independent of range and should not be constrained by sun angle. An initial effort to characterize a multi-element detection system has resulted in a system that is expected to work to a minimum range of 1 meter. The system size, weight and power requirements are dependent on the operating range; 10 km range requires a diameter of 3 centimeters with overall size at 3 x 3 x 15 to 30 cm, while 100 km range requires a 30 cm diameter.

Wind turbine wake visualization and characteristics analysis by Doppler lidar.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Songhua; Liu, Bingyi; Liu, Jintao; Zhai, Xiaochun; Feng, Changzhong; Wang, Guining; Zhang, Hongwei; Yin, Jiaping; Wang, Xitao; Li, Rongzhong; Gallacher, Daniel

2016-05-16

Wind power generation is growing fast as one of the most promising renewable energy sources that can serve as an alternative to fossil fuel-generated electricity. When the wind turbine generator (WTG) extracts power from the wind, the wake evolves and leads to a considerable reduction in the efficiency of the actual power generation. Furthermore, the wake effect can lead to the increase of turbulence induced fatigue loads that reduce the life time of WTGs. In this work, a pulsed coherent Doppler lidar (PCDL) has been developed and deployed to visualize wind turbine wakes and to characterize the geometry and dynamics of wakes. As compared with the commercial off-the-shelf coherent lidars, the PCDL in this work has higher updating rate of 4 Hz and variable physical spatial resolution from 15 to 60 m, which improves its capability to observation the instantaneous turbulent wind field. The wind speed estimation method from the arc scan technique was evaluated in comparison with wind mast measurements. Field experiments were performed to study the turbulent wind field in the vicinity of operating WTGs in the onshore and offshore wind parks from 2013 to 2015. Techniques based on a single and a dual Doppler lidar were employed for elucidating main features of turbine wakes, including wind velocity deficit, wake dimension, velocity profile, 2D wind vector with resolution of 10 m, turbulence dissipation rate and turbulence intensity under different conditions of surface roughness. The paper shows that the PCDL is a practical tool for wind energy research and will provide a significant basis for wind farm site selection, design and optimization.

Individual tree detection based on densities of high points of high resolution airborne lidar

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Abd Rahman, M.Z.; Gorte, B.G.H.

2008-01-01

The retrieval of individual tree location from Airborne LiDAR has focused largely on utilizing canopy height. However, high resolution Airborne LiDAR offers another source of information for tree detection. This paper presents a new method for tree detection based on high points’ densities from a

A demonstrator for an incoherent Doppler wind lidar receiver

Science.gov (United States)

Fabre, F.; Marini, A.; Sidler, Thomas C.; Morancais, Didier; Fongy, G.; Vidal, Ph.

2018-04-01

The knowledge of wind fields for a global terrestrial coverage and accurate altitude sampling is one of the main keys for improvement of meteorological predictions and general understanding of atmosphere behaviour. The best way to recover this information is remote sensing from space using low Earth orbit satellites. The measurement principle is to analyse the Doppler shift of the flux emitted by the space instrument and backscattered by the atmosphere. One of the most promising principle for Doppler shift measurement is the direct detection which does not need local oscillators. what significantly simplifies the design of such a space-borne receiver. ESA-ESTEC initiated at early 95' a programme called "lncoherent Doppler Wind Lidar (IDWL) technologies" for the study and bread-boarding phase. MMS won this contract proposing an original concept based on the use of a Fizeau high resolution interferometer working in the UV band. coupled with an intensified CCD. This concept is patented by MMS, as well as the special CCD timing sequence that will be depicted below. The programme begun by a study of the space-borne instrument in order to identify main constraints and define the receiver as could be for a flight model. A detailed performance model was established and parametric analysis allowed to optimise the concept in order to reach required performances. This study phase finally provided the definition of a bread-board for expected performances demonstration. Moreover, the Laser Signal Simulator (LSS) which is used to simulate the Lidar echo in term of amplitude as well as frequency modulation was defined at this step. The performances of this test support equipment are of main importance for the validation of the demonstrator design and performances. The second part of the study aimed at defining the derailed design of the demonstrator and associated test support equipment as well as initiating preliminary validation experiments on most critical technologies, like

Augmented Reality Based Doppler Lidar Data Visualization: Promises and Challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Cherukuru, N. W.; Calhoun, R.

2016-06-01

Augmented reality (AR) is a technology in which the enables the user to view virtual content as if it existed in real world. We are exploring the possibility of using this technology to view radial velocities or processed wind vectors from a Doppler wind lidar, thus giving the user an ability to see the wind in a literal sense. This approach could find possible applications in aviation safety, atmospheric data visualization as well as in weather education and public outreach. As a proof of concept, we used the lidar data from a recent field campaign and developed a smartphone application to view the lidar scan in augmented reality. In this paper, we give a brief methodology of this feasibility study, present the challenges and promises of using AR technology in conjunction with Doppler wind lidars.

Augmented Reality Based Doppler Lidar Data Visualization: Promises and Challenges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cherukuru N. W.

2016-01-01

As a proof of concept, we used the lidar data from a recent field campaign and developed a smartphone application to view the lidar scan in augmented reality. In this paper, we give a brief methodology of this feasibility study, present the challenges and promises of using AR technology in conjunction with Doppler wind lidars.

Validating the WRF-Chem model for wind energy applications using High Resolution Doppler Lidar data from a Utah 2012 field campaign

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, M. J.; Pichugina, Y. L.; Banta, R. M.

2015-12-01

Models are important tools for assessing potential of wind energy sites, but the accuracy of these projections has not been properly validated. In this study, High Resolution Doppler Lidar (HRDL) data obtained with high temporal and spatial resolution at heights of modern turbine rotors were compared to output from the WRF-chem model in order to help improve the performance of the model in producing accurate wind forecasts for the industry. HRDL data were collected from January 23-March 1, 2012 during the Uintah Basin Winter Ozone Study (UBWOS) field campaign. A model validation method was based on the qualitative comparison of the wind field images, time-series analysis and statistical analysis of the observed and modeled wind speed and direction, both for case studies and for the whole experiment. To compare the WRF-chem model output to the HRDL observations, the model heights and forecast times were interpolated to match the observed times and heights. Then, time-height cross-sections of the HRDL and WRF-Chem wind speed and directions were plotted to select case studies. Cross-sections of the differences between the observed and forecasted wind speed and directions were also plotted to visually analyze the model performance in different wind flow conditions. A statistical analysis includes the calculation of vertical profiles and time series of bias, correlation coefficient, root mean squared error, and coefficient of determination between two datasets. The results from this analysis reveals where and when the model typically struggles in forecasting winds at heights of modern turbine rotors so that in the future the model can be improved for the industry.

Doppler Wind Lidar Measurements and Scalability to Space

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Global measurements of wind speed and direction from Doppler wind lidars, if available, would significantly improve forecasting of severe weather events such as...

Eye-safe diode laser Doppler lidar with a MEMS beam-scanner

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hu, Qi; Pedersen, Christian; Rodrigo, Peter John

2016-01-01

We present a novel Doppler lidar that employs a cw diode laser operating at 1.5 μm and a micro-electro-mechanical-system scanning mirror (MEMS-SM). In this work, two functionalities of the lidar system are demonstrated. Firstly, we describe the capability to effectively steer the lidar probe beam...

High resolution humidity, temperature and aerosol profiling with MeteoSwiss Raman lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Dinoev, Todor; Arshinov, Yuri; Bobrovnikov, Sergei; Serikov, Ilya; Calpini, Bertrand; van den Bergh, Hubert; Parlange, Marc B.; Simeonov, Valentin

2010-05-01

Meteorological services rely, in part, on numerical weather prediction (NWP). Twice a day radiosonde observations of water vapor provide the required data for assimilation but this time resolution is insufficient to resolve certain meteorological phenomena. High time resolution temperature profiles from microwave radiometers are available as well but have rather low vertical resolution. The Raman LIDARs are able to provide temperature and humidity profiles with high time and range resolution, suitable for NWP model assimilation and validation. They are as well indispensible tools for continuous aerosol profiling for high resolution atmospheric boundary layer studies. To improve the database available for direct meteorological applications the Swiss meteo-service (MeteoSwiss), the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) initiated a project to design and build an automated Raman lidar for day and night vertical profiling of tropospheric water vapor with the possibility to further upgrade it with an aerosol and temperature channels. The project was initiated in 2004 and RALMO (Raman Lidar for meteorological observations) was inaugurated in August 2008 at MeteoSwiss aerological station at Payerne. RALMO is currently operational and continuously profiles water vapor mixing ratio, aerosol backscatter ratio and aerosol extinction. The instrument is a fully automated, self-contained, eye-safe Raman lidar operated at 355 nm. Narrow field-of-view multi-telescope receiver and narrow band detection allow day and night-time vertical profiling of the atmospheric humidity. The rotational-vibrational Raman lidar responses from water vapor and nitrogen are spectrally separated by a high-throughput fiber coupled diffraction grating polychromator. The elastic backscatter and pure-rotational Raman lidar responses (PRR) from oxygen and nitrogen are spectrally isolated by a double grating polychromator and are used to

Wind field measurement in the nonprecipitous regions surrounding storms by an airborne pulsed Doppler lidar system, appendix A

Science.gov (United States)

Bilbro, J. W.; Vaughan, W. W.

1980-01-01

Coherent Doppler lidar appears to hold great promise in contributing to the basic store of knowledge concerning flow field characteristics in the nonprecipitous regions surrounding severe storms. The Doppler lidar, through its ability to measure clear air returns, augments the conventional Doppler radar system, which is most useful in the precipitous regions of the storm. A brief description of the Doppler lidar severe storm measurement system is provided along with the technique to be used in performing the flow field measurements. The application of the lidar is addressed, and the planned measurement program is outlined.

Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) for a future Doppler Wind Lidar satellite in Japan:

Science.gov (United States)

Baron, Philippe; Ishii, Shoken; Okamoto, Kozo

2017-04-01

A feasibility study of tropospheric wind measurements by a coherent Doppler lidar aboard a super-low-altitude satellite is being conducted in Japan. We consider a coherent lidar with a laser light source at 2.05 μm whose characteristics correspond to an existing ground-based instrument (power=3.75 W, PRF=30 Hz and pulse width=200 ns). An Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) has been implemented based on the Sensitivity Observing System experiment (SOSE) developed at the Japanese Meteorological-Research-Institute using the Japan Meteorological Agency global Numerical Weather Prediction model. The measurement simulator uses wind, aerosol and cloud 3-d global fields from the OSSE speudo-truth and the aerosol model MASINGAR. In this presentation, we will first discuss the measurement performances. Considering measurement horizontal resolutions of 100 km along the orbit track, we found that below 3 km, the median horizontal wind error is between 0.8-1 m/s for a vertical resolution of 0.5 km, and that near 50% of the data are valid measurements. Decreasing the vertical resolution to 1 km allows us to maintain similar performances up to 8 km almost over most latitudes. Above, the performances significantly fall down but a relatively good percentage of valid measurements (20-40%) are still found near the tropics where cirrus clouds frequently occur. The potential of the instrument to improve weather prediction models will be discussed using the OSSE results obtained for both polar and low inclination orbit satellites. The first results show positive improvements of short-term forecasts (Meteor. Soc. Japan, 2016 P. Baron et al., "Feasibility study for future space-borne coherent Doppler wind lidar, Part 2: Measurement simulation algorithms and retrieval error characterization", submitted to J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 2016.

Development of semiconductor laser based Doppler lidars for wind-sensing applications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rodrigo, Peter John; Hu, Qi; Pedersen, Christian

2015-01-01

We summarize the progress we have made in the development of semiconductor laser (SL) based Doppler lidar systems for remote wind speed and direction measurements. The SL emitter used in our wind-sensing lidar is an integrated diode laser with a tapered (semiconductor) amplifier. The laser source...

Coastal and tidal landform detection from high resolution topobathymetric LiDAR data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Mikkel S.; Al-Hamdani, Zyad K.; Steinbacher, Frank

-resolution mapping of these land-water transition zones. We have carried out topobathymetric LiDAR surveys in the Knudedyb tidal inlet system, a coastal environment in the Danish Wadden Sea which is part of the Wadden Sea National Park and UNESCO World Heritage. Detailed digital elevation models (DEMs) with a grid...... to tides. Furthermore, we demonstrate the potential of morphometric analysis on high-resolution topobathymetric LiDAR data for automatic identification, characterisation and classification of different landforms present in coastal land-water transition zones. Acknowledgements This work was funded...

Doppler Lidar Wind Value-Added Product

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Newsom, R. K. [DOE ARM Climate Research Facility, Washington, DC (United States); Sivaraman, C. [DOE ARM Climate Research Facility, Washington, DC (United States); Shippert, T. R. [DOE ARM Climate Research Facility, Washington, DC (United States); Riihimaki, L. D. [DOE ARM Climate Research Facility, Washington, DC (United States)

2015-07-01

Wind speed and direction, together with pressure, temperature, and relative humidity, are the most fundamental atmospheric state parameters. Accurate measurement of these parameters is crucial for numerical weather prediction. Vertically resolved wind measurements in the atmospheric boundary layer are particularly important for modeling pollutant and aerosol transport. Raw data from a scanning coherent Doppler lidar system can be processed to generate accurate height-resolved measurements of wind speed and direction in the atmospheric boundary layer.

Aircraft micro-doppler feature extraction from high range resolution profiles

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Berndt, RJ

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The use of high range resolution measurements and the micro-Doppler effect produced by rotating or vibrating parts of a target has been well documented. This paper presents a technique for extracting features related to helicopter rotors...

Hyper-resolution urban flood modeling using high-resolution radar precipitation and LiDAR data

Science.gov (United States)

Noh, S. J.; Lee, S.; Lee, J.; Seo, D. J.

2016-12-01

Floods occur most frequently among all natural hazards, often causing widespread economic damage and loss of human lives. In particular, urban flooding is becoming increasingly costly and difficult to manage with a greater concentration of population and assets in urban centers. Despite of known benefits for accurate representation of small scale features and flow interaction among different flow domains, which have significant impact on flood propagation, high-resolution modeling has not been fully utilized due to expensive computation and various uncertainties from model structure, input and parameters. In this study, we assess the potential of hyper-resolution hydrologic-hydraulic modeling using high-resolution radar precipitation and LiDAR data for improved urban flood prediction and hazard mapping. We describe a hyper-resolution 1D-2D coupled urban flood model for pipe and surface flows and evaluate the accuracy of the street-level inundation information produced. For detailed geometric representation of urban areas and for computational efficiency, we use 1 m-resolution topographical data, processed from LiDAR measurements, in conjunction with adaptive mesh refinement. For street-level simulation in large urban areas at grid sizes of 1 to 10 m, a hybrid parallel computing scheme using MPI and openMP is also implemented in a high-performance computing system. The modeling approach developed is applied for the Johnson Creek Catchment ( 40 km2), which makes up the Arlington Urban Hydroinformatics Testbed. In addition, discussion will be given on availability of hyper-resolution simulation archive for improved real-time flood mapping.

Simulation study on detection performance of eye-safe coherent Doppler wind lidar operating near 1.6 μm

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Han; Wang, Qing; Na, Quanxin; Gao, Mingwei

2018-01-01

Coherent Doppler wind lidars (CDWL) are widely used in aerospace, atmospheric monitoring and other fields. The parameters of laser source such as the wavelength, pulse energy, pulse duration and pulse repetition rate (PRR) have significant influences on the detection performance of wind lidar. We established a simulation model which takes into account the effects of atmospheric transmission, backscatter, atmospheric turbulence and parameters of laser source. The maximum detection range is also calculated under the condition that the velocity estimation accuracy is 0.1 m/s by using this model. We analyzed the differences of the detection performance between two operation systems, which show the high pulse energy-low pulse repetition rate (HPE-LPRR) and low pulse energy-high repetition rate (LPE-HPRR), respectively. We proved our simulation model reliable by using the parameters of two commercial lidar products. This research has important theoretical and practical values for the design of eye-safe coherent Doppler wind lidar.

Investigation of Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability in the boundary layer using Doppler lidar and radiosonde data

Science.gov (United States)

Das, Subrata Kumar; Das, Siddarth Shankar; Saha, Korak; Murali Krishna, U. V.; Dani, K. K.

2018-04-01

Characteristics of Kelvin Helmholtz Instability (KHI) using Doppler wind lidar observation have rarely been reported during the Indian summer monsoon season. In this paper, we present a case study of KHI near planetary boundary layer using Doppler wind lidar and radiosonde measurements at Mahabubnagar, a tropical Indian station. The data was collected during the Integrated Ground Observation Campaign (June-October 2011) under the Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement EXperiment-2011. The continuous wind lidar observation during 10-16 August 2011 shows there is an increase in carrier-to-noise ratio values near planetary boundary layer from 03:00 to 11:00 LT on 13 August; reveals the formation of KHI. There is a strong power bursts pattern corresponding to high turbulence characteristics in the early half of the day. The KHI temporal evolution from initial to dissipating stage is observed with clear variation in the carrier-to-noise ratio values. The observed KHI billows are in the height between 600 and 1200 m and lasted for about 7.5 h. The vertical velocity from Doppler lidar measurement shows the presence of updrafts after breaking of KHI in the boundary layer. The presence of strong wind shear, high stability parameter, low Richardson number and high relative humidity during the enhanced carrier-to-noise ratio period indicates the ideal condition for the formation and persistence of this dynamic instability. A typical characteristic of trapped humidity above the KHI billows suggest the presence of strong inversion. A wavelet analysis of 3-dimensional wind components show dominant periodicity of 45-65 min and the periodicity in vertical wind is more prominent.

High resolution, topobathymetric LiDAR coastal zone characterization in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Steinbacher, Frank; Baran, Ramona; Andersen, Mikkel S.

2016-01-01

Coastal and tidal environments are valuable ecosystems, which, however, are under pressure in many areas around the world due to globalization and/or climate change. Detailed mapping of these environments is required in order to manage the coastal zone in a sustainable way. However, historically...... locations with different environmental settings. We demonstrate the potential of using airborne topobathymetric LiDAR for seamless mapping of land-water transition zones in challenging coastal environments, e.g. in an environment with high water column turbidity and continuously varying water levels due...... these transition zones between land and water are difficult or even impossible to map and investigate in high spatial resolution due to the challenging environmental conditions. The new generation of airborne topobathymetric light detection and ranging (LiDAR) potentially enables full-coverage and high...

Doppler lidar sensor for precision navigation in GPS-deprived environment

Science.gov (United States)

Amzajerdian, F.; Pierrottet, D. F.; Hines, G. D.; Petway, L. B.; Barnes, B. W.

2013-05-01

Landing mission concepts that are being developed for exploration of solar system bodies are increasingly ambitious in their implementations and objectives. Most of these missions require accurate position and velocity data during their descent phase in order to ensure safe, soft landing at the pre-designated sites. Data from the vehicle's Inertial Measurement Unit will not be sufficient due to significant drift error after extended travel time in space. Therefore, an onboard sensor is required to provide the necessary data for landing in the GPS-deprived environment of space. For this reason, NASA Langley Research Center has been developing an advanced Doppler lidar sensor capable of providing accurate and reliable data suitable for operation in the highly constrained environment of space. The Doppler lidar transmits three laser beams in different directions toward the ground. The signal from each beam provides the platform velocity and range to the ground along the laser line-of-sight (LOS). The six LOS measurements are then combined in order to determine the three components of the vehicle velocity vector, and to accurately measure altitude and attitude angles relative to the local ground. These measurements are used by an autonomous Guidance, Navigation, and Control system to accurately navigate the vehicle from a few kilometers above the ground to the designated location and to execute a gentle touchdown. A prototype version of our lidar sensor has been completed for a closed-loop demonstration onboard a rocket-powered terrestrial free-flyer vehicle.

Comprehensive wind correction for a Rayleigh Doppler lidar from atmospheric temperature and pressure influences and Mie contamination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shangguan Ming-Jia; Xia Hai-Yun; Dou Xian-Kang; Wang Chong; Qiu Jia-Wei; Zhang Yun-Peng; Shu Zhi-Feng; Xue Xiang-Hui

2015-01-01

A correction considering the effects of atmospheric temperature, pressure, and Mie contamination must be performed for wind retrieval from a Rayleigh Doppler lidar (RDL), since the so-called Rayleigh response is directly related to the convolution of the optical transmission of the frequency discriminator and the Rayleigh–Brillouin spectrum of the molecular backscattering. Thus, real-time and on-site profiles of atmospheric pressure, temperature, and aerosols should be provided as inputs to the wind retrieval. Firstly, temperature profiles under 35 km and above the altitude are retrieved, respectively, from a high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) and a Rayleigh integration lidar (RIL) incorporating to the RDL. Secondly, the pressure profile is taken from the European Center for Medium range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) analysis, while radiosonde data are not available. Thirdly, the Klett–Fernald algorithms are adopted to estimate the Mie and Rayleigh components in the atmospheric backscattering. After that, the backscattering ratio is finally determined in a nonlinear fitting of the transmission of the atmospheric backscattering through the Fabry–Perot interferometer (FPI) to a proposed model. In the validation experiments, wind profiles from the lidar show good agreement with the radiosonde in the overlapping altitude. Finally, a continuous wind observation shows the stability of the correction scheme. (paper)

Detailed Hydrographic Feature Extraction from High-Resolution LiDAR Data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Danny L. Anderson

2012-05-01

Detailed hydrographic feature extraction from high-resolution light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data is investigated. Methods for quantitatively evaluating and comparing such extractions are presented, including the use of sinuosity and longitudinal root-mean-square-error (LRMSE). These metrics are then used to quantitatively compare stream networks in two studies. The first study examines the effect of raster cell size on watershed boundaries and stream networks delineated from LiDAR-derived digital elevation models (DEMs). The study confirmed that, with the greatly increased resolution of LiDAR data, smaller cell sizes generally yielded better stream network delineations, based on sinuosity and LRMSE. The second study demonstrates a new method of delineating a stream directly from LiDAR point clouds, without the intermediate step of deriving a DEM. Direct use of LiDAR point clouds could improve efficiency and accuracy of hydrographic feature extractions. The direct delineation method developed herein and termed “mDn”, is an extension of the D8 method that has been used for several decades with gridded raster data. The method divides the region around a starting point into sectors, using the LiDAR data points within each sector to determine an average slope, and selecting the sector with the greatest downward slope to determine the direction of flow. An mDn delineation was compared with a traditional grid-based delineation, using TauDEM, and other readily available, common stream data sets. Although, the TauDEM delineation yielded a sinuosity that more closely matches the reference, the mDn delineation yielded a sinuosity that was higher than either the TauDEM method or the existing published stream delineations. Furthermore, stream delineation using the mDn method yielded the smallest LRMSE.

Observations of movement dynamics of flying insects using high resolution lidar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kirkeby, Carsten Thure; Wellenreuther, Maren; Brydegaard, Mikkel

2016-01-01

insects (wing size cross-section) moved across the field and clustered near the light trap around 22:00 local time, while larger insects (wing size >2.5 mm2 in cross-section) were most abundant near the lidar beam before 22:00 and then moved towards the light trap between 22:00 and 23:30. We......Insects are fundamental to ecosystem functioning and biodiversity, yet the study of insect movement, dispersal and activity patterns remains a challenge. Here we present results from a novel high resolution laser-radar (lidar) system for quantifying flying insect abundance recorded during one...

High Spectral Resolution Lidar Based on a Potassium Faraday Dispersive Filter for Daytime Temperature Measurement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abo Makoto

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a new high-spectral-resolution lidar technique is proposed for measuring the profiles of atmospheric temperature in daytime. Based on the theory of high resolution Rayleigh scattering, the feasibility and advantages of using potassium (K Faraday dispersive optical filters as blocking filters for measuring atmospheric temperature are demonstrated with a numerical simulation. It was found that temperature profiles could be measured within 1K error for the height of 9 km with a 500 m range resolution in 60 min by using laser pulses with 1mJ/pulse and 1 kHz, and a 50 cm diameter telescope. Furthermore, we are developing compact pulsed laser system for temperature lidar transmitter.

Compressive sensing for high resolution profiles with enhanced Doppler performance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Anitori, L.; Hoogeboom, P.; Chevalier, F. Le; Otten, M.P.G.

2012-01-01

In this paper we demonstrate how Compressive Sensing (CS) can be used in pulse-Doppler radars to improve the Doppler performance while preserving range resolution. We investigate here two types of stepped frequency waveforms, the coherent frequency bursts and successive frequency ramps, which can be

Time series analysis of continuous-wave coherent Doppler Lidar wind measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sjoeholm, M; Mikkelsen, T; Mann, J; Enevoldsen, K; Courtney, M

2008-01-01

The influence of spatial volume averaging of a focused 1.55 μm continuous-wave coherent Doppler Lidar on observed wind turbulence measured in the atmospheric surface layer over homogeneous terrain is described and analysed. Comparison of Lidar-measured turbulent spectra with spectra simultaneously obtained from a mast-mounted sonic anemometer at 78 meters height at the test station for large wind turbines at Hoevsoere in Western Jutland, Denmark is presented for the first time

All-Fiber Airborne Coherent Doppler Lidar to Measure Wind Profiles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liu Jiqiao

2016-01-01

Full Text Available An all-fiber airborne pulsed coherent Doppler lidar (CDL prototype at 1.54μm is developed to measure wind profiles in the lower troposphere layer. The all-fiber single frequency pulsed laser is operated with pulse energy of 300μJ, pulse width of 400ns and pulse repetition rate of 10kHz. To the best of our knowledge, it is the highest pulse energy of all-fiber eye-safe single frequency laser that is used in airborne coherent wind lidar. The telescope optical diameter of monostatic lidar is 100 mm. Velocity-Azimuth-Display (VAD scanning is implemented with 20 degrees elevation angle in 8 different azimuths. Real-time signal processing board is developed to acquire and process the heterodyne mixing signal with 10000 pulses spectra accumulated every second. Wind profiles are obtained every 20 seconds. Several experiments are implemented to evaluate the performance of the lidar. We have carried out airborne wind lidar experiments successfully, and the wind profiles are compared with aerological theodolite and ground based wind lidar. Wind speed standard error of less than 0.4m/s is shown between airborne wind lidar and balloon aerological theodolite.

Extraction of Features from High-resolution 3D LiDaR Point-cloud Data

Science.gov (United States)

Keller, P.; Kreylos, O.; Hamann, B.; Kellogg, L. H.; Cowgill, E. S.; Yikilmaz, M. B.; Hering-Bertram, M.; Hagen, H.

2008-12-01

Airborne and tripod-based LiDaR scans are capable of producing new insight into geologic features by providing high-quality 3D measurements of the landscape. High-resolution LiDaR is a promising method for studying slip on faults, erosion, and other landscape-altering processes. LiDaR scans can produce up to several billion individual point returns associated with the reflection of a laser from natural and engineered surfaces; these point clouds are typically used to derive a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM). Currently, there exist only few methods that can support the analysis of the data at full resolution and in the natural 3D perspective in which it was collected by working directly with the points. We are developing new algorithms for extracting features from LiDaR scans, and present method for determining the local curvature of a LiDaR data set, working directly with the individual point returns of a scan. Computing the curvature enables us to rapidly and automatically identify key features such as ridge-lines, stream beds, and edges of terraces. We fit polynomial surface patches via a moving least squares (MLS) approach to local point neighborhoods, determining curvature values for each point. The size of the local point neighborhood is defined by a user. Since both terrestrial and airborne LiDaR scans suffer from high noise, we apply additional pre- and post-processing smoothing steps to eliminate unwanted features. LiDaR data also captures objects like buildings and trees complicating greatly the task of extracting reliable curvature values. Hence, we use a stochastic approach to determine whether a point can be reliably used to estimate curvature or not. Additionally, we have developed a graph-based approach to establish connectivities among points that correspond to regions of high curvature. The result is an explicit description of ridge-lines, for example. We have applied our method to the raw point cloud data collected as part of the Geo

KML-Based Access and Visualization of High Resolution LiDAR Topography

Science.gov (United States)

Crosby, C. J.; Blair, J. L.; Nandigam, V.; Memon, A.; Baru, C.; Arrowsmith, J. R.

2008-12-01

Over the past decade, there has been dramatic growth in the acquisition of LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) high-resolution topographic data for earth science studies. Capable of providing digital elevation models (DEMs) more than an order of magnitude higher resolution than those currently available, LiDAR data allow earth scientists to study the processes that contribute to landscape evolution at resolutions not previously possible yet essential for their appropriate representation. These datasets also have significant implications for earth science education and outreach because they provide an accurate representation of landforms and geologic hazards. Unfortunately, the massive volume of data produced by LiDAR mapping technology can be a barrier to their use. To make these data available to a larger user community, we have been exploring the use of Keyhole Markup Language (KML) and Google Earth to provide access to LiDAR data products and visualizations. LiDAR digital elevation models are typically delivered in a tiled format that lends itself well to a KML-based distribution system. For LiDAR datasets hosted in the GEON OpenTopography Portal (www.opentopography.org) we have developed KML files that show the extent of available LiDAR DEMs and provide direct access to the data products. Users interact with these KML files to explore the extent of the available data and are able to select DEMs that correspond to their area of interest. Selection of a tile loads a download that the user can then save locally for analysis in their software of choice. The GEON topography system also has tools available that allow users to generate custom DEMs from LiDAR point cloud data. This system is powerful because it enables users to access massive volumes of raw LiDAR data and to produce DEM products that are optimized to their science applications. We have developed a web service that converts the custom DEM models produced by the system to a hillshade that is delivered to

Remote Sensing of Complex Flows by Doppler Wind Lidar: Issues and Preliminary Recommendations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Clifton, Andrew [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Boquet, Matthieu [Leosphere, Orsay (France); Burin Des Roziers, Edward [UL International Gmbh, Freemont, CA (United States); Westerhellweg, Annette [UL International Gmbh, Freemont, CA (United States); Hofsass, Martin [Univ. of Stuttgart (Germany). Stuttgart Wind Energy; Klaas, Tobias [Fraunhofer Inst. for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology, Freiburg (Germany); Vogstad, Klaus [Meventus, Hamburg (Germany); Clive, Peter [Sgurr Energy, Glasgow (United Kingdom); Harris, Mike [ZephIR Limited, Kirkcudbrightshire (United Kingdom); Wylie, Scott [ZephIR Limited, Kirkcudbrightshire (United Kingdom); Osler, Evan [Renewable NRG Systems, Hinesburg, VT (United States); Banta, Bob [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, CO (United States); Choukulkar, Aditya [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, CO (United States); Lundquist, Julie [Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); Aitken, Matthew [Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)

2015-12-01

Remote sensing of winds using lidar has become popular and useful in the wind energy industry. Extensive experience has been gained with using lidar for applications including land-based and offshore resource assessment, plant operations, and turbine control. Prepared by members of International Energy Agency Task 32, this report describes the state of the art in the use of Doppler wind lidar for resource assessment in complex flows. The report will be used as input for future recommended practices on this topic.

Evaluation of turbulence measurement techniques from a single Doppler lidar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. A. Bonin

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Measurements of turbulence are essential to understand and quantify the transport and dispersal of heat, moisture, momentum, and trace gases within the planetary boundary layer (PBL. Through the years, various techniques to measure turbulence using Doppler lidar observations have been proposed. However, the accuracy of these measurements has rarely been validated against trusted in situ instrumentation. Herein, data from the eXperimental Planetary boundary layer Instrumentation Assessment (XPIA are used to verify Doppler lidar turbulence profiles through comparison with sonic anemometer measurements. For 17 days at the end of the experiment, a single scanning Doppler lidar continuously cycled through different turbulence measurement strategies: velocity–azimuth display (VAD, six-beam scans, and range–height indicators (RHIs with a vertical stare.Measurements of turbulence kinetic energy (TKE, turbulence intensity, and stress velocity from these techniques are compared with sonic anemometer measurements at six heights on a 300 m tower. The six-beam technique is found to generally measure turbulence kinetic energy and turbulence intensity the most accurately at all heights (r2  ≈  0.78, showing little bias in its observations (slope of  ≈  0. 95. Turbulence measurements from the velocity–azimuth display method tended to be biased low near the surface, as large eddies were not captured by the scan. None of the methods evaluated were able to consistently accurately measure the shear velocity (r2 =  0.15–0.17. Each of the scanning strategies assessed had its own strengths and limitations that need to be considered when selecting the method used in future experiments.

Challenges in noise removal from Doppler spectra acquired by a continuous-wave lidar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Angelou, Nikolas; Foroughi Abari, Farzad; Mann, Jakob

2012-01-01

are presented. A method for determining the background noise spectrum without interrupting the transmission of the laser beam is described. Moreover, the dependency between the determination of the threshold of a Doppler spectrum with low signal-to-noise ratios and the characteristics of the wind flow......This paper is focused on the required post processing of Doppler spectra, acquired from a continuous-wave coherent lidar at high sampling rates (400 Hz) and under rapid scanning of the laser beam. In particular, the necessary steps followed for extracting the wind speed from such Doppler spectra...... are investigated and a systematic approach for removing the noise is outlined. The suggested post processing procedures are applied to two sample time series acquired by a short-range WindScanner during one second each....

Demonstration of coherent Doppler lidar for navigation in GPS-denied environments

Science.gov (United States)

Amzajerdian, Farzin; Hines, Glenn D.; Pierrottet, Diego F.; Barnes, Bruce W.; Petway, Larry B.; Carson, John M.

2017-05-01

A coherent Doppler lidar has been developed to address NASA's need for a high-performance, compact, and cost-effective velocity and altitude sensor onboard its landing vehicles. Future robotic and manned missions to solar system bodies require precise ground-relative velocity vector and altitude data to execute complex descent maneuvers and safe, soft landing at a pre-designated site. This lidar sensor, referred to as a Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL), meets the required performance of the landing missions while complying with vehicle size, mass, and power constraints. Operating from up to four kilometers altitude, the NDL obtains velocity and range precision measurements reaching 2 cm/sec and 2 meters, respectively, dominated by the vehicle motion. Terrestrial aerial vehicles will also benefit from NDL data products as enhancement or replacement to GPS systems when GPS is unavailable or redundancy is needed. The NDL offers a viable option to aircraft navigation in areas where the GPS signal can be blocked or jammed by intentional or unintentional interference. The NDL transmits three laser beams at different pointing angles toward the ground to measure range and velocity along each beam using a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) technique. The three line-of-sight measurements are then combined in order to determine the three components of the vehicle velocity vector and its altitude relative to the ground. This paper describes the performance and capabilities that the NDL demonstrated through extensive ground tests, helicopter flight tests, and onboard an autonomous rocket-powered test vehicle while operating in closedloop with a guidance, navigation, and control (GN and C) system.

Mixed layer depths via Doppler lidar during low-level jet events

Science.gov (United States)

Carroll, Brian; Demoz, Belay; Bonin, Timothy; Delgado, Ruben

2018-04-01

A low-level jet (LLJ) is a prominent wind speed peak in the lower troposphere. Nocturnal LLJs have been shown to transport and mix atmospheric constituents from the residual layer down to the surface, breaching quiescent nocturnal conditions due to high wind shear. A new fuzzy logic algorithm combining turbulence and aerosol information from Doppler lidar scans can resolve the strength and depth of this mixing below the jet. Conclusions will be drawn about LLJ relations to turbulence and mixing.

Interrelationship of Cn2 & Eddy Dissipation rate based on Scintillometer and Doppler Lidar observations in complex terrain during the Perdigao Campaign 2017

Science.gov (United States)

Creegan, E. D.; Krishnamurthy, R.; Hocut, C. M.; Pattantyus, A.; Leo, L. S.; Wang, Y.; Fernando, H. J.; Bariteau, L.

2017-12-01

The Perdigao campaign is a joint EU/US science project designed to provide information on flow field(s) over complex terrain and through wind turbines at unprecedented high spatial and temporal resolution. The goal is to improve wind energy physics and overcome the current deficiencies of wind resource models. Topographically the Perdigao location is an expansion of the "double hill in crossflow", consisting of two parallel ridges along the NW-SE direction. The site was heavily instrumented with an array of towers (with multiple transects along the valley and across two ridges) and a large suite of ground based and aerial remote sensing platforms. On the outflow side of the NW ridge a scintillometer was emplaced with the line-of-sight (LOS) running adjacent to the towers comprising the NE transect from the ridgetop down to the base. Scanning lidars were placed at both ends of this LOS. Other instruments included a tethered lifting system (TLS), sodar, microwave radiometer, an energy budget flux tower and radiosonde releases. Scintillomoter data provides a quantitative measure of the intensity of optical turbulence, through the refractive index structure parameter, Cn2, where averaged Cn2 is often determined as a function of local differences in temperature, moisture, and wind velocity at discrete points. The refractive index structure parameter is also a function of the inner (dissipation) and outer (energy producing) turbulent scales. The scintillometer directly gives path averaged Cn2 and Eddy Dissipation rate along the LOS. Coplanar scans along the same path were synchronized using two scanning coherent Doppler lidars. Algorithms have been developed to estimate both eddy dissipation rate and Cn2 from Doppler lidar data effectively creating a new lidar data product. Additionally, from TLS measurements, Cn2 and dissipation rate are calculated using the high frequency spectra of the hot-wire sensor. In this work, measurements of Cn2 and Eddy Dissipation rate

Field performance of an all-semiconductor laser coherent Doppler lidar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rodrigo, Peter John; Pedersen, Christian

2012-01-01

We implement and test what, to our knowledge, is the first deployable coherent Doppler lidar (CDL) system based on a compact, inexpensive all-semiconductor laser (SL). To demonstrate the field performance of our SL-CDL remote sensor, we compare a 36 h time series of averaged radial wind speeds...... measured by our instrument at an 80 m distance to those simultaneously obtained from an industry-standard sonic anemometer (SA). An excellent degree of correlation (R2=0.994 and slope=0.996) is achieved from a linear regression analysis of the CDL versus SA wind speed data. The lidar system is capable...

OpenTopography: Enabling Online Access to High-Resolution Lidar Topography Data and Processing Tools

Science.gov (United States)

Crosby, Christopher; Nandigam, Viswanath; Baru, Chaitan; Arrowsmith, J. Ramon

2013-04-01

High-resolution topography data acquired with lidar (light detection and ranging) technology are revolutionizing the way we study the Earth's surface and overlying vegetation. These data, collected from airborne, tripod, or mobile-mounted scanners have emerged as a fundamental tool for research on topics ranging from earthquake hazards to hillslope processes. Lidar data provide a digital representation of the earth's surface at a resolution sufficient to appropriately capture the processes that contribute to landscape evolution. The U.S. National Science Foundation-funded OpenTopography Facility (http://www.opentopography.org) is a web-based system designed to democratize access to earth science-oriented lidar topography data. OpenTopography provides free, online access to lidar data in a number of forms, including the raw point cloud and associated geospatial-processing tools for customized analysis. The point cloud data are co-located with on-demand processing tools to generate digital elevation models, and derived products and visualizations which allow users to quickly access data in a format appropriate for their scientific application. The OpenTopography system is built using a service-oriented architecture (SOA) that leverages cyberinfrastructure resources at the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California San Diego to allow users, regardless of expertise level, to access these massive lidar datasets and derived products for use in research and teaching. OpenTopography hosts over 500 billion lidar returns covering 85,000 km2. These data are all in the public domain and are provided by a variety of partners under joint agreements and memoranda of understanding with OpenTopography. Partners include national facilities such as the NSF-funded National Center for Airborne Lidar Mapping (NCALM), as well as non-governmental organizations and local, state, and federal agencies. OpenTopography has become a hub for high-resolution topography

Monitoring and Quantifying Particles Emissions around Industrial Sites with Scanning Doppler Lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Thobois, L.; Royer, P.; Parmentier, R.; Brooks, M.; Knoepfle, A.; Alexander, J.; Stidwell, P.; Kumar, R.

2018-04-01

Scanning Coherent Doppler Lidars have been used over the last decade for measuring wind for applications in wind energy [1], meteorology [2] and aviation [3]. They allow for accurate measurements of wind speeds up to a distance of 10 km based on the Doppler shift effect of aerosols. The signal reflectivity (CNR or Carrier-to-Noise Ratio) profiles can also be retrieved from the strength of the Lidar signal. In this study, we will present the developments of algorithm for retrieving aerosol optical properties like the relative attenuated backscatter coefficient and the mass concentration of particles. The use of these algorithms during one operational trial in Point Samson, Western Australia to monitor fugitive emissions over a mine will be presented. This project has been initiated by the Australian Department of Environment Regulations to better determine the impact of the Port on the neighboring town. During the trial in Summer, the strong impact of turbulence refractive index on Lidar performances has been observed. Multiple methodologies have been applied to reduce this impact with more or less success. At the end, a dedicated setup and configuration have been established that allow to properly observe the plumes of the mine with the scanning Lidar. The Lidar data has also been coupled to beta attenuation in-situ sensors for retrieving mass concentration maps. A few case of dispersion of plumes will be presented showing the necessity to combine both the wind and aerosol data.

Demonstration of a diode-laser-based high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) for quantitative profiling of clouds and aerosols.

Science.gov (United States)

Hayman, Matthew; Spuler, Scott

2017-11-27

We present a demonstration of a diode-laser-based high spectral resolution lidar. It is capable of performing calibrated retrievals of aerosol and cloud optical properties at a 150 m range resolution with less than 1 minute integration time over an approximate range of 12 km during day and night. This instrument operates at 780 nm, a wavelength that is well established for reliable semiconductor lasers and detectors, and was chosen because it corresponds to the D2 rubidium absorption line. A heated vapor reference cell of isotopic rubidium 87 is used as an effective and reliable aerosol signal blocking filter in the instrument. In principle, the diode-laser-based high spectral resolution lidar can be made cost competitive with elastic backscatter lidar systems, yet delivers a significant improvement in data quality through direct retrieval of quantitative optical properties of clouds and aerosols.

Advancing Atmosphere-Ocean Remote Sensing with Spaceborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Hostetler, C. A.; Behrenfeld, M. J.; Chepfer, H.; Hu, Y.; Hair, J. W.; Trepte, C. R.; Winker, D. M.; Ferrare, R. A.; Burton, S. P.; Scarino, A. J.; Powell, K. A.; Michaud, J.

2016-12-01

More than 1600 publications employing observations from the CALIOP lidar on CALIPSO testify to the value of spaceborne lidar for aerosol and cloud remote sensing. Recent publications have shown the value of CALIOP data for retrievals of key ocean carbon cycle stocks. In this presentation we focus on the advantages of a more advanced technique, High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL), for aerosol, cloud, and ocean remote sensing. An atmosphere-ocean optimized HSRL achieves greater accuracy over the standard backscatter lidar technique for retrievals of aerosol and cloud extinction and backscatter profiles, provides additional capability to retrieve aerosol and cloud microphysical parameters, and enables vertically-resolved characterization of scattering and absorption properties of suspended and dissolved materials in the ocean. Numerous publications highlight the synergy of coincident CALIOP and passive A-train observations for studies of aerosol-cloud radiative effects and cloud-climate feedback. Less appreciated is the complementarity that would exist between an optimized spaceborne lidar and passive ocean color. An optimized HSRL flown in formation with the Plankton, Aerosol, and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission would provide phytoplankton vertical distribution, which is needed for accurately estimating net primary productivity but absent in the PACE ocean color data. The HSRL would also provide data needed to improve atmospheric correction schemes in ocean color retrievals. Because lidar provides measurements both night and day, through tenuous clouds and aerosol layers, and in holes between clouds, the sampling achieved is highly complementary to passive radiometry, providing data in important high latitude regions where ocean color data are sparse or nonexistent. In this presentation we will discuss 1) relevant aerosol, cloud, and ocean retrievals from airborne HSRL field missions; 2) the advantages of an optimized spaceborne HSRL for aerosol, cloud, and ocean

Comparative study of the performance of semiconductor laser based coherent Doppler lidars

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rodrigo, Peter John; Pedersen, Christian

2012-01-01

Coherent Doppler Lidars (CDLs), operating at an eye-safe 1.5-micron wavelength, have found promising applications in the optimization of wind-power production. To meet the wind-energy sector's impending demand for more cost-efficient industrial sensors, we have focused on the development of conti......Coherent Doppler Lidars (CDLs), operating at an eye-safe 1.5-micron wavelength, have found promising applications in the optimization of wind-power production. To meet the wind-energy sector's impending demand for more cost-efficient industrial sensors, we have focused on the development...... of continuous-wave CDL systems using compact, inexpensive semiconductor laser (SL) sources. In this work, we compare the performance of two candidate emitters for an allsemiconductor CDL system: (1) a monolithic master-oscillator-power-amplifier (MOPA) SL and (2) an external-cavity tapered diode laser (ECTDL)....

Performance Assessment of High Resolution Airborne Full Waveform LiDAR for Shallow River Bathymetry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhigang Pan

2015-04-01

Full Text Available We evaluate the performance of full waveform LiDAR decomposition algorithms with a high-resolution single band airborne LiDAR bathymetry system in shallow rivers. A continuous wavelet transformation (CWT is proposed and applied in two fluvial environments, and the results are compared to existing echo retrieval methods. LiDAR water depths are also compared to independent field measurements. In both clear and turbid water, the CWT algorithm outperforms the other methods if only green LiDAR observations are available. However, both the definition of the water surface, and the turbidity of the water significantly influence the performance of the LiDAR bathymetry observations. The results suggest that there is no single best full waveform processing algorithm for all bathymetric situations. Overall, the optimal processing strategies resulted in a determination of water depths with a 6 cm mean at 14 cm standard deviation for clear water, and a 16 cm mean and 27 cm standard deviation in more turbid water.

Perdigão 2015: Methodology for atmospheric multi-Doppler lidar experiments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vasiljevia, Nikola; Palma, José M.L.M.; Angelou, Nikolas

2017-01-01

The long-range and short-range WindScanner systems (LRWS and SRWS), multi-Doppler lidar instruments, when combined together can map the turbulent flow around a wind turbine and at the same time measure mean flow conditions over an entire region such as a wind farm. As the WindScanner technology...

Pointing Verification Method for Spaceborne Lidars

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Axel Amediek

2017-01-01

Full Text Available High precision acquisition of atmospheric parameters from the air or space by means of lidar requires accurate knowledge of laser pointing. Discrepancies between the assumed and actual pointing can introduce large errors due to the Doppler effect or a wrongly assumed air pressure at ground level. In this paper, a method for precisely quantifying these discrepancies for airborne and spaceborne lidar systems is presented. The method is based on the comparison of ground elevations derived from the lidar ranging data with high-resolution topography data obtained from a digital elevation model and allows for the derivation of the lateral and longitudinal deviation of the laser beam propagation direction. The applicability of the technique is demonstrated by using experimental data from an airborne lidar system, confirming that geo-referencing of the lidar ground spot trace with an uncertainty of less than 10 m with respect to the used digital elevation model (DEM can be obtained.

Assessment of the CALIPSO Lidar 532 nm attenuated backscatter calibration using the NASA LaRC airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. R. Rogers

2011-02-01

Full Text Available The Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP instrument on the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO spacecraft has provided global, high-resolution vertical profiles of aerosols and clouds since it became operational on 13 June 2006. On 14 June 2006, the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL was deployed aboard the NASA Langley B-200 aircraft for the first of a series of 86 underflights of the CALIPSO satellite to provide validation measurements for the CALIOP data products. To better assess the range of conditions under which CALIOP data products are produced, these validation flights were conducted under both daytime and nighttime lighting conditions, in multiple seasons, and over a large range of latitudes and aerosol and cloud conditions. This paper presents a quantitative assessment of the CALIOP 532 nm calibration (through the 532 nm total attenuated backscatter using internally calibrated airborne HSRL underflight data and is the most extensive study of CALIOP 532 nm calibration. Results show that HSRL and CALIOP 532 nm total attenuated backscatter agree on average within 2.7% ± 2.1% (CALIOP lower at night and within 2.9% ± 3.9% (CALIOP lower during the day, demonstrating the accuracy of the CALIOP 532 nm calibration algorithms. Additionally, comparisons with HSRL show consistency of the CALIOP calibration before and after the laser switch in 2009 as well as improvements in the daytime version 3.01 calibration scheme compared with the version 2 calibration scheme. Potential biases and uncertainties in the methodology relevant to validating satellite lidar measurements with an airborne lidar system are discussed and found to be less than 4.5% ± 3.2% for this validation effort with HSRL. Results from this study are also compared with prior assessments of the CALIOP 532 nm attenuated backscatter calibration.

Coastal and tidal landform detection from high resolution topobathymetric LiDAR data

Science.gov (United States)

Skovgaard Andersen, Mikkel; Al-Hamdani, Zyad; Steinbacher, Frank; Rolighed Larsen, Laurids; Brandbyge Ernstsen, Verner

2016-04-01

Coastal and tidal environments are valuable ecosystems, which, however, are under pressure in many areas around the world due to globalisation and/or climate change. Detailed mapping of these environments is required in order to manage the coastal zone in a sustainable way. However, historically these transition zones between land and water are difficult or even impossible to map and investigate in high spatial resolution due to the challenging environmental conditions. The new generation of airborne topobathymetric light detection and ranging (LiDAR) potentially enables full-coverage and high-resolution mapping of these land-water transition zones. We have carried out topobathymetric LiDAR surveys in the Knudedyb tidal inlet system, a coastal environment in the Danish Wadden Sea which is part of the Wadden Sea National Park and UNESCO World Heritage. Detailed digital elevation models (DEMs) with a grid cell size of 0.5 m x 0.5 m were generated from the LiDAR point cloud with a mean point density in the order of 20 points/m2. The DEM was analysed morphometrically using a modification of the tool Benthic Terrain Modeler (BTM) developed by Wright et al. (2005). Initially, stage (the elevation in relation to tidal range) was used to divide the area of investigation into the different tidal zones, i.e. subtidal, intertidal and supratidal. Subsequently, morphometric units were identified and characterised by a combination of statistical neighbourhood analysis with varying window sizes (using the Bathymetric Positioning Index (BPI) from the BTM, moving average and standard deviation), slope parameters and area/perimeter ratios. Finally, these morphometric units were classified into six different types of landforms based on their stage and morphometric characteristics, i.e. either subtidal channel, intertidal flat, intertidal creek, linear bar, swash bar or beach dune. We hereby demonstrate the potential of using airborne topobathymetric LiDAR for seamless mapping of land

The e-Beam Sustained Laser Technology for Space-based Doppler Wind Lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, M. J.; Holman, W.; Robinson, R. J.; Schwarzenberger, P. M.; Smith, I. M.; Wallace, S.; Harris, M. R.; Willetts, D. V.; Kurzius, S. C.

1992-01-01

An overview is presented of GEC Avionics activities relating to the Spaceborne Doppler Wind Lidar. In particular, the results of design studies into the use of an e-beam sustained CO2 laser for spaceborne applications, and experimental work on a test bed system are discussed.

ALADIN: an atmospheric laser Doppler wind lidar instrument for wind velocity measurements from space

Science.gov (United States)

Krawczyk, R.; Ghibaudo, JB.; Labandibar, JY.; Willetts, D.; Vaughan, M.; Pearson, G.; Harris, M.; Flamant, P. H.; Salamitou, P.; Dabas, A.; Charasse, R.; Midavaine, T.; Royer, M.; Heimel, H.

2018-04-01

This paper, "ALADIN: an atmospheric laser Doppler wind lidar instrument for wind velocity measurements from space," was presented as part of International Conference on Space Optics—ICSO 1997, held in Toulouse, France.

Combined Atmospheric and Ocean Profiling from an Airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hair Johnathan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available First of its kind combined atmospheric and ocean profile data were collected by the recently upgraded NASA Langley Research Center’s (LaRC High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL-1 during the 17 July – 7 August 2014 Ship-Aircraft Bio-Optical Research Experiment (SABOR. This mission sampled over a region that covered the Gulf of Maine, open-ocean near Bermuda, and coastal waters from Virginia to Rhode Island. The HSRL-1 and the Research Scanning Polarimeter from NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies collected data onboard the NASA LaRC King Air aircraft and flight operations were closely coordinated with the Research Vessel Endeavor that made in situ ocean optical measurements. The lidar measurements provided profiles of atmospheric backscatter and particulate depolarization at 532nm, 1064nm, and extinction (532nm from approximately 9km altitude. In addition, for the first time HSRL seawater backscatter, depolarization, and diffuse attenuation data at 532nm were collected and compared to both the ship measurements and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (NASA MODIS-Aqua satellite ocean retrievals.

Forest Stand Segmentation Using Airborne LIDAR Data and Very High Resolution Multispectral Imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Dechesne, Clément; Mallet, Clément; Le Bris, Arnaud; Gouet, Valérie; Hervieu, Alexandre

2016-06-01

Forest stands are the basic units for forest inventory and mapping. Stands are large forested areas (e.g., ≥ 2 ha) of homogeneous tree species composition. The accurate delineation of forest stands is usually performed by visual analysis of human operators on very high resolution (VHR) optical images. This work is highly time consuming and should be automated for scalability purposes. In this paper, a method based on the fusion of airborne laser scanning data (or lidar) and very high resolution multispectral imagery for automatic forest stand delineation and forest land-cover database update is proposed. The multispectral images give access to the tree species whereas 3D lidar point clouds provide geometric information on the trees. Therefore, multi-modal features are computed, both at pixel and object levels. The objects are individual trees extracted from lidar data. A supervised classification is performed at the object level on the computed features in order to coarsely discriminate the existing tree species in the area of interest. The analysis at tree level is particularly relevant since it significantly improves the tree species classification. A probability map is generated through the tree species classification and inserted with the pixel-based features map in an energetical framework. The proposed energy is then minimized using a standard graph-cut method (namely QPBO with α-expansion) in order to produce a segmentation map with a controlled level of details. Comparison with an existing forest land cover database shows that our method provides satisfactory results both in terms of stand labelling and delineation (matching ranges between 94% and 99%).

Ground-based lidar and microwave radiometry synergy for high vertical resolution absolute humidity profiling

Science.gov (United States)

Barrera-Verdejo, María; Crewell, Susanne; Löhnert, Ulrich; Orlandi, Emiliano; Di Girolamo, Paolo

2016-08-01

Continuous monitoring of atmospheric humidity profiles is important for many applications, e.g., assessment of atmospheric stability and cloud formation. Nowadays there are a wide variety of ground-based sensors for atmospheric humidity profiling. Unfortunately there is no single instrument able to provide a measurement with complete vertical coverage, high vertical and temporal resolution and good performance under all weather conditions, simultaneously. For example, Raman lidar (RL) measurements can provide water vapor with a high vertical resolution, albeit with limited vertical coverage, due to sunlight contamination and the presence of clouds. Microwave radiometers (MWRs) receive water vapor information throughout the troposphere, though their vertical resolution is poor. In this work, we present an MWR and RL system synergy, which aims to overcome the specific sensor limitations. The retrieval algorithm combining these two instruments is an optimal estimation method (OEM), which allows for an uncertainty analysis of the retrieved profiles. The OEM combines measurements and a priori information, taking the uncertainty of both into account. The measurement vector consists of a set of MWR brightness temperatures and RL water vapor profiles. The method is applied to a 2-month field campaign around Jülich (Germany), focusing on clear sky periods. Different experiments are performed to analyze the improvements achieved via the synergy compared to the individual retrievals. When applying the combined retrieval, on average the theoretically determined absolute humidity uncertainty is reduced above the last usable lidar range by a factor of ˜ 2 with respect to the case where only RL measurements are used. The analysis in terms of degrees of freedom per signal reveal that most information is gained above the usable lidar range, especially important during daytime when the lidar vertical coverage is limited. The retrieved profiles are further evaluated using

UAV-borne coherent doppler lidar for marine atmospheric boundary layer observations

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Songhua; Wang, Qichao; Liu, Bingyi; Liu, Jintao; Zhang, Kailin; Song, Xiaoquan

2018-04-01

A compact UAV-borne Coherent Doppler Lidar (UCDL) has been developed at the Ocean University of China for the observation of wind profile and boundary layer structure in Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer (MABL). The design, specifications and motion-correction methodology of the UCDL are presented. Preliminary results of the first flight campaign in Hailing Island in December 2016 is discussed.

New lidar challenges for gas hazard management in industrial environments

Science.gov (United States)

Cézard, Nicolas; Liméry, Anasthase; Bertrand, Johan; Le Méhauté, Simon; Benoit, Philippe; Fleury, Didier; Goular, Didier; Planchat, Christophe; Valla, Matthieu; Augère, Béatrice; Dolfi-Bouteyre, Agnès.

2017-10-01

The capability of Lidars to perform range-resolved gas profiles makes them an appealing choice for many applications. In order to address new remote sensing challenges, arising from industrial contexts, Onera currently develops two lidar systems, one Raman and one DIAL. On the Raman side, a high spatial-resolution multi-channel Raman Lidar is developed in partnership with the French National Radioactive Waste Management Agency (Andra). This development aims at enabling future monitoring of hydrogen gas and water vapor profiles inside disposal cells containing radioactive wastes. We report on the development and first tests of a three-channel Raman Lidar (H2, H2O, N2) designed to address this issue. Simultaneous hydrogen and water vapor profiles have been successfully performed along a 5m-long gas cell with 1m resolution at a distance of 85 m. On the DIAL side, a new instrumental concept is being explored and developed in partnership with Total E and P. The objective is to perform methane plume monitoring and flux assessment in the vicinity of industrials plants or platforms. For flux assessment, both gas concentration and air speed must be profiled by lidar. Therefore, we started developing a bi-function, all-fiber, coherent DIAL/Doppler Lidar. The first challenge was to design and build an appropriate fiber laser source. The achieved demonstrator delivers 200 W peak power, polarized, spectrally narrow (<15 MHz), 110 ns pulses of light out of a monomode fiber at 1645 nm. It fulfills the requirements for a future implementation in a bi-function Dial/Doppler lidar with km-range expectation. We report on the laser and lidar architecture, and on first lidar tests at 1645 nm.

Using Airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar Data to Evaluate Combined Active Plus Passive Retrievals of Aerosol Extinction Profiles

Science.gov (United States)

Burton, S. P.; Ferrare, R. A.; Hostetler, C. A.; Hair, J. W.; Kittaka, C.; Vaughn, M. A.; Remer, L. A.

2010-01-01

We derive aerosol extinction profiles from airborne and space-based lidar backscatter signals by constraining the retrieval with column aerosol optical thickness (AOT), with no need to rely on assumptions about aerosol type or lidar ratio. The backscatter data were acquired by the NASA Langley Research Center airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) and by the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) instrument on the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite. The HSRL also simultaneously measures aerosol extinction coefficients independently using the high spectral resolution lidar technique, thereby providing an ideal data set for evaluating the retrieval. We retrieve aerosol extinction profiles from both HSRL and CALIOP attenuated backscatter data constrained with HSRL, Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and Multiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer column AOT. The resulting profiles are compared with the aerosol extinction measured by HSRL. Retrievals are limited to cases where the column aerosol thickness is greater than 0.2 over land and 0.15 over water. In the case of large AOT, the results using the Aqua MODIS constraint over water are poorer than Aqua MODIS over land or Terra MODIS. The poorer results relate to an apparent bias in Aqua MODIS AOT over water observed in August 2007. This apparent bias is still under investigation. Finally, aerosol extinction coefficients are derived from CALIPSO backscatter data using AOT from Aqua MODIS for 28 profiles over land and 9 over water. They agree with coincident measurements by the airborne HSRL to within +/-0.016/km +/- 20% for at least two-thirds of land points and within +/-0.028/km +/- 20% for at least two-thirds of ocean points.

CO2-Tea pulse clipping using pulsed high voltage preionization for high spatial resolution I.R. Lidar systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gasmi Taieb

2018-01-01

Full Text Available An extra-cavity CO2-TEA laser pulse clipper for high spatial resolution atmospheric monitoring is presented. The clipper uses pulsed high voltageto facilitate the breakdown of the gas within the clipper cell. Complete extinction of the nitrogen tail, that degrades the range resolution of LIDARS, is obtained at pressures from 375 up to 1500 Torr for nitrogen and argon gases whereas an attenuation coefficient of almost 102 is achieved for helium. Excellent energy stability and pulse width repeatability were achieved using high voltage pre-ionized gas technique.

CO2-Tea pulse clipping using pulsed high voltage preionization for high spatial resolution I.R. Lidar systems

Science.gov (United States)

Gasmi, Taieb

2018-04-01

An extra-cavity CO2-TEA laser pulse clipper for high spatial resolution atmospheric monitoring is presented. The clipper uses pulsed high voltageto facilitate the breakdown of the gas within the clipper cell. Complete extinction of the nitrogen tail, that degrades the range resolution of LIDARS, is obtained at pressures from 375 up to 1500 Torr for nitrogen and argon gases whereas an attenuation coefficient of almost 102 is achieved for helium. Excellent energy stability and pulse width repeatability were achieved using high voltage pre-ionized gas technique.

MSFC Doppler Lidar Science experiments and operations plans for 1981 airborne test flight

Science.gov (United States)

Fichtl, G. H.; Bilbro, J. W.; Kaufman, J. W.

1981-01-01

The flight experiment and operations plans for the Doppler Lidar System (DLS) are provided. Application of DLS to the study of severe storms and local weather penomena is addressed. Test plans involve 66 hours of flight time. Plans also include ground based severe storm and local weather data acquisition.

Pointing Knowledge for SPARCLE and Space-Based Doppler Wind Lidars in General

Science.gov (United States)

Emmitt, G. D.; Miller, T.; Spiers, G.

1999-01-01

The SPAce Readiness Coherent Lidar Experiment (SPARCLE) will fly on a space shuttle to demonstrate the use of a coherent Doppler wind lidar to accurately measure global tropospheric winds. To achieve the LOS (Line of Sight) accuracy goal of approx. m/s, the lidar system must be able to account for the orbiter's velocity (approx. 7750 m/s) and the rotational component of the earth's surface motion (approx. 450 m/s). For SPARCLE this requires knowledge of the attitude (roll, pitch and yaw) of the laser beam axis within an accuracy of 80 microradians. (approx. 15 arcsec). Since SPARCLE can not use a dedicated star tracker from its earth-viewing orbiter bay location, a dedicated GPS/INS (Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System) will be attached to the lidar instrument rack. Since even the GPS/INS has unacceptable drifts in attitude information, the SPARCLE team has developed a way to periodically scan the instrument itself to obtain less than 10 microradian (2 arcsec) attitude knowledge accuracy that can then be used to correct the GPS/INS output on a 30 minute basis.

Direct comparison of high-temporal-resolution CINE MRI with Doppler ultrasound for assessment of diastolic dysfunction in mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Thomas A; Price, Anthony N; Jackson, Laurence H; Taylor, Valerie; David, Anna L; Lythgoe, Mark F; Stuckey, Daniel J

2017-10-01

Diastolic dysfunction is a sensitive early indicator of heart failure and can provide additional data to conventional measures of systolic function. Transmitral Doppler ultrasound, which measures the one-dimensional flow of blood through the mitral valve, is currently the preferred method for the measurement of diastolic function, but the measurement of the left ventricular volume changes using high-temporal-resolution cinematic magnetic resonance imaging (CINE MRI) is an alternative approach which is emerging as a potentially more robust and user-independent technique. Here, we investigated the performance of high-temporal-resolution CINE MRI and compared it with ultrasound for the detection of diastolic dysfunction in a mouse model of myocardial infarction. An in-house, high-temporal-resolution, retrospectively gated CINE sequence was developed with a temporal resolution of 1 ms. Diastolic function in mice was assessed using a custom-made, open-source reconstruction package. Early (E) and late (A) left ventricular filling phases were easily identifiable, and these measurements were compared directly with high-frequency, pulsed-wave, Doppler ultrasound measurements of mitral valve inflow. A repeatability study established that high-temporal-resolution CINE MRI and Doppler ultrasound showed comparable accuracy when measuring E/A in normal control mice. However, when applied in a mouse model of myocardial infarction, high-temporal-resolution CINE MRI indicated diastolic heart failure (E/A = 0.94 ± 0.11), whereas ultrasound falsely detected normal cardiac function (E/A = 1.21 ± 0.11). The addition of high-temporal-resolution CINE MRI to preclinical imaging studies enhances the library of sequences available to cardiac researchers and potentially identifies diastolic heart failure early in disease progression. © 2017 The Authors. NMR in Biomedicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Arrange and average algorithm for the retrieval of aerosol parameters from multiwavelength high-spectral-resolution lidar/Raman lidar data.

Science.gov (United States)

Chemyakin, Eduard; Müller, Detlef; Burton, Sharon; Kolgotin, Alexei; Hostetler, Chris; Ferrare, Richard

2014-11-01

We present the results of a feasibility study in which a simple, automated, and unsupervised algorithm, which we call the arrange and average algorithm, is used to infer microphysical parameters (complex refractive index, effective radius, total number, surface area, and volume concentrations) of atmospheric aerosol particles. The algorithm uses backscatter coefficients at 355, 532, and 1064 nm and extinction coefficients at 355 and 532 nm as input information. Testing of the algorithm is based on synthetic optical data that are computed from prescribed monomodal particle size distributions and complex refractive indices that describe spherical, primarily fine mode pollution particles. We tested the performance of the algorithm for the "3 backscatter (β)+2 extinction (α)" configuration of a multiwavelength aerosol high-spectral-resolution lidar (HSRL) or Raman lidar. We investigated the degree to which the microphysical results retrieved by this algorithm depends on the number of input backscatter and extinction coefficients. For example, we tested "3β+1α," "2β+1α," and "3β" lidar configurations. This arrange and average algorithm can be used in two ways. First, it can be applied for quick data processing of experimental data acquired with lidar. Fast automated retrievals of microphysical particle properties are needed in view of the enormous amount of data that can be acquired by the NASA Langley Research Center's airborne "3β+2α" High-Spectral-Resolution Lidar (HSRL-2). It would prove useful for the growing number of ground-based multiwavelength lidar networks, and it would provide an option for analyzing the vast amount of optical data acquired with a future spaceborne multiwavelength lidar. The second potential application is to improve the microphysical particle characterization with our existing inversion algorithm that uses Tikhonov's inversion with regularization. This advanced algorithm has recently undergone development to allow automated and

High-resolution velocimetry in energetic tidal currents using a convergent-beam acoustic Doppler profiler

Science.gov (United States)

Sellar, Brian; Harding, Samuel; Richmond, Marshall

2015-08-01

An array of single-beam acoustic Doppler profilers has been developed for the high resolution measurement of three-dimensional tidal flow velocities and subsequently tested in an energetic tidal site. This configuration has been developed to increase spatial resolution of velocity measurements in comparison to conventional acoustic Doppler profilers (ADPs) which characteristically use divergent acoustic beams emanating from a single instrument. This is achieved using geometrically convergent acoustic beams creating a sample volume at the focal point of 0.03 m3. Away from the focal point, the array is also able to simultaneously reconstruct three-dimensional velocity components in a profile throughout the water column, and is referred to herein as a convergent-beam acoustic Doppler profiler (C-ADP). Mid-depth profiling is achieved through integration of the sensor platform with the operational commercial-scale Alstom 1 MW DeepGen-IV Tidal Turbine deployed at the European Marine Energy Center, Orkney Isles, UK. This proof-of-concept paper outlines the C-ADP system configuration and comparison to measurements provided by co-installed reference instrumentation. Comparison of C-ADP to standard divergent ADP (D-ADP) velocity measurements reveals a mean difference of 8 mm s-1, standard deviation of 18 mm s-1, and an order of magnitude reduction in realisable length scale. C-ADP focal point measurements compared to a proximal single-beam reference show peak cross-correlation coefficient of 0.96 over 4.0 s averaging period and a 47% reduction in Doppler noise. The dual functionality of the C-ADP as a profiling instrument with a high resolution focal point make this configuration a unique and valuable advancement in underwater velocimetry enabling improved quantification of flow turbulence. Since waves are simultaneously measured via profiled velocities, pressure measurements and surface detection, it is expected that derivatives of this system will be a powerful tool in

Augmented Reality Based Doppler Lidar Data Visualization: Promises and Challenges

OpenAIRE

Cherukuru N. W.; Calhoun R.

2016-01-01

Augmented reality (AR) is a technology in which the enables the user to view virtual content as if it existed in real world. We are exploring the possibility of using this technology to view radial velocities or processed wind vectors from a Doppler wind lidar, thus giving the user an ability to see the wind in a literal sense. This approach could find possible applications in aviation safety, atmospheric data visualization as well as in weather education and public outreach. As a proof of...

A coordinated study of 1 h mesoscale gravity waves propagating from Logan to Boulder with CRRL Na Doppler lidars and temperature mapper

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Xian; Chen, Cao; Huang, Wentao; Smith, John A.; Chu, Xinzhao; Yuan, Tao; Pautet, Pierre-Dominique; Taylor, Mike J.; Gong, Jie; Cullens, Chihoko Y.

2015-10-01

We present the first coordinated study using two lidars at two separate locations to characterize a 1 h mesoscale gravity wave event in the mesopause region. The simultaneous observations were made with the Student Training and Atmospheric Research (STAR) Na Doppler lidar at Boulder, CO, and the Utah State University Na Doppler lidar and temperature mapper at Logan, UT, on 27 November 2013. The high precision possessed by the STAR lidar enabled these waves to be detected in vertical wind. The mean wave amplitudes are ~0.44 m/s in vertical wind and ~1% in relative temperature at altitudes of 82-107 km. Those in the zonal and meridional winds are 6.1 and 5.2 m/s averaged from 84 to 99 km. The horizontal and vertical wavelengths inferred from the mapper and lidars are ~219 ± 4 and 16.0 ± 0.3 km, respectively. The intrinsic period is ~1.3 h for the airglow layer, Doppler shifted by a mean wind of ~17 m/s. The wave packet propagates from Logan to Boulder with an azimuth angle of ~135° clockwise from north and an elevation angle of ~ 3° from the horizon. The observed phase difference between the two locations can be explained by the traveling time of the 1 h wave from Logan to Boulder, which is about ~2.4 h. The wave polarization relations are examined through the simultaneous quantifications of the three wind components and temperature. This study has developed a systematic methodology for fully characterizing mesoscale gravity waves, inspecting their intrinsic properties and validating the derivation of horizontal wave structures by applying multiple instruments from coordinated stations.

Remote Sensing of Aerosol Backscatter and Earth Surface Targets By Use of An Airborne Focused Continuous Wave CO2 Doppler Lidar Over Western North America

Science.gov (United States)

Jarzembski, Maurice A.; Srivastava, Vandana; Goodman, H. Michael (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

Airborne lidar systems are used to determine wind velocity and to measure aerosol or cloud backscatter variability. Atmospheric aerosols, being affected by local and regional sources, show tremendous variability. Continuous wave (cw) lidar can obtain detailed aerosol loading with unprecedented high resolution (3 sec) and sensitivity (1 mg/cubic meter) as was done during the 1995 NASA Multi-center Airborne Coherent Atmospheric Wind Sensor (MACAWS) mission over western North America and the Pacific Ocean. Backscatter variability was measured at a 9.1 micron wavelength cw focused CO2 Doppler lidar for approximately 52 flight hours, covering an equivalent horizontal distance of approximately 30,000 km in the troposphere. Some quasi-vertical backscatter profiles were also obtained during various ascents and descents at altitudes that ranged from approximately 0.1 to 12 km. Similarities and differences for aerosol loading over land and ocean were observed. Mid-tropospheric aerosol backscatter background mode was approximately 6 x 10(exp -11)/ms/r, consistent with previous lidar datasets. While these atmospheric measurements were made, the lidar also retrieved a distinct backscatter signal from the Earth's surface from the unfocused part of the focused cw lidar beam during aircraft rolls. Atmospheric backscatter can be highly variable both spatially and temporally, whereas, Earth-surface backscatter is relatively much less variant and can be quite predictable. Therefore, routine atmospheric backscatter measurements by an airborne lidar also give Earth surface backscatter which can allow for investigating the Earth terrain. In the case where the Earth's surface backscatter is coming from a well-known and fairly uniform region, then it can potentially offer lidar calibration opportunities during flight. These Earth surface measurements over varying Californian terrain during the mission were compared with laboratory backscatter measurements using the same lidar of various

High Spectral Resolution LIDAR as a Tool for Air Quality Research

Science.gov (United States)

Eloranta, E. W.; Spuler, S.; Hayman, M. M.

2017-12-01

Many aspects of air quality research require information on the vertical distribution of pollution. Traditional measurements, obtained from surface based samplers, or passive satellite remote sensing, do not provide vertical profiles. Lidar can provide profiles of aerosol properties. However traditional backscatter lidar suffers from uncertain calibrations with poorly constrained algorithms. These problems are avoided using High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) which provides absolutely calibrated vertical profiles of aerosol properties. The University of Wisconsin HSRL systems measure 532 nm wavelength aerosol backscatter cross-sections, extinction cross-sections, depolarization, and attenuated 1064 nm backscatter. These instruments are designed for long-term deployment at remote sites with minimal local support. Processed data is provided for public viewing and download in real-time on our web site "http://hsrl.ssec.wisc.edu". Air pollution applications of HSRL data will be illustrated with examples acquired during air quality field programs including; KORUS-AQ, DISCOVER-AQ, LAMOS and FRAPPE. Observations include 1) long range transport of dust, air pollution and smoke. 2) Fumigation episodes where elevated pollution is mixed down to the surface. 3) visibility restrictions by aerosols and 4) diurnal variations in atmospheric optical depth. While HSRL is powerful air quality research tool, its application in routine measurement networks is hindered by the high cost of current systems. Recent technical advances promise a next generation HSRL using telcom components to greatly reduce system cost. This paper will present data generated by a prototype low cost system constructed at NCAR. In addition to lower cost, operation at a non-visible near 780 nm infrared wavelength removes all FAA restrictions on the operation.

Lidar Remote Sensing for Industry and Environment Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Upendra N. (Editor); Itabe, Toshikazu (Editor); Sugimoto, Nobuo (Editor)

2000-01-01

Contents include the following: 1. Keynote paper: Overview of lidar technology for industrial and environmental monitoring in Japan. 2. lidar technology I: NASA's future active remote sensing mission for earth science. Geometrical detector consideration s in laser sensing application (invited paper). 3. Lidar technology II: High-power femtosecond light strings as novel atmospheric probes (invited paper). Design of a compact high-sensitivity aerosol profiling lidar. 4. Lasers for lidars: High-energy 2 microns laser for multiple lidar applications. New submount requirement of conductively cooled laser diodes for lidar applications. 5. Tropospheric aerosols and clouds I: Lidar monitoring of clouds and aerosols at the facility for atmospheric remote sensing (invited paper). Measurement of asian dust by using multiwavelength lidar. Global monitoring of clouds and aerosols using a network of micropulse lidar systems. 6. Troposphere aerosols and clouds II: Scanning lidar measurements of marine aerosol fields at a coastal site in Hawaii. 7. Tropospheric aerosols and clouds III: Formation of ice cloud from asian dust particles in the upper troposphere. Atmospheric boundary layer observation by ground-based lidar at KMITL, Thailand (13 deg N, 100 deg. E). 8. Boundary layer, urban pollution: Studies of the spatial correlation between urban aerosols and local traffic congestion using a slant angle scanning on the research vessel Mirai. 9. Middle atmosphere: Lidar-observed arctic PSC's over Svalbard (invited paper). Sodium temperature lidar measurements of the mesopause region over Syowa Station. 10. Differential absorption lidar (dIAL) and DOAS: Airborne UV DIAL measurements of ozone and aerosols (invited paper). Measurement of water vapor, surface ozone, and ethylene using differential absorption lidar. 12. Space lidar I: Lightweight lidar telescopes for space applications (invited paper). Coherent lidar development for Doppler wind measurement from the International Space

Simulating return signals of a spaceborne high-spectral resolution lidar channel at 532 nm

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Yu; Binglong, Chen; Min, Min; Xingying, Zhang; Lilin, Yao; Yiming, Zhao; Lidong, Wang; Fu, Wang; Xiaobo, Deng

2018-06-01

High spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) system employs a narrow spectral filter to separate the particulate (cloud/aerosol) and molecular scattering components in lidar return signals, which improves the quality of the retrieved cloud/aerosol optical properties. To better develop a future spaceborne HSRL system, a novel simulation technique was developed to simulate spaceborne HSRL return signals at 532 nm using the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) cloud/aerosol extinction coefficients product and numerical weather prediction data. For validating simulated data, a mathematical particulate extinction coefficient retrieval method for spaceborne HSRL return signals is described here. We compare particulate extinction coefficient profiles from the CALIPSO operational product with simulated spaceborne HSRL data. Further uncertainty analysis shows that relative uncertainties are acceptable for retrieving the optical properties of cloud and aerosol. The final results demonstrate that they agree well with each other. It indicates that the return signals of the spaceborne HSRL molecular channel at 532 nm will be suitable for developing operational algorithms supporting a future spaceborne HSRL system.

Airborne LIDAR and high resolution satellite data for rapid 3D feature extraction

Science.gov (United States)

Jawak, S. D.; Panditrao, S. N.; Luis, A. J.

2014-11-01

This work uses the canopy height model (CHM) based workflow for individual tree crown delineation and 3D feature extraction approach (Overwatch Geospatial's proprietary algorithm) for building feature delineation from high-density light detection and ranging (LiDAR) point cloud data in an urban environment and evaluates its accuracy by using very high-resolution panchromatic (PAN) (spatial) and 8-band (multispectral) WorldView-2 (WV-2) imagery. LiDAR point cloud data over San Francisco, California, USA, recorded in June 2010, was used to detect tree and building features by classifying point elevation values. The workflow employed includes resampling of LiDAR point cloud to generate a raster surface or digital terrain model (DTM), generation of a hill-shade image and an intensity image, extraction of digital surface model, generation of bare earth digital elevation model (DEM) and extraction of tree and building features. First, the optical WV-2 data and the LiDAR intensity image were co-registered using ground control points (GCPs). The WV-2 rational polynomial coefficients model (RPC) was executed in ERDAS Leica Photogrammetry Suite (LPS) using supplementary *.RPB file. In the second stage, ortho-rectification was carried out using ERDAS LPS by incorporating well-distributed GCPs. The root mean square error (RMSE) for the WV-2 was estimated to be 0.25 m by using more than 10 well-distributed GCPs. In the second stage, we generated the bare earth DEM from LiDAR point cloud data. In most of the cases, bare earth DEM does not represent true ground elevation. Hence, the model was edited to get the most accurate DEM/ DTM possible and normalized the LiDAR point cloud data based on DTM in order to reduce the effect of undulating terrain. We normalized the vegetation point cloud values by subtracting the ground points (DEM) from the LiDAR point cloud. A normalized digital surface model (nDSM) or CHM was calculated from the LiDAR data by subtracting the DEM from the DSM

Semiconductor Laser Wind Lidar for Turbine Control

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hu, Qi

This thesis describes an experimentally oriented study of continuous wave (CW) coherent Doppler lidar system design. The main application is remote wind sensing for active wind turbine control using nacelle mounted lidar systems; and the primary focus is to devise an industrial instrument that can...... historical overview within the topic of wind lidar systems. Both the potential and the challenges of an industrialized wind lidar has been addressed here. Furthermore, the basic concept behind the heterodyne detection and a brief overview of the lidar signal processing is explained; and a simple...... investigation of the telescope truncation and lens aberrations is conducted, both numerically and experimentally. It is shown that these parameters dictate the spatial resolution of the lidar system, and have profound impact on the SNR. In this work, an all-semiconductor light source is used in the lidar design...

Analysis of Detectors and Transmission Curve Correction of Mobile Rayleigh Doppler Wind Lidar

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tang Lei; Shu Zhi-Feng; Dong Ji-Hui; Wang Guo-Cheng; Xu Wen-Jing; Hu Dong-Dong; Wang Yong-Tao; Chen Ting-Di; Dou Xian-Kang; Sun Dong-Song; Cha Hyunki

2010-01-01

A mobile molecular Doppler wind lidar (DWL) based on double-edge technique is presented for wind measurement at altitudes from 10km to 40km. A triple Fabry-Perot etalon is employed as a frequency discriminator to determine the Doppler shift proportional to the wind velocity. The lidar operates at 355 nm with a 45-cm aperture telescope and a matching azimuth-over-elevation scanner that can provide full hemispherical pointing. In order to guarantee the wind accuracy, different forms of calibration function of detectors in different count rates response range would be especially valuable. The accuracy of wind velocity iteration is improved greatly because of application of the calibration function of linearity at the ultra low light intensity especially at altitudes from 10km to 40km. The calibration functions of nonlinearity make the transmission of edge channel 1 and edge channel 2 increase 38.9% and 27.7% at about 1 M count rates, respectively. The dynamic range of wind field measurement may also be extended because of consideration of the response function of detectors in their all possible operating range. (fundamental areas of phenomenology(including applications))

Comparing Individual Tree Segmentation Based on High Resolution Multispectral Image and Lidar Data

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, P.; Kelly, M.; Guo, Q.

2014-12-01

This study compares the use of high-resolution multispectral WorldView images and high density Lidar data for individual tree segmentation. The application focuses on coniferous and deciduous forests in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The tree objects are obtained in two ways: a hybrid region-merging segmentation method with multispectral images, and a top-down and bottom-up region-growing method with Lidar data. The hybrid region-merging method is used to segment individual tree from multispectral images. It integrates the advantages of global-oriented and local-oriented region-merging strategies into a unified framework. The globally most-similar pair of regions is used to determine the starting point of a growing region. The merging iterations are constrained within the local vicinity, thus the segmentation is accelerated and can reflect the local context. The top-down region-growing method is adopted in coniferous forest to delineate individual tree from Lidar data. It exploits the spacing between the tops of trees to identify and group points into a single tree based on simple rules of proximity and likely tree shape. The bottom-up region-growing method based on the intensity and 3D structure of Lidar data is applied in deciduous forest. It segments tree trunks based on the intensity and topological relationships of the points, and then allocate other points to exact tree crowns according to distance. The accuracies for each method are evaluated with field survey data in several test sites, covering dense and sparse canopy. Three types of segmentation results are produced: true positive represents a correctly segmented individual tree, false negative represents a tree that is not detected and assigned to a nearby tree, and false positive represents that a point or pixel cluster is segmented as a tree that does not in fact exist. They respectively represent correct-, under-, and over-segmentation. Three types of index are compared for segmenting individual tree

Distributed Modeling with Parflow using High Resolution LIDAR Data

Science.gov (United States)

Barnes, M.; Welty, C.; Miller, A. J.

2012-12-01

Urban landscapes provide a challenging domain for the application of distributed surface-subsurface hydrologic models. Engineered water infrastructure and altered topography influence surface and subsurface flow paths, yet these effects are difficult to quantify. In this work, a parallel, distributed watershed model (ParFlow) is used to simulate urban watersheds using spatial data at the meter and sub-meter scale. An approach using GRASS GIS (Geographic Resources Analysis Support System) is presented that incorporates these data to construct inputs for the ParFlow simulation. LIDAR topography provides the basis for the fully coupled overland flow simulation. Methods to address real discontinuities in the urban land-surface for use with the grid-based kinematic wave approximation used in ParFlow are presented. The spatial distribution of impervious surface is delineated accurately from high-resolution land cover data; hydrogeological properties are specified from literature values. An application is presented for part of the Dead Run subwatershed of the Gwynns Falls in Baltimore County, MD. The domain is approximately 3 square kilometers, and includes a highly impacted urban stream, a major freeway, and heterogeneous urban development represented at a 10-m horizontal resolution and 1-m vertical resolution. This resolution captures urban features such as building footprints and highways at an appropriate scale. The Dead Run domain provides an effective test case for ParFlow application at the fine scale in an urban environment. Preliminary model runs employ a homogeneous subsurface domain with no-flow boundaries. Initial results reflect the highly articulated topography of the road network and the combined influence of surface runoff from impervious surfaces and subsurface flux toward the channel network. Subsequent model runs will include comparisons of the coupled surface-subsurface response of alternative versions of the Dead Run domain with and without impervious

Doppler lidar mounted on a wind turbine nacelle – UPWIND deliverable D6.7.1

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Angelou, Nikolas; Mann, Jakob; Courtney, Michael

measurements, was estimated by means of spectral analysis. An attempt to increase the resolution of the wind speed measurements of a cw lidar was performed, through the deconvolution of the lidar signal. A theoretical model of such a procedure is presented in this report. A simulation has validated...... the capability of the algorithm to deconvolve and consequently increase the resolution of the lidar system. However the proposed method was not efficient when applied to real lidar wind speed measurements, probably due to the effect, that the wind direction fluctuations along the lidar’s line-of-sight have...

Lidar instruments for ESA Earth observation missions

Science.gov (United States)

Hélière, Arnaud; Armandillo, Errico; Durand, Yannig; Culoma, Alain; Meynart, Roland

2017-11-01

The idea of deploying a lidar system on an Earthorbiting satellite stems from the need for continuously providing profiles of our atmospheric structure with high accuracy and resolution and global coverage. Interest in this information for climatology, meteorology and the atmospheric sciences in general is huge. Areas of application range from the determination of global warming and greenhouse effects, to monitoring the transport and accumulation of pollutants in the different atmospheric regions (such as the recent fires in Southeast Asia), to the assessment of the largely unknown microphysical properties and the structural dynamics of the atmosphere itself. Spaceborne lidar systems have been the subject of extensive investigations by the European Space Agency since mid 1970's, resulting in mission and instrument concepts, such as ATLID, the cloud backscatter lidar payload of the EarthCARE mission, ALADIN, the Doppler wind lidar of the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission (ADM) and more recently a water vapour Differential Absorption Lidar considered for the WALES mission. These studies have shown the basic scientific and technical feasibility of spaceborne lidars, but they have also demonstrated their complexity from the instrument viewpoint. As a result, the Agency undertook technology development in order to strengthen the instrument maturity. This is the case for ATLID, which benefited from a decade of technology development and supporting studies and is now studied in the frame of the EarthCARE mission. ALADIN, a Direct Detection Doppler Wind Lidar operating in the Ultra -Violet, will be the 1st European lidar to fly in 2007 as payload of the Earth Explorer Core Mission ADM. WALES currently studied at the level of a phase A, is based upon a lidar operating at 4 wavelengths in near infrared and aims to profile the water vapour in the lower part of the atmosphere with high accuracy and low bias. Lastly, the European Space Agency is extending the lidar instrument field

High Spectral Resolution Lidar and MPLNET Micro Pulse Lidar Aerosol Optical Property Retrieval Intercomparison During the 2012 7-SEAS Field Campaign at Singapore

Science.gov (United States)

Lolli, Simone; Welton, Ellsworth J.; Campbell, James R.; Eloranta, Edwin; Holben, Brent N.; Chew, Boon Ning; Salinas, Santo V.

2014-01-01

From August 2012 to February 2013 a High Resolution Spectral Lidar (HSRL; 532 nm) was deployed at that National University of Singapore near a NASA Micro Pulse Lidar NETwork (MPLNET; 527 nm) site. A primary objective of the MPLNET lidar project is the production and dissemination of reliable Level 1 measurements and Level 2 retrieval products. This paper characterizes and quantifies error in Level 2 aerosol optical property retrievals conducted through inversion techniques that derive backscattering and extinction coefficients from MPLNET elastic single-wavelength datasets. MPLNET Level 2 retrievals for aerosol optical depth and extinction/backscatter coefficient profiles are compared with corresponding HSRL datasets, for which the instrument collects direct measurements of each using a unique optical configuration that segregates aerosol and cloud backscattered signal from molecular signal. The intercomparison is performed, and error matrices reported, for lower (0-5km) and the upper (>5km) troposphere, respectively, to distinguish uncertainties observed within and above the MPLNET instrument optical overlap regime.

Scanning, Multibeam, Single Photon Lidars for Rapid, Large Scale, High Resolution, Topographic and Bathymetric Mapping

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John J. Degnan

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Several scanning, single photon sensitive, 3D imaging lidars are herein described that operate at aircraft above ground levels (AGLs between 1 and 11 km, and speeds in excess of 200 knots. With 100 beamlets and laser fire rates up to 60 kHz, we, at the Sigma Space Corporation (Lanham, MD, USA, have interrogated up to 6 million ground pixels per second, all of which can record multiple returns from volumetric scatterers such as tree canopies. High range resolution has been achieved through the use of subnanosecond laser pulsewidths, detectors and timing receivers. The systems are presently being deployed on a variety of aircraft to demonstrate their utility in multiple applications including large scale surveying, bathymetry, forestry, etc. Efficient noise filters, suitable for near realtime imaging, have been shown to effectively eliminate the solar background during daytime operations. Geolocation elevation errors measured to date are at the subdecimeter level. Key differences between our Single Photon Lidars, and competing Geiger Mode lidars are also discussed.

Doppler Lidar Sensor for Precision Landing on the Moon and Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Amzajerdian, Farzin; Petway, Larry; Hines, Glenn; Barnes, Bruce; Pierrottet, Diego; Lockhard, George

2012-01-01

Landing mission concepts that are being developed for exploration of planetary bodies are increasingly ambitious in their implementations and objectives. Most of these missions require accurate position and velocity data during their descent phase in order to ensure safe soft landing at the pre-designated sites. To address this need, a Doppler lidar is being developed by NASA under the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance (ALHAT) project. This lidar sensor is a versatile instrument capable of providing precision velocity vectors, vehicle ground relative altitude, and attitude. The capabilities of this advanced technology have been demonstrated through two helicopter flight test campaigns conducted over a vegetation-free terrain in 2008 and 2010. Presently, a prototype version of this sensor is being assembled for integration into a rocket-powered terrestrial free-flyer vehicle. Operating in a closed loop with vehicle's guidance and navigation system, the viability of this advanced sensor for future landing missions will be demonstrated through a series of flight tests in 2012.

Design of a monolithic Michelson interferometer for fringe imaging in a near-field, UV, direct-detection Doppler wind lidar.

Science.gov (United States)

Herbst, Jonas; Vrancken, Patrick

2016-09-01

The low-biased, fast, airborne, short-range, and range-resolved determination of atmospheric wind speeds plays a key role in wake vortex and turbulence mitigation strategies and would improve flight safety, comfort, and economy. In this work, a concept for an airborne, UV, direct-detection Doppler wind lidar receiver is presented. A monolithic, tilted, field-widened, fringe-imaging Michelson interferometer (FWFIMI) combines the advantages of low angular sensitivity, high thermo-mechanical stability, independence of the specific atmospheric conditions, and potential for fast data evaluation. Design and integration of the FWFIMI into a lidar receiver concept are described. Simulations help to evaluate the receiver design and prospect sufficient performance under different atmospheric conditions.

Doppler lidar mounted on a wind turbine nacelle - UPWIND deliverable D6.7.1

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Angelou, N.; Mann, J.; Courtney, M.; Sjoeholm, M.

2010-12-15

A ZephIR prototype wind lidar manufactured by QinetiQ was mounted on the nacelle of a Vestas V27 wind turbine and measurements of the incoming wind flow towards the rotor of the wind turbine were acquired for approximately 3 months (April - June 2009). The objective of this experiment was the investigation of the turbulence attenuation induced in the lidar measurements. In this report are presented results from data analysis over a 21-hour period (2009-05-05 12:00 - 2009-05-06 09:00). During this period the wind turbine was not operating and the line-of-sight of the lidar was aligned with the wind direction. The analysis included a correlation study between the ZephIR lidar and a METEK sonic anemometer. The correlation analysis was performed using both 10 minutes and 10 Hz wind speed values. The spectral transfer function which describes the turbulence attenuation, which is induced in the lidar measurements, was estimated by means of spectral analysis. An attempt to increase the resolution of the wind speed measurements of a cw lidar was performed, through the deconvolution of the lidar signal. A theoretical model of such a procedure is presented in this report. A simulation has validated the capability of the algorithm to deconvolve and consequently increase the resolution of the lidar system. However the proposed method was not efficient when applied to real lidar wind speed measurements, probably due to the effect, that the wind direction fluctuations along the lidar's line-of-sight have, on the lidar measurements. (Author)

A geomorphologist's dream come true: synoptic high resolution river bathymetry with the latest generation of airborne dual wavelength lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Lague, Dimitri; Launeau, Patrick; Michon, Cyril; Gouraud, Emmanuel; Juge, Cyril; Gentile, William; Hubert-Moy, Laurence; Crave, Alain

2016-04-01

Airborne, terrestrial lidar and Structure From Motion have dramatically changed our approach of geomorphology, from low density/precision data, to a wealth of data with a precision adequate to actually measure topographic change across multiple scales, and its relation to vegetation. Yet, an important limitation in the context of fluvial geomorphology has been the inability of these techniques to penetrate water due to the use of NIR laser wavelengths or to the complexity of accounting for water refraction in SFM. Coastal bathymetric systems using a green lidar can penetrate clear water up to 50 m but have a resolution too coarse and deployment costs that are prohibitive for fluvial research and management. After early prototypes of narrow aperture green lidar (e.g., EEARL NASA), major lidar manufacturer are now releasing dual wavelength laser system that offer water penetration consistent with shallow fluvial bathymetry at very high resolution (> 10 pts/m²) and deployment costs that makes the technology, finally accessible. This offers unique opportunities to obtain synoptic high resolution, high precision data for academic research as well as for fluvial environment management (flood risk mapping, navigability,…). In this presentation, we report on the deployment of the latest generation Teledyne-Optech Titan dual-wavelength lidar (1064 nm + 532 nm) owned by the University of Nantes and Rennes. The instrument has been deployed over several fluvial and lacustrine environments in France. We present results and recommendation on how to optimize the bathymetric cover as a function of aerial and aquatic vegetation cover and the hydrology regime of the river. In the surveyed rivers, the penetration depth varies from 0.5 to 4 m with discrete echoes (i.e., onboard detection), heavily impacted by water clarity and bottom reflectance. Simple post-processing of the full waveform record allows to recover an additional 20 % depth. As for other lidar techniques, the main

Reduction of phase-induced intensity noise in a fiber-based coherent Doppler lidar using polarization control

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rodrigo, Peter John; Pedersen, Christian

2010-01-01

Optimization of signal-to-noise ratio is an important aspect in the design of optical heterodyne detection systems such as a coherent Doppler lidar (CDL). In a CDL, optimal performance is achieved when the noise in the detector signal is dominated by local oscillator shot-noise. Most modern CDL...... systems are built using rugged and cost-efficient fiber optic components. Unfortunately, leakage signals such as residual reflections inherent within fiber components (e.g. circulator) can introduce phaseinduced intensity noise (PIIN) to the Doppler spectrum in a CDL. Such excess noise may be a few orders...

Ecosystem services - from assessements of estimations to quantitative, validated, high-resolution, continental-scale mapping via airborne LIDAR

Science.gov (United States)

Zlinszky, András; Pfeifer, Norbert

2016-04-01

service potential" which is the ability of the local ecosystem to deliver various functions (water retention, carbon storage etc.), but can't quantify how much of these are actually used by humans or what the estimated monetary value is. Due to its ability to measure both terrain relief and vegetation structure in high resolution, airborne LIDAR supports direct quantification of the properties of an ecosystem that lead to it delivering a given service (such as biomass, water retention, micro-climate regulation or habitat diversity). In addition, its high resolution allows direct calibration with field measurements: routine harvesting-based ecological measurements, local biodiversity indicator surveys or microclimate recordings all take place at the human scale and can be directly linked to the local value of LIDAR-based indicators at meter resolution. Therefore, if some field measurements with standard ecological methods are performed on site, the accuracy of LIDAR-based ecosystem service indicators can be rigorously validated. With this conceptual and technical approach high resolution ecosystem service assessments can be made with well established credibility. These would consolidate the concept of ecosystem services and support both scientific research and evidence-based environmental policy at local and - as data coverage is continually increasing - continental scale.

Micro-Doppler Ambiguity Resolution for Wideband Terahertz Radar Using Intra-Pulse Interference.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Qi; Qin, Yuliang; Deng, Bin; Wang, Hongqiang; You, Peng

2017-04-29

Micro-Doppler, induced by micro-motion of targets, is an important characteristic of target recognition once extracted via parameter estimation methods. However, micro-Doppler is usually too significant to result in ambiguity in the terahertz band because of its relatively high carrier frequency. Thus, a micro-Doppler ambiguity resolution method for wideband terahertz radar using intra-pulse interference is proposed in this paper. The micro-Doppler can be reduced several dozen times its true value to avoid ambiguity through intra-pulse interference processing. The effectiveness of this method is proved by experiments based on a 0.22 THz wideband radar system, and its high estimation precision and excellent noise immunity are verified by Monte Carlo simulation.

Increasing the Impact of High-Resolution Lidar Topography Through Online Data Access and Processing

Science.gov (United States)

Crosby, C. J.; Nandigam, V.; Baru, C.; Arrowsmith, R.

2013-12-01

Topography data acquired with lidar (light detection and ranging) technology are revolutionizing the way we study the Earth's surface and overlying vegetation. These data, collected from satellite, airborne, tripod, or mobile-mounted scanners have emerged as a fundamental tool for research on topics including earthquake hazards, hillslope processes, and cyrosphere change. The U.S. National Science Foundation-funded OpenTopography (OT) Facility (http://www.opentopography.org) is a web-based system designed to democratize access to earth science-oriented lidar topography data. OT provides free, online access to lidar data in a number of forms, including the point cloud and associated geospatial-processing tools for customized analysis. The point cloud data are co-located with on-demand processing tools to generate digital elevation models, and derived products and visualizations which allow users to quickly access data in a format appropriate for their scientific application. The OT system is built using a service-oriented architecture (SOA) that leverages cyberinfrastructure resources at the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California San Diego to allow users, regardless of expertise, to access these massive lidar datasets and derived raster data products for use in research and teaching. OT hosts over 600 billion lidar returns covering more than 120,000 km2. These data are provided by a variety of partners under joint agreements and memoranda of understanding with OT. Partners include national facilities such as the NSF-funded National Center for Airborne Lidar Mapping (NCALM), as well as non-governmental organizations and local, state, and federal agencies. OT has become a hub for high-resolution topography resources. Datasets hosted by other organizations, as well as lidar-specific software, can be registered into the OT catalog, providing users a 'one-stop shop' for such information. OT is also a partner on the NASA Lidar Access System (NLAS

Observation of wind field over heterogeneous terrain by the French-German airborne Doppler lidar WIND

Science.gov (United States)

Dabas, A.; Werner, C.; Delville, P.; Reitebuch, O.; Drobinski, P.; Cousin, F.

2003-04-01

In summer 2001, the French-German airborne Doppler lidar WIND participated to field campaign ESCOMPTE. ESCOMPTE was carried out in the region of Marseille along the Mediterranean coast of France. It was dedicated to the observation of heavy pollution events in this industrialized, densely populated region of nearly 4 million inhabitants. The aim was to gather a data base as comprehensive as possible on several pollution events and use them to check the ability of several regional forecast models to predict such events. The specific mission devoted to WIND was the characterization at mesoscale of the wind field and the topography of the planetary boundary layer. Both are complex around Marseille due the heterogeneity of the surface with a transition sea/land to the south, the fore-Alps to the North, the Rhône valley to the North-West etc... Seven, 3-hr flights were carried out and gave excellent results. In 2002, first comparisons were made with mesoscale models. They will be shown during the presentation. They are good examples of the usefulness of airborne Doppler lidar for validating and improving atmospheric model simulations.

A Concept of Multi-Mode High Spectral Resolution Lidar Using Mach-Zehnder Interferometer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jin Yoshitaka

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we present the design of a High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL using a laser that oscillates in a multi-longitudinal mode. Rayleigh and Mie scattering components are separated using a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI with the same free spectral range (FSR as the transmitted laser. The transmitted laser light is measured as a reference signal with the same MZI. By scanning the MZI periodically with a scanning range equal to the mode spacing, we can identify the maximum Mie and the maximum Rayleigh signals using the reference signal. The cross talk due to the spectral width of each laser mode can also be estimated.

LiDAR The Generation of Automatic Mapping for Buildings, Using High Spatial Resolution Digital Vertical Aerial Photography and LiDAR Point Clouds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William Barragán Zaque

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to generate photogrammetrie products and to automatically map buildings in the area of interest in vector format. The research was conducted Bogotá using high resolution digital vertical aerial photographs and point clouds obtained using LIDAR technology. Image segmentation was also used, alongside radiometric and geometric digital processes. The process took into account aspects including building height, segmentation algorithms, and spectral band combination. The results had an effectiveness of 97.2 % validated through ground-truthing.

Wind measurement via direct detection lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Afek, I.; Sela, N.; Narkiss, N.; Shamai, G.; Tsadka, S.

2013-10-01

Wind sensing Lidar is considered a promising technology for high quality wind measurements required for various applications such as hub height wind resource assessment, power curve measurements and advanced, real time, forward looking turbine control. Until recently, the only available Lidar technology was based on coherent Doppler shift detection, whose market acceptance has been slow primarily due to its exuberant price. Direct detection Lidar technology provides an alternative to remote sensing of wind by incorporating high precision measurement, a robust design and an affordable price tag.

Leveraging High Resolution Topography for Education and Outreach: Updates to OpenTopography to make EarthScope and Other Lidar Datasets more Prominent in Geoscience Education

Science.gov (United States)

Kleber, E.; Crosby, C. J.; Arrowsmith, R.; Robinson, S.; Haddad, D. E.

2013-12-01

The use of Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) derived topography has become an indispensable tool in Earth science research. The collection of high-resolution lidar topography from an airborne or terrestrial platform allows landscapes and landforms to be represented at sub-meter resolution and in three dimensions. In addition to its high value for scientific research, lidar derived topography has tremendous potential as a tool for Earth science education. Recent science education initiatives and a community call for access to research-level data make the time ripe to expose lidar data and derived data products as a teaching tool. High resolution topographic data fosters several Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGS, 2013), presents respective Big Ideas of the new community-driven Earth Science Literacy Initiative (ESLI, 2009), teaches to a number National Science Education Standards (NSES, 1996), and Benchmarks for Science Literacy (AAAS, 1993) for science education for undergraduate physical and environmental earth science classes. The spatial context of lidar data complements concepts like visualization, place-based learning, inquiry based teaching and active learning essential to teaching in the geosciences. As official host to EarthScope lidar datasets for tectonically active areas in the western United States, the NSF-funded OpenTopography facility provides user-friendly access to a wealth of data that is easily incorporated into Earth science educational materials. OpenTopography (www.opentopography.org), in collaboration with EarthScope, has developed education and outreach activities to foster teacher, student and researcher utilization of lidar data. These educational resources use lidar data coupled with free tools such as Google Earth to provide a means for students and the interested public to visualize and explore Earth's surface in an interactive manner not possible with most other remotely sensed imagery. The

High-resolution tree canopy mapping for New York City using LIDAR and object-based image analysis

Science.gov (United States)

MacFaden, Sean W.; O'Neil-Dunne, Jarlath P. M.; Royar, Anna R.; Lu, Jacqueline W. T.; Rundle, Andrew G.

2012-01-01

Urban tree canopy is widely believed to have myriad environmental, social, and human-health benefits, but a lack of precise canopy estimates has hindered quantification of these benefits in many municipalities. This problem was addressed for New York City using object-based image analysis (OBIA) to develop a comprehensive land-cover map, including tree canopy to the scale of individual trees. Mapping was performed using a rule-based expert system that relied primarily on high-resolution LIDAR, specifically its capacity for evaluating the height and texture of aboveground features. Multispectral imagery was also used, but shadowing and varying temporal conditions limited its utility. Contextual analysis was a key part of classification, distinguishing trees according to their physical and spectral properties as well as their relationships to adjacent, nonvegetated features. The automated product was extensively reviewed and edited via manual interpretation, and overall per-pixel accuracy of the final map was 96%. Although manual editing had only a marginal effect on accuracy despite requiring a majority of project effort, it maximized aesthetic quality and ensured the capture of small, isolated trees. Converting high-resolution LIDAR and imagery into usable information is a nontrivial exercise, requiring significant processing time and labor, but an expert system-based combination of OBIA and manual review was an effective method for fine-scale canopy mapping in a complex urban environment.

Performance evaluation of an all-fiber image-reject homodyne coherent Doppler wind lidar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Abari, Cyrus F.; Pedersen, Anders Tegtmeier; Dellwik, Ebba

2015-01-01

The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the near-zero wind velocity measurement performance of two separate 1.5 µm all-fiber coherent Doppler lidars (CDLs). The performance characterization is carried out through the presentation of the results from two separate atmospheric field campaigns....... In one campaign, a recently developed continuous wave (CW) CDL benefiting from an image-reject front-end was deployed. The other campaign utilized a different CW CDL, benefiting from a heterodyne receiver with intermediate-frequency (IF) sampling. In both field campaigns the results are compared against...

High Resolution Elevation Contours

Data.gov (United States)

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources — This dataset contains contours generated from high resolution data sources such as LiDAR. Generally speaking this data is 2 foot or less contour interval.

LiDAR derived high resolution topography: the next challenge for the analysis of terraces stability and vineyard soil erosion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Federico Preti

2013-09-01

Full Text Available The soil erosion in the vineyards is a critical issue that could affect their productivity, but also, when the cultivation is organized in terraces, increase the risk due to derived slope failure processes. If terraces are not correctly designed or maintained, a progressively increasing of gully erosion affects the structure of the walls. The results of this process is the increasing of connectivity and runoff. In order to overcome such issues it is really important to recognize in detail all the surface drainage paths, thus providing a basis upon which develop a suitable drainage system or provide structural measures for the soil erosion risk mitigation. In the last few years, the airborne LiDAR technology led to a dramatic increase in terrain information. Airborne LiDAR and Terrestrial Laser Scanner derived high-resolution Digital Terrain Models (DTMs have opened avenues for hydrologic and geomorphologic studies (Tarolli et al., 2009. In general, all the main surface process signatures are correctly recognized using a DTM with cell sizes of 1 m. However sub-meter grid sizes may be more suitable in those situations where the analysis of micro topography related to micro changes is critical for slope failures risk assessment or for the design of detailed drainage flow paths. The Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS has been proven to be an useful tool for such detailed field survey. In this work, we test the effectiveness of high resolution topography derived by airborne LiDAR and TLS for the recognition of areas subject to soil erosion risk in a typical terraced vineyard landscape of “Chianti Classico” (Tuscany, Italy. The algorithm proposed by Tarolli et al. (2013, for the automatic recognition of anthropic feature induced flow direction changes, has been tested. The results underline the effectiveness of LiDAR and TLS data in the analysis of soil erosion signatures in vineyards, and indicate the high resolution topography as a useful tool to

Micro-pulse upconversion Doppler lidar for wind and visibility detection in the atmospheric boundary layer.

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Haiyun; Shangguan, Mingjia; Wang, Chong; Shentu, Guoliang; Qiu, Jiawei; Zhang, Qiang; Dou, Xiankang; Pan, Jianwei

2016-11-15

For the first time, to the best of our knowledge, a compact, eye-safe, and versatile direct detection Doppler lidar is developed using an upconversion single-photon detection method at 1.5 μm. An all-fiber and polarization maintaining architecture is realized to guarantee the high optical coupling efficiency and the robust stability. Using integrated-optic components, the conservation of etendue of the optical receiver is achieved by manufacturing a fiber-coupled periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide and an all-fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI). The double-edge technique is implemented by using a convert single-channel FPI and a single upconversion detector, incorporating a time-division multiplexing method. The backscatter photons at 1548.1 nm are converted into 863 nm via mixing with a pump laser at 1950 nm. The relative error of the system is less than 0.1% over nine weeks. In experiments, atmospheric wind and visibility over 48 h are detected in the boundary layer. The lidar shows good agreement with the ultrasonic wind sensor, with a standard deviation of 1.04 m/s in speed and 12.3° in direction.

High-energy, 2µm laser transmitter for coherent wind LIDAR

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Upendra N.; Yu, Jirong; Kavaya, Michael J.; Koch, Grady J.

2017-11-01

A coherent Doppler lidar at 2μm wavelength has been built with higher output energy (300 mJ) than previously available. The laser transmitter is based on the solid-state Ho:Tm:LuLiF, a NASA Langley Research Center invented laser material for higher extraction efficiency. This diode pumped injection seeded MOPA has a transform limited line width and diffraction limited beam quality. NASA Langley Research Center is developing coherent wind lidar transmitter technology at eye-safe wavelength for satellite-based observation of wind on a global scale. The ability to profile wind is a key measurement for understanding and predicting atmospheric dynamics and is a critical measurement for improving weather forecasting and climate modeling. We would describe the development and performance of an engineering hardened 2μm laser transmitter for coherent Doppler wind measurement from ground/aircraft/space platform.

Nocturnal Low-level Jet Evolution in a Broad Valley Observed by Dual Doppler Lidar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Damian

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The temporal evolution of a nocturnal low-level jet (LLJ in the 40km$40\\,\\text{km}$ broad Rhine Valley near Karlsruhe is studied, in the framework of a case study, with two heterodyne detection Doppler lidars using the new scan concept of “virtual towers”. For validation of this measuring technique, we performed comparative case studies with a tethered balloon and the highly instrumented 200m$200\\,\\text{m}$ KIT tower. The findings show capabilities of the virtual tower technique for wind measurements. Virtual towers can be placed at all locations within the range of Lidar measurements. Associated with nocturnal stable stratification, the LLJ, a wind speed maximum of about 9ms-1$9\\,\\text{m}\\,\\text{s}^{-1}$, develops at 100m$100\\,\\text{m}$ to 150m$150\\,\\text{m}$ agl, but the wind does not show the typical clockwise wind direction change that is reported in many other studies. This is attributed to the channeling effect occurring in broad valleys like the Rhine Valley when the boundary layer is stably stratified. Such channeling means a significant deviation of the wind direction from the Ekman spiral so that low-altitude winds turn into valley-parallel direction.

APPLIED GEOSPATIAL EDUCATION: ACQUISITION AND PROCESSING OF HIGH RESOLUTION AIRBORNE LIDAR AND ORTHOIMAGES FOR THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK, SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. R. Jordan

2012-07-01

Full Text Available In an innovative collaboration between government, university and private industry, researchers at the University of Georgia and Gainesville State College are collaborating with Photo Science, Inc. to acquire, process and quality control check lidar and or-thoimages of forest areas in the Southern Appalachian Mountains of the United States. Funded by the U.S. Geological Survey, this project meets the objectives of the ARRA initiative by creating jobs, preserving jobs and training students for high skill positions in geospatial technology. Leaf-off lidar data were acquired at 1-m resolution of the Tennessee portion of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park (GRSM and adjacent Foothills Parkway. This 1400-sq. km. area is of high priority for national/global interests due to biodiversity, rare and endangered species and protection of some of the last remaining virgin forest in the U.S. High spatial resolution (30 cm leaf-off 4-band multispectral orthoimages also were acquired for both the Chattahoochee National Forest in north Georgia and the entire GRSM. The data are intended to augment the National Elevation Dataset and orthoimage database of The National Map with information that can be used by many researchers in applications of LiDAR point clouds, high resolution DEMs and or-thoimage mosaics. Graduate and undergraduate students were involved at every stage of the workflow in order to provide then with high level technical educational and professional experience in preparation for entering the geospatial workforce. This paper will present geospatial workflow strategies, multi-team coordination, distance-learning training and industry-academia partnership.

Theoretical and experimental signal-to-noise ratio assessment in new direction sensing continuous-wave Doppler lidar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Anders Tegtmeier; Foroughi Abari, Farzad; Mann, Jakob

2014-01-01

A new direction sensing continuous-wave Doppler lidar based on an image-reject homodyne receiver has recently been demonstrated at DTU Wind Energy, Technical University of Denmark. In this contribution we analyse the signal-to-noise ratio resulting from two different data processing methods both...... leading to the direction sensing capability. It is found that using the auto spectrum of the complex signal to determine the wind speed leads to a signal-to-noise ratio equivalent to that of a standard self-heterodyne receiver. Using the imaginary part of the cross spectrum to estimate the Doppler shift...... has the benefit of a zero-mean background spectrum, but comes at the expense of a decrease in the signal-to noise ratio by a factor of √2....

Quantification of tidal inlet morphodynamics using high-resolution MBES and LiDAR

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ernstsen, Verner Brandbyge; Lefebvre, Alice; Fraccascia, Serena

-bathymetric surveys using high-resolution red and green Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR). Detailed digital elevation models with a grid cell size of 1 m x 1 m were generated and analysed geomorphometrically. The analyses reveal a main ebb-directed net sand transport in the main channel; however, due...... to the geometry of the main channel, displaying a confluent meander bend, confined areas in the main channel are characterised by an opposite-directed net sand transport. In the inter-tidal areas the main net sand transport is flood-directed. However, also here the analyses reveal the existence of oblique second...... is transported from the inlet channel to the intertidal flat. Therefore, in addition to the typical main sand transport directions with net export in the inlet channel and net import over the adjacent inter-tidal flats, these investigations suggest an exchange and possible recirculation of sand between the inlet...

3D turbulence measurements using three intersecting Doppler LiDAR beams: validation against sonic anemometry

Science.gov (United States)

Carbajo Fuertes, Fernando; Valerio Iungo, Giacomo; Porté-Agel, Fernando

2013-04-01

Nowadays communities of researchers and industry in the wind engineering and meteorology sectors demand extensive and accurate measurements of atmospheric boundary layer turbulence for a better understanding of its role in a wide range of onshore and offshore applications: wind resource evaluation, wind turbine wakes, meteorology forecast, pollution and urban climate studies, etc. Atmospheric turbulence has been traditionally investigated through sonic anemometers installed on meteorological masts. However, the setup and maintenance of instrumented masts is generally very costly and the available location for the measurements is limited by the fixed position and height of the facility. In order to overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings, a measurement technique is proposed, based on the reconstruction of the three-dimensional velocity vector from simultaneous measurements of three intersecting Doppler wind LiDARs. This measuring technique presents the main advantage of being able to measure the wind velocity at any point in space inside a very large volume, which can be set and optimized for each test. Furthermore, it is very flexible regarding its transportation, installation and operation in any type of terrain. On the other hand, LiDAR measurements are strongly affected by the aerosol concentration in the air, precipitation, and the spatial and temporal resolution is poorer than that of a sonic anemometer. All this makes the comparison between these two kinds of measurements a complex task. The accuracy of the technique has been assessed by this study against sonic anemometer measurements carried out at different heights on the KNMI's meteorological mast at Cabauw's experimental site for atmospheric research (CESAR) in the Netherlands. An early uncertainty analysis shows that one of the most important parameters to be taken into account is the relative angles between the intersecting laser beams, i.e., the position of each LiDAR on the terrain and their

Field-widened Michelson interferometer for spectral discrimination in high-spectral-resolution lidar: theoretical framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Zhongtao; Liu, Dong; Luo, Jing; Yang, Yongying; Zhou, Yudi; Zhang, Yupeng; Duan, Lulin; Su, Lin; Yang, Liming; Shen, Yibing; Wang, Kaiwei; Bai, Jian

2015-05-04

A field-widened Michelson interferometer (FWMI) is developed to act as the spectral discriminator in high-spectral-resolution lidar (HSRL). This realization is motivated by the wide-angle Michelson interferometer (WAMI) which has been used broadly in the atmospheric wind and temperature detection. This paper describes an independent theoretical framework about the application of the FWMI in HSRL for the first time. In the framework, the operation principles and application requirements of the FWMI are discussed in comparison with that of the WAMI. Theoretical foundations for designing this type of interferometer are introduced based on these comparisons. Moreover, a general performance estimation model for the FWMI is established, which can provide common guidelines for the performance budget and evaluation of the FWMI in the both design and operation stages. Examples incorporating many practical imperfections or conditions that may degrade the performance of the FWMI are given to illustrate the implementation of the modeling. This theoretical framework presents a complete and powerful tool for solving most of theoretical or engineering problems encountered in the FWMI application, including the designing, parameter calibration, prior performance budget, posterior performance estimation, and so on. It will be a valuable contribution to the lidar community to develop a new generation of HSRLs based on the FWMI spectroscopic filter.

Field-widened Michelson interferometer for spectral discrimination in high-spectral-resolution lidar: practical development.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Zhongtao; Liu, Dong; Zhang, Yupeng; Yang, Yongying; Zhou, Yudi; Luo, Jing; Bai, Jian; Shen, Yibing; Wang, Kaiwei; Liu, Chong; Su, Lin; Yang, Liming

2016-04-04

A field-widened Michelson interferometer (FWMI), which is intended as the spectroscopic discriminator in ground-based high-spectral-resolution lidar (HSRL) for atmospheric aerosol detection, is described in this paper. The structure, specifications and design of the developed prototype FWMI are introduced, and an experimental approach is proposed to optimize the FWMI assembly and evaluate its comprehensive characteristic simultaneously. Experimental results show that, after optimization process, the peak-to-valley (PV) value and root-mean-square (RMS) value of measured OPD variation for the FWMI are 0.04λ and 0.008λ respectively among the half divergent angle range of 1.5 degree. Through an active locking technique, the frequency of the FWMI can be locked to the laser transmitter with accuracy of 27 MHz for more than one hour. The practical spectral discrimination ratio (SDR) for the developed FWMI is evaluated to be larger than 86 if the divergent angle of incident beam is smaller than 0.5 degree. All these results demonstrate the great potential of the developed FWMI as the spectroscopic discriminator for HSRLs, as well as the feasibility of the proposed design and optimization process. This paper is expected to provide a good entrance for the lidar community in future HSRL developments using the FWMI technique.

Three-Dimensional Wind Profiling of Offshore Wind Energy Areas With Airborne Doppler Lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Koch, Grady J.; Beyon, Jeffrey Y.; Cowen, Larry J.; Kavaya, Michael J.; Grant, Michael S.

2014-01-01

A technique has been developed for imaging the wind field over offshore areas being considered for wind farming. This is accomplished with an eye-safe 2-micrometer wavelength coherent Doppler lidar installed in an aircraft. By raster scanning the aircraft over the wind energy area (WEA), a three-dimensional map of the wind vector can be made. This technique was evaluated in 11 flights over the Virginia and Maryland offshore WEAs. Heights above the ocean surface planned for wind turbines are shown to be within the marine boundary layer, and the wind vector is seen to show variation across the geographical area of interest at turbine heights.

Special Relativity Corrections for Space-Based Lidars

Science.gov (United States)

RaoGudimetla, Venkata S.; Kavaya, Michael J.

1999-01-01

The theory of special relativity is used to analyze some of the physical phenomena associated with space-based coherent Doppler lidars aimed at Earth and the atmosphere. Two important cases of diffuse scattering and retroreflection by lidar targets are treated. For the case of diffuse scattering, we show that for a coaligned transmitter and receiver on the moving satellite, there is no angle between transmitted and returned radiation. However, the ray that enters the receiver does not correspond to a retroreflected ray by the target. For the retroreflection case there is misalignment between the transmitted ray and the received ray. In addition, the Doppler shift in the frequency and the amount of tip for the receiver aperture when needed are calculated, The error in estimating wind because of the Doppler shift in the frequency due to special relativity effects is examined. The results are then applied to a proposed space-based pulsed coherent Doppler lidar at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center for wind and aerosol backscatter measurements. The lidar uses an orbiting spacecraft with a pulsed laser source and measures the Doppler shift between the transmitted and the received frequencies to determine the atmospheric wind velocities. We show that the special relativity effects are small for the proposed system.

Wind turbine wake characterization using long-range Doppler lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Aitken, M.; Lundquist, J. K.; Hestmark, K.; Banta, R. M.; Pichugina, Y.; Brewer, A.

2012-12-01

Wind turbines extract energy from the freestream flow, resulting in a waked region behind the rotor which is characterized by reduced wind speed and increased turbulence. The velocity deficit in the wake diminishes with distance, as faster-moving air outside is gradually entrained. In a concentrated group of turbines, then, downwind machines experience very different inflow conditions compared to those in the front row. As utility-scale turbines rarely exist in isolation, detailed knowledge of the mean flow and turbulence structure inside wakes is needed to correctly model both power production and turbine loading at modern wind farms. To this end, the Turbine Wake and Inflow Characterization Study (TWICS) was conducted in the spring of 2011 to determine the reduction in wind speeds downstream from a multi-MW turbine located at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) near Boulder, Colorado. Full-scale measurements of wake dynamics are hardly practical or even possible with conventional sensors, such as cup anemometers mounted on meteorological (met) masts. Accordingly, the High Resolution Doppler Lidar (HRDL) developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Laboratory was employed to investigate the formation and propagation of wakes under varying levels of ambient wind speed, shear, atmospheric stability, and turbulence. HRDL remotely senses line-of-sight wind velocities and has been used in several previous studies of boundary layer aerodynamics. With a fully steerable beam and a maximum range up to about 5 km, depending on atmospheric conditions, HRDL performed a comprehensive survey of the wind flow in front of and behind the turbine to study the shape, meandering, and attenuation of wakes. Due in large part to limited experimental data availability, wind farm wake modeling is still subject to an unacceptable amount of uncertainty, particularly in complex terrain. Here, analytical

Construction and first atmospheric observations of a high spectral resolution lidar system in Argentina in the frame of a trinational Japanese-Argentinean-Chilean collaboration

Science.gov (United States)

Papandrea, S.; Jin, Y.; Ristori, P.; Otero, L.; Nishizawa, T.; Mizuno, A.; Sugimoto, N.; Quel, E.

2016-05-01

Atmospheric monitoring stations are being developed in Argentina. The most important targets are volcanic ashes, desert aerosols in particular Patagonian dust and biomass burning aerosols. Six stations deployed in the Patagonian Region and Buenos Aires have lidar systems, sun photometers integrated to the AERONET/NASA monitoring network, in situ optical particle analyzers, four solar radiation sensors (pyranometer, UVA, UVB and GUV), and meteorological equipment. The stations are in the main international airports of the Regions (San Carlos de Bariloche, Comodoro Rivadavia, Neuquén, Rio Gallegos) and in Buenos Aires (Aeroparque Jorge Newbery and at CEILAP/CITEDEF). CEILAP and the National Institute of Environmental Studies (NIES) at Tsukuba, Japan developed the first iodine cell-based high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) in Argentina to add in the lidar network. We upgraded the standard CEILAP multi-wavelength Raman lidar adding the laser frequency tuning system and the 532 iodine-filtered channel at the reception to built the HSRL. HSRL will provide daytime and nighttime direct observation of the aerosol and cloud optical properties (backscatter and extinction) without the pre-assumption of the lidar ratio. This work shows the design and construction of the first Argentinean HSRL. We also show the first lidar observations done in the country with this kind of lidar.

2012 MEGIS Topographic Lidar: Statewide Lidar Project Area 1 (Aroostook), Maine

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — LiDAR data is a remotely sensed high resolution elevation data collected by an airborne platform. The LiDAR sensor uses a combination of laser range finding, GPS...

Experimentally induced acute uric acid nephropathy in rabbits: Findings of high resolution gray scale and doppler ultrasonographies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, Ik; Chung, Soo Young; Lee, Kyung Won; Kim, Hong Dae; Ko, Eun Young; Won, Mi Sook; Noh, Jung Woo [Hallym University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Park, Moon Hyang [Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2001-12-15

To evaluate changes of the high-resolution (HR) gray scale and doppler ultrasonographic (US) characteristics of experimentally induced acute uric acid (UA) nephropathy in rabbits. Acute UA nephropathy was induced in ten rabbits using supersaturated lithium carbonate solution. The rabbits were divided in two groups. Group I consisted of five rabbits, and they were injected with a single dose of 150 ml of saturated UA over one hour. During tis period, serial US studies of the kidneys of these rabbits were performed every ten minutes. Group II consisted of the remaining five rabbits, and three injections of 50 ml of saturated UA solution were given on the first, fifth and eight day and follow-up was done upto twenty fifth day. Sequential HR and Doppler US, renal biopsy and blood sampling were performed on day 1, 5, 8, 21, and 25 in the group II rabbits. In group I, HR and Doppler US examination revealed the normal resistive index without significant abnormality. On the other hand, US studies of group II showed poor renal corticomedullary differentiation, decreased renal blood flow and elevated resistive index. There was statistically significant correlation among US findings, histologic characteristics and chemical index (BUN, creatinine) of renal function. In addition, sequentially increased size and volume of the kidney were noted in both groups. HR gray scale and doppler US characteristics of experimentally induced acute UA nephropathy in rabbits were similar to those of acute renal failure caused by other well-known causes.

Experimentally induced acute uric acid nephropathy in rabbits: Findings of high resolution gray scale and doppler ultrasonographies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Ik; Chung, Soo Young; Lee, Kyung Won; Kim, Hong Dae; Ko, Eun Young; Won, Mi Sook; Noh, Jung Woo; Park, Moon Hyang

2001-01-01

To evaluate changes of the high-resolution (HR) gray scale and doppler ultrasonographic (US) characteristics of experimentally induced acute uric acid (UA) nephropathy in rabbits. Acute UA nephropathy was induced in ten rabbits using supersaturated lithium carbonate solution. The rabbits were divided in two groups. Group I consisted of five rabbits, and they were injected with a single dose of 150 ml of saturated UA over one hour. During tis period, serial US studies of the kidneys of these rabbits were performed every ten minutes. Group II consisted of the remaining five rabbits, and three injections of 50 ml of saturated UA solution were given on the first, fifth and eight day and follow-up was done upto twenty fifth day. Sequential HR and Doppler US, renal biopsy and blood sampling were performed on day 1, 5, 8, 21, and 25 in the group II rabbits. In group I, HR and Doppler US examination revealed the normal resistive index without significant abnormality. On the other hand, US studies of group II showed poor renal corticomedullary differentiation, decreased renal blood flow and elevated resistive index. There was statistically significant correlation among US findings, histologic characteristics and chemical index (BUN, creatinine) of renal function. In addition, sequentially increased size and volume of the kidney were noted in both groups. HR gray scale and doppler US characteristics of experimentally induced acute UA nephropathy in rabbits were similar to those of acute renal failure caused by other well-known causes.

Wind profiling for a coherent wind Doppler lidar by an auto-adaptive background subtraction approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Yanwei; Guo, Pan; Chen, Siying; Chen, He; Zhang, Yinchao

2017-04-01

Auto-adaptive background subtraction (AABS) is proposed as a denoising method for data processing of the coherent Doppler lidar (CDL). The method is proposed specifically for a low-signal-to-noise-ratio regime, in which the drifting power spectral density of CDL data occurs. Unlike the periodogram maximum (PM) and adaptive iteratively reweighted penalized least squares (airPLS), the proposed method presents reliable peaks and is thus advantageous in identifying peak locations. According to the analysis results of simulated and actually measured data, the proposed method outperforms the airPLS method and the PM algorithm in the furthest detectable range. The proposed method improves the detection range approximately up to 16.7% and 40% when compared to the airPLS method and the PM method, respectively. It also has smaller mean wind velocity and standard error values than the airPLS and PM methods. The AABS approach improves the quality of Doppler shift estimates and can be applied to obtain the whole wind profiling by the CDL.

Tree filtering for high density airborne LiDAR data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Abd Rahman, M.Z.; Gorte, B.G.H.

2008-01-01

A high resolution Airborne LiDAR data creates better opportunity for an individual tree measurement and provides valuable results for more precise forest inventory. This paper presents tree filtering approach that able to separate dominant tree and undergrowth vegetation. The results can be used for

Semantic segmentation of forest stands of pure species combining airborne lidar data and very high resolution multispectral imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Dechesne, Clément; Mallet, Clément; Le Bris, Arnaud; Gouet-Brunet, Valérie

2017-04-01

Forest stands are the basic units for forest inventory and mapping. Stands are defined as large forested areas (e.g., ⩾ 2 ha) of homogeneous tree species composition and age. Their accurate delineation is usually performed by human operators through visual analysis of very high resolution (VHR) infra-red images. This task is tedious, highly time consuming, and should be automated for scalability and efficient updating purposes. In this paper, a method based on the fusion of airborne lidar data and VHR multispectral images is proposed for the automatic delineation of forest stands containing one dominant species (purity superior to 75%). This is the key preliminary task for forest land-cover database update. The multispectral images give information about the tree species whereas 3D lidar point clouds provide geometric information on the trees and allow their individual extraction. Multi-modal features are computed, both at pixel and object levels: the objects are individual trees extracted from lidar data. A supervised classification is then performed at the object level in order to coarsely discriminate the existing tree species in each area of interest. The classification results are further processed to obtain homogeneous areas with smooth borders by employing an energy minimum framework, where additional constraints are joined to form the energy function. The experimental results show that the proposed method provides very satisfactory results both in terms of stand labeling and delineation (overall accuracy ranges between 84 % and 99 %).

Identification of Critical Design Points for the EAP of a Space-based Doppler Lidar Wind Sounder

Science.gov (United States)

Emmitt, G. D.; Wood, S. A.

1992-01-01

The feasibility of making tropospheric wind measurements with a space-based Doppler lidar was studied by a number of agencies over the past 10-15 years. Currently NASA has a plan to launch such an instrument, the Laser Atmospheric Wind Sounder (LAWS), within the next decade. The design of the LAWS continues to undergo a series of iterations common to most instruments targeted for a space platform. In general, the constraints of available platform power, weight allowance, and project funds continue to change. With these changes the performance and design specifications also must change.

Novel short-pulse laser diode source for high-resolution 3D flash lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Canal, Celine; Laugustin, Arnaud; Kohl, Andreas; Rabot, Olivier

2017-06-01

Imaging based on laser illumination is present in various fields of applications such as medicine, security, defense, civil engineering and in the automotive sector. In this last domain, research and development to bring autonomous vehicles on the roads has been intensified the recent years. Among the various technologies currently studied, automotive lidars are a fast-growing one due to their accuracy to detect a wide range of objects at distances up to a few hundreds of meters in various weather conditions. First commercialized devices for ADAS were laser scanners. Since then, new architectures have recently appeared such as solid-state lidar and flash lidar that offer a higher compactness, robustness and a cost reduction. Flash lidars are based on time-of-flight measurements, with the particularity that they do not require beam scanners because only one short laser pulse with a large divergence is used to enlighten the whole scene. Depth of encountered objects can then be recovered from measurement of echoed light at once, hence enabling real-time 3D mapping of the environment. This paper will bring into the picture a cutting edge laser diode source that can deliver millijoule pulses as short as 12 ns, which makes them highly suitable for integration in flash lidars. They provide a 100-kW peak power highly divergent beam in a footprint of 4x5 cm2 (including both the laser diode and driver) and with a 30-% electrical-to-optical efficiency, making them suitable for integration in environments in which compactness and power consumption are a priority. Their emission in the range of 800-1000 nm is considered to be eye safe when taking into account the high divergence of the output beam. An overview of architecture of these state-of-the-art pulsed laser diode sources will be given together with some solutions for their integration in 3D mapping systems. Future work leads will be discussed for miniaturization of the laser diode and drastic cost reduction.

Leveraging North Carolina's QL2 Lidar to Quantify Sensitivity of National Water Model Derived Flood Inundation Extent to DEM Resolution

Science.gov (United States)

Lovette, J. P.; Lenhardt, W. C.; Blanton, B.; Duncan, J. M.; Stillwell, L.

2017-12-01

The National Water Model (NWM) has provided a novel framework for near real time flood inundation mapping across CONUS at a 10m resolution. In many regions, this spatial scale is quickly being surpassed through the collection of high resolution lidar (1 - 3m). As one of the leading states in data collection for flood inundation mapping, North Carolina is currently improving their previously available 20 ft statewide elevation product to a Quality Level 2 (QL2) product with a nominal point spacing of 0.7 meters. This QL2 elevation product increases the ground points by roughly ten times over the previous statewide lidar product, and by over 250 times when compared to the 10m NED elevation grid. When combining these new lidar data with the discharge estimates from the NWM, we can further improve statewide flood inundation maps and predictions of at-risk areas. In the context of flood risk management, these improved predictions with higher resolution elevation models consistently represent an improvement on coarser products. Additionally, the QL2 lidar also includes coarse land cover classification data for each point return, opening the possibility for expanding analysis beyond the use of only digital elevation models (e.g. improving estimates of surface roughness, identifying anthropogenic features in floodplains, characterizing riparian zones, etc.). Using the NWM Height Above Nearest Drainage approach, we compare flood inundation extents derived from multiple lidar-derived grid resolutions to assess the tradeoff between precision and computational load in North Carolina's coastal river basins. The elevation data distributed through the state's new lidar collection program provide spatial resolutions ranging from 5-50 feet, with most inland areas also including a 3 ft product. Data storage increases by almost two orders of magnitude across this range, as does processing load. In order to further assess the validity of the higher resolution elevation products on

Ambiguity resolution for satellite Doppler positioning systems

Science.gov (United States)

Argentiero, P.; Marini, J.

1979-01-01

The implementation of satellite-based Doppler positioning systems frequently requires the recovery of transmitter position from a single pass of Doppler data. The least-squares approach to the problem yields conjugate solutions on either side of the satellite subtrack. It is important to develop a procedure for choosing the proper solution which is correct in a high percentage of cases. A test for ambiguity resolution which is the most powerful in the sense that it maximizes the probability of a correct decision is derived. When systematic error sources are properly included in the least-squares reduction process to yield an optimal solution the test reduces to choosing the solution which provides the smaller valuation of the least-squares loss function. When systematic error sources are ignored in the least-squares reduction, the most powerful test is a quadratic form comparison with the weighting matrix of the quadratic form obtained by computing the pseudoinverse of a reduced-rank square matrix. A formula for computing the power of the most powerful test is provided. Numerical examples are included in which the power of the test is computed for situations that are relevant to the design of a satellite-aided search and rescue system.

Airborne and Ground-Based Measurements Using a High-Performance Raman Lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Whiteman, David N.; Rush, Kurt; Rabenhorst, Scott; Welch, Wayne; Cadirola, Martin; McIntire, Gerry; Russo, Felicita; Adam, Mariana; Venable, Demetrius; Connell, Rasheen;

Spatio Temporal Detection and Virtual Mapping of Landslide Using High-Resolution Airborne Laser Altimetry (lidar) in Densely Vegetated Areas of Tropics

Science.gov (United States)

Bibi, T.; Azahari Razak, K.; Rahman, A. Abdul; Latif, A.

2017-10-01

Landslides are an inescapable natural disaster, resulting in massive social, environmental and economic impacts all over the world. The tropical, mountainous landscape in generally all over Malaysia especially in eastern peninsula (Borneo) is highly susceptible to landslides because of heavy rainfall and tectonic disturbances. The purpose of the Landslide hazard mapping is to identify the hazardous regions for the execution of mitigation plans which can reduce the loss of life and property from future landslide incidences. Currently, the Malaysian research bodies e.g. academic institutions and government agencies are trying to develop a landslide hazard and risk database for susceptible areas to backing the prevention, mitigation, and evacuation plan. However, there is a lack of devotion towards landslide inventory mapping as an elementary input of landslide susceptibility, hazard and risk mapping. The developing techniques based on remote sensing technologies (satellite, terrestrial and airborne) are promising techniques to accelerate the production of landslide maps, shrinking the time and resources essential for their compilation and orderly updates. The aim of the study is to provide a better perception regarding the use of virtual mapping of landslides with the help of LiDAR technology. The focus of the study is spatio temporal detection and virtual mapping of landslide inventory via visualization and interpretation of very high-resolution data (VHR) in forested terrain of Mesilau river, Kundasang. However, to cope with the challenges of virtual inventory mapping on in forested terrain high resolution LiDAR derivatives are used. This study specifies that the airborne LiDAR technology can be an effective tool for mapping landslide inventories in a complex climatic and geological conditions, and a quick way of mapping regional hazards in the tropics.

ESA's spaceborne lidar mission ADM-Aeolus; project status and preparations for launch

Science.gov (United States)

Straume, Anne Grete; Elfving, Anders; Wernham, Denny; de Bruin, Frank; Kanitz, Thomas; Schuettemeyer, Dirk; Bismarck, Jonas von; Buscaglione, Fabio; Lecrenier, O.; McGoldrick, Phil

2018-04-01

ESA's Doppler Wind lidar mission, the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission (ADM-Aeolus, hereafter abbreviated to Aeolus), was chosen as an Earth Explorer Core mission within the Living Planet Programme in 1999. It shall demonstrate the potential of space-based Doppler Wind lidars for operational measurements of wind profiles and their use in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) and climate research. Spin-off products are profiles of cloud and aerosol optical properties. Aeolus carries the novel Doppler Wind lidar instrument ALADIN. The mission prime is Airbus Defence & Space UK (ADS-UK), and the instrument prime is Airbus Defence & Space France (ADS-F).

Aerosol backscatter measurements at 10.6 microns with airborne and ground-based CO2 Doppler lidars over the Colorado High Plains. II - Backscatter structure

Science.gov (United States)

Bowdle, David A.; Rothermel, Jeffry; Vaughan, J. Michael; Post, Madison J.

1991-01-01

Measurements of tropospheric aerosol volume backscatter coefficients at 10.6-microns wavelength were obtained with airborne continuous wave and ground-based pulsed CO2 Doppler lidars over the Colorado High Plains during a 20-day period in summer 1982. A persistent 'background' layer was found between 6- and 10-km altitude, with a generally uniform backscatter mixing ratio of about 10 to the -10th sq m/kg per sr. The upper boundary of this background layer varied with the tropopause height; the lower boundary varied with the strength and diurnal cycle of convective mixing in the planetary boundary layer (PBL). For quiescent meteorological conditions, the transition from the PBL to the background layer was usually very sharp, with backscatter decreases sometimes as large as 3 decades in about 70 m. Sharp gradients were also found at the boundaries of shallow (tens of meters) subvisible cirrus clouds. For less stable conditions, associated with vertical aerosol transport by deep cumuliform clouds, backscatter tended to decrease exponentially with altitude.

Airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar Aerosol Measurements during MILAGRO and TEXAQS/GOMACCS

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrare, Richard; Hostetler, Chris; Hair, John; Cook Anthony; Harper, David; Burton, Sharon; Clayton, Marian; Clarke, Antony; Russell, Phil; Redemann, Jens

2007-01-01

Two1 field experiments conducted during 2006 provided opportunities to investigate the variability of aerosol properties near cities and the impacts of these aerosols on air quality and radiative transfer. The Megacity Initiative: Local and Global Research Observations (MILAGRO) /Megacity Aerosol Experiment in Mexico City (MAX-MEX)/Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment-B (INTEX-B) joint experiment conducted during March 2006 investigated the evolution and transport of pollution from Mexico City. The Texas Air Quality Study (TEXAQS)/Gulf of Mexico Atmospheric Composition and Climate Study (GoMACCS) (http://www.al.noaa.gov/2006/) conducted during August and September 2006 investigated climate and air quality in the Houston/Gulf of Mexico region. During both missions, the new NASA Langley airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) was deployed on the NASA Langley B200 King Air aircraft and measured profiles of aerosol extinction, backscattering, and depolarization to: 1) characterize the spatial and vertical distributions of aerosols, 2) quantify aerosol extinction and optical thickness contributed by various aerosol types, 3) investigate aerosol variability near clouds, 4) evaluate model simulations of aerosol transport, and 5) assess aerosol optical properties derived from a combination of surface, airborne, and satellite measurements.

Design and performance simulation of 532 nm Rayleigh-Mie Doppler lidar system for 5-50 km wind measurement

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Fahua; Wang, Bangxin; Shi, Wenjuan; Zhuang, Peng; Zhu, Chengyun; Xie, Chenbo

2018-04-01

A novel design of the 532 nm Rayleigh-Mie Doppler lidar receiving system is carried out. The use of polarization isolation technology to effectively improve the receiving system optical reception efficiency, suppress the background noise, not only improves the system wind field detection accuracy, while achieving a high-accuracy temperature measurement. The wind speed and temperature measurement principle of the system are discussed in detail, and the triple Fabry-Perot etalon parameters are optimized. Utilizing the overall design parameters of the system, the system detection performance is simulated. The simulation results show that from 5 to 50 km altitude with vertical resolution of 0.1 km@5 ∼20 km, 0.5 km@20 ∼40 km, 1 km@40 ∼50 km, by using the laser with single pulse energy of 600 mJ, repetition frequency of 50 Hz and the receiving telescope with aperture of 0.8 m, with 2min integration time and in ±50 m/s radial wind speed range, the radial wind speed measurement accuracies of our designed lidar in the day and night are better than 2.6 m/s and 0.9 m/s respectively, and its performance is obviously superior to that of traditional system 5.6 m/s and 1.4 m/s wind speed accuracies; with 10min integration time and in 210 ∼280 K temperature range, the temperature measurement accuracies of the system in the day and night are better than 3.4 K and 1.2 K respectively; since the wind speed sensitivities of the Mie and Rayleigh scattering signals are not exactly the same, in ±50 m/s radial wind speed range, the wind speed bias induced by Mie signal is less than 1 m/s in the temperature range of 210-290 K and in the backscatter ratio range of 1-1.5 for pair measurement.

Coherent Doppler Laser Radar: Technology Development and Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Kavaya, Michael J.; Arnold, James E. (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center has been investigating, developing, and applying coherent Doppler laser radar technology for over 30 years. These efforts have included the first wind measurement in 1967, the first airborne flights in 1972, the first airborne wind field mapping in 1981, and the first measurement of hurricane eyewall winds in 1998. A parallel effort at MSFC since 1982 has been the study, modeling and technology development for a space-based global wind measurement system. These endeavors to date have resulted in compact, robust, eyesafe lidars at 2 micron wavelength based on solid-state laser technology; in a factor of 6 volume reduction in near diffraction limited, space-qualifiable telescopes; in sophisticated airborne scanners with full platform motion subtraction; in local oscillator lasers capable of rapid tuning of 25 GHz for removal of relative laser radar to target velocities over a 25 km/s range; in performance prediction theory and simulations that have been validated experimentally; and in extensive field campaign experience. We have also begun efforts to dramatically improve the fundamental photon efficiency of the laser radar, to demonstrate advanced lower mass laser radar telescopes and scanners; to develop laser and laser radar system alignment maintenance technologies; and to greatly improve the electrical efficiency, cooling technique, and robustness of the pulsed laser. This coherent Doppler laser radar technology is suitable for high resolution, high accuracy wind mapping; for aerosol and cloud measurement; for Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) measurements of atmospheric and trace gases; for hard target range and velocity measurement; and for hard target vibration spectra measurement. It is also suitable for a number of aircraft operations applications such as clear air turbulence (CAT) detection; dangerous wind shear (microburst) detection; airspeed, angle of attack, and sideslip measurement; and fuel savings through

ESA’s spaceborne lidar mission ADM-Aeolus; project status and preparations for launch

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Straume Anne Grete

2018-01-01

Full Text Available ESA’s Doppler Wind lidar mission, the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission (ADM-Aeolus, hereafter abbreviated to Aeolus, was chosen as an Earth Explorer Core mission within the Living Planet Programme in 1999. It shall demonstrate the potential of space-based Doppler Wind lidars for operational measurements of wind profiles and their use in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP and climate research. Spin-off products are profiles of cloud and aerosol optical properties. Aeolus carries the novel Doppler Wind lidar instrument ALADIN. The mission prime is Airbus Defence & Space UK (ADS-UK, and the instrument prime is Airbus Defence & Space France (ADS-F.

Use of High Resolution LiDAR imagery for landslide identification and hazard assessment, State Highway 6, Haast Pass, New Zealand

Science.gov (United States)

Walsh, Andrew; Zimmer, Valerie; Bell, David

2015-04-01

This study has assessed landslide hazards associated with steep and densely vegetated bedrock slopes adjacent to State Highway 6 through the Southern Alps of New Zealand. The Haast Pass serves as one of only three routes across the Southern Alps, and is a lifeline to the southern West Coast of the South Island with a 1,000km detour required through the nearest alternative pass. Over the last 50 years the highway has been subjected to numerous landslide events that have resulted in lengthy road closures, and the death of two tourists in September 2013. To date no study has been undertaken to identify and evaluate the landslide hazards for the entire Haast Pass, with previous work focusing on post-failure monitoring or investigation of individual landslides. This study identified the distribution and extent of regolith deposits on the schist slopes, and the location and sizes of dormant and active landslides potentially impacting the highway. Until the advent of LiDAR technology it had not been possible to achieve such an evaluation because dense vegetation and very steep topography prevented traditional methods of investigation (mapping; trenching; drilling; geophysics) from being used over a large part of the area. LiDAR technology has provided the tools with which to evaluate large areas of the slopes above the highway quickly and with great accuracy. A very high resolution LiDAR survey was undertaken with a flight line overlap of 70%, resulting in six points per square metre in the raw point cloud and a post-processing point spacing of half a metre. The point cloud was transformed into a digital terrain model, and the surface interpreted using texture and morphology to identify slope materials and landslides. Analysis of the LiDAR DTM revealed that the slopes above the highway consist of variable thicknesses of regolith sourced from landsliding events, as well as large areas of bare bedrock that have not been subjected to landslides and that pose minimal hazard

Resolution and Micro-Doppler Effect in Bi-ISAR System (in English

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deng Dong-hu

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Compared to the monostatic radar, bistatic radar has many special characteristics because of its spatial complexity. Bistatic Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (Bi-ISAR can be employed as a radar imaging tool for obtaining non-cooperative target images. In this study, we first analyze the range and azimuth resolution of a Bi-ISAR system. To analyze this azimuth resolution and its spatial-variety characteristic, a definition called con-Doppler bandwidth is introduced, which helps overcome the difficulty of the target’s viewing angle diversity calculation. Then, a detailed investigation is conducted to study the micro-Doppler effect caused by the vibration and the rotation of the target in the Bi-ISAR system. By comparing the difference in the micro-Doppler effect between the Bi-ISAR system and the Mono-ISAR system, we modify the extended Hough transform to extract the real micro-motion features of the targets. Finally, we provide some simulation results to validate the theoretical derivation and to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

2012 MEGIS Topographic Lidar: Statewide Lidar Project Areas 2 and 3 (Mid-Coastal Cleanup), Maine

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — LiDAR data is a remotely sensed high resolution elevation data collected by an airborne platform. The LiDAR sensor uses a combination of laser range finding, GPS...

LIDAR pulse coding for high resolution range imaging at improved refresh rate.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Gunzung; Park, Yongwan

2016-10-17

In this study, a light detection and ranging system (LIDAR) was designed that codes pixel location information in its laser pulses using the direct- sequence optical code division multiple access (DS-OCDMA) method in conjunction with a scanning-based microelectromechanical system (MEMS) mirror. This LIDAR can constantly measure the distance without idle listening time for the return of reflected waves because its laser pulses include pixel location information encoded by applying the DS-OCDMA. Therefore, this emits in each bearing direction without waiting for the reflected wave to return. The MEMS mirror is used to deflect and steer the coded laser pulses in the desired bearing direction. The receiver digitizes the received reflected pulses using a low-temperature-grown (LTG) indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) based photoconductive antenna (PCA) and the time-to-digital converter (TDC) and demodulates them using the DS-OCDMA. When all of the reflected waves corresponding to the pixels forming a range image are received, the proposed LIDAR generates a point cloud based on the time-of-flight (ToF) of each reflected wave. The results of simulations performed on the proposed LIDAR are compared with simulations of existing LIDARs.

Mapping Urban Tree Canopy Coverage and Structure using Data Fusion of High Resolution Satellite Imagery and Aerial Lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Elmes, A.; Rogan, J.; Williams, C. A.; Martin, D. G.; Ratick, S.; Nowak, D.

2015-12-01

Urban tree canopy (UTC) coverage is a critical component of sustainable urban areas. Trees provide a number of important ecosystem services, including air pollution mitigation, water runoff control, and aesthetic and cultural values. Critically, urban trees also act to mitigate the urban heat island (UHI) effect by shading impervious surfaces and via evaporative cooling. The cooling effect of urban trees can be seen locally, with individual trees reducing home HVAC costs, and at a citywide scale, reducing the extent and magnitude of an urban areas UHI. In order to accurately model the ecosystem services of a given urban forest, it is essential to map in detail the condition and composition of these trees at a fine scale, capturing individual tree crowns and their vertical structure. This paper presents methods for delineating UTC and measuring canopy structure at fine spatial resolution (body of methods, relying on a data fusion method to combine the information contained in high resolution WorldView-3 satellite imagery and aerial lidar data using an object-based image classification approach. The study area, Worcester, MA, has recently undergone a large-scale tree removal and reforestation program, following a pest eradication effort. Therefore, the urban canopy in this location provides a wide mix of tree age class and functional type, ideal for illustrating the effectiveness of the proposed methods. Early results show that the object-based classifier is indeed capable of identifying individual tree crowns, while continued research will focus on extracting crown structural characteristics using lidar-derived metrics. Ultimately, the resulting fine resolution UTC map will be compared with previously created UTC maps of the same area but for earlier dates, producing a canopy change map corresponding to the Worcester area tree removal and replanting effort.

In-Field High-Throughput Phenotyping of Cotton Plant Height Using LiDAR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shangpeng Sun

2017-04-01

Full Text Available A LiDAR-based high-throughput phenotyping (HTP system was developed for cotton plant phenotyping in the field. The HTP system consists of a 2D LiDAR and an RTK-GPS mounted on a high clearance tractor. The LiDAR scanned three rows of cotton plots simultaneously from the top and the RTK-GPS was used to provide the spatial coordinates of the point cloud during data collection. Configuration parameters of the system were optimized to ensure the best data quality. A height profile for each plot was extracted from the dense three dimensional point clouds; then the maximum height and height distribution of each plot were derived. In lab tests, single plants were scanned by LiDAR using 0.5° angular resolution and results showed an R2 value of 1.00 (RMSE = 3.46 mm in comparison to manual measurements. In field tests using the same angular resolution; the LiDAR-based HTP system achieved average R2 values of 0.98 (RMSE = 65 mm for cotton plot height estimation; compared to manual measurements. This HTP system is particularly useful for large field application because it provides highly accurate measurements; and the efficiency is greatly improved compared to similar studies using the side view scan.

Lidars for Wind Tunnels - an IRPWind Joint Experiment Project

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sjöholm, Mikael; Vignaroli, Andrea; Angelou, Nikolas

2017-01-01

Measurement campaigns with continuous-wave Doppler Lidars (Light detection and ranging) developed at DTU Wind Energy in Denmark were performed in two very different wind tunnels. Firstly, a measurement campaign in a small icing wind tunnel chamber at VTT in Finland was performed with high frequency...... used in blind test comparisons for wind turbine wake modelers. These Lidar measurement activities constitute the Joint Experiment Project” L4WT - Lidars for Wind Tunnels, with applications to wakes and atmospheric icing in a prospective Nordic Network” with the aim of gaining and sharing knowledge...... about possibilities and limitations with lidar instrumentation in wind tunnels, which was funded by the IRPWind project within the community of the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) Joint Programme on Wind Energy....

3D Structures of the Sea-Breeze Front in Dual-Doppler Lidar Analysis and a State-of-the-Art Modeling System

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, G.; Iwai, H.; Seko, H.; Saito, K. K.; Sha, W.; Iwasaki, T.

2017-12-01

Sea breeze occurs at coastal regions around the world, with great impacts on the weather and air quality. Observations and forecasts of the fine-scale structures and local impacts of sea-breeze front (SBF) are a challenge. Three-dimensional structures of a quasi-stationary SBF were observed by dual-Doppler lidar over Sendai Airport in June 2007. Using a state-of-the-art local prediction system in which a computational fluid dynamics model is nested to a mesoscale model with data assimilation, we perform a realistic simulation of the observed SBF structures at 10-m resolution. Numerical simulations reproduce the detailed features of the SBF, such as frontal lobes/clefts, intense updrafts, rear downdrafts, and Kelvin-Helmholtz billows, consistent with lidar observations. Several localized maxima of updrafts occur at the active SBF lobes with ascending marine air mass and adjacent windward sides, where the ambient warm flows encounter a steep front face and penetrate SBF aloft. Strong downdrafts of marine cool air dominate at the SBF rear where they trap a high concentration of air pollutants. These features are regularly activated by the arc-shaped gravity currents at a horizontal scale of several kilometers and a period of 30 minutes. They are also influenced by the coastal buildings and strongly regulate the spatio-temporal variations of local winds near surface. The findings suggest that a novel full-scale nested prediction system has potential for forecasting coastal weather and environment at high precision, which are valuable for aviation safety, marine activities, and air quality monitoring. AcknowledgmentsThis study was supported by the Strategic Programs for Innovative Research (SPIRE) funded by the Japan Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). The numerical calculations were performed using the K computer at RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science (Proposal numbers hp130012 and hp140220). The observational data were

Estimating the planetary boundary layer height from radiosonde and doppler lidar measurements in the city of São Paulo - Brazil

Science.gov (United States)

Marques, Márcia T. A.; Moreira, Gregori de A.; Pinero, Maciel; Oliveira, Amauri P.; Landulfo, Eduardo

2018-04-01

This study aims to compare the planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) values estimated by radiosonde data through the bulk Richardson number (BRN) method and by Doppler lidar measurements through the Carrier to Noise Ratio (CNR) method, which corresponds to the maximum of the variance of CNR profile. The measurement campaign was carried during the summer of 2015/2016 in the city of São Paulo. Despite the conceptual difference between these methods, the results show great agreement between them.

Multi-wavelength Ocean Profiling and Atmospheric Lidar

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — We propose to build and demonstrate the world's first multi-wavelength ocean-profiling high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL). The lidar will provide profiles of...

Theoretical evaluation of the Doppler broadening contribution to the angular resolution in CdZnTe Compton scattering detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Diaz Garcia, A.; Cabal Rodriguez, A.E.; Rubio Rodriguez, J. A.; Salicio Diez, J.; Perez Morales, J.M.; Vela Morales, O.; Willmott Zappacosta, C.; Van Espen, P.

2011-01-01

Electronically collimated Compton Cameras have been tested in Single Photon Emission Tomography (SPECT) systems instead of mechanically collimated gamma detectors in order to improve their limited sensitivity. One of the main factors that contribute to the worsening of the angular resolution and thus to the deterioration of the system spatial resolution is Doppler broadening. Double differential Klein-Nishina equation is used to consider the random movement of electron inside the crystal. It is important to perform this analysis for each particular material because is difficult to infer one simple Doppler broadening dependency of the atomic number Z. In high Z materials the internal electrons are strongly linked to the nucleus and therefore there can be found high momentums, but they represent just a small portion of the electrons that suffers Compton scattering. This work estimates the influence of the Doppler broadening in CdZnTe semiconductor for different incoming photon energies. For this means there are analyzed main Compton broadening processes in semiconductor Cd 0,8 Zn 0,2 Te with density ρ=5,85g/cm 3 . (Author)

Rapid, high-resolution measurement of leaf area and leaf orientation using terrestrial LiDAR scanning data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bailey, Brian N; Mahaffee, Walter F

2017-01-01

The rapid evolution of high performance computing technology has allowed for the development of extremely detailed models of the urban and natural environment. Although models can now represent sub-meter-scale variability in environmental geometry, model users are often unable to specify the geometry of real domains at this scale given available measurements. An emerging technology in this field has been the use of terrestrial LiDAR scanning data to rapidly measure the three-dimensional geometry of trees, such as the distribution of leaf area. However, current LiDAR methods suffer from the limitation that they require detailed knowledge of leaf orientation in order to translate projected leaf area into actual leaf area. Common methods for measuring leaf orientation are often tedious or inaccurate, which places constraints on the LiDAR measurement technique. This work presents a new method to simultaneously measure leaf orientation and leaf area within an arbitrarily defined volume using terrestrial LiDAR data. The novelty of the method lies in the direct measurement of the fraction of projected leaf area G from the LiDAR data which is required to relate projected leaf area to total leaf area, and in the new way in which radiation transfer theory is used to calculate leaf area from the LiDAR data. The method was validated by comparing LiDAR-measured leaf area to (1) ‘synthetic’ or computer-generated LiDAR data where the exact area was known, and (2) direct measurements of leaf area in the field using destructive sampling. Overall, agreement between the LiDAR and reference measurements was very good, showing a normalized root-mean-squared-error of about 15% for the synthetic tests, and 13% in the field. (paper)

Turbulence estimation from a continuous-wave scanning lidar (SpinnerLidar)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barnhoorn, J.G.; Sjöholm, Mikael; Mikkelsen, Torben Krogh

2017-01-01

out, and 2) the mixing of velocity covariances from other components into the line-of-sight variance measurements. However, turbulence measurements based on upwind horizontal rotor plane scanning of the line-of-sight variance measurements combined with ensemble-averaged Doppler spectra width...... deviations averaged over 10-min sampling periods are compared. Lidar variances are inherently more prone to noise which always yields a positive bias. The 5.3 % higher turbulence level measured by the SpinnerLidar relative to the cup anemometer may equally well be attributed to truncation of turbulent...

Innovative High-Accuracy Lidar Bathymetric Technique for the Frequent Measurement of River Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Gisler, A.; Crowley, G.; Thayer, J. P.; Thompson, G. S.; Barton-Grimley, R. A.

2015-12-01

Lidar (light detection and ranging) provides absolute depth and topographic mapping capability compared to other remote sensing methods, which is useful for mapping rapidly changing environments such as riverine systems. Effectiveness of current lidar bathymetric systems is limited by the difficulty in unambiguously identifying backscattered lidar signals from the water surface versus the bottom, limiting their depth resolution to 0.3-0.5 m. Additionally these are large, bulky systems that are constrained to expensive aircraft-mounted platforms and use waveform-processing techniques requiring substantial computation time. These restrictions are prohibitive for many potential users. A novel lidar device has been developed that allows for non-contact measurements of water depth down to 1 cm with an accuracy and precision of shallow to deep water allowing for shoreline charting, measuring water volume, mapping bottom topology, and identifying submerged objects. The scalability of the technique opens up the ability for handheld or UAS-mounted lidar bathymetric systems, which provides for potential applications currently unavailable to the community. The high laser pulse repetition rate allows for very fine horizontal resolution while the photon-counting technique permits real-time depth measurement and object detection. The enhanced measurement capability, portability, scalability, and relatively low-cost creates the opportunity to perform frequent high-accuracy monitoring and measuring of aquatic environments which is crucial for understanding how rivers evolve over many timescales. Results from recent campaigns measuring water depth in flowing creeks and murky ponds will be presented which demonstrate that the method is not limited by rough water surfaces and can map underwater topology through moderately turbid water.

System analysis of a tilted field-widened Michelson interferometer for high spectral resolution lidar.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Dong; Hostetler, Chris; Miller, Ian; Cook, Anthony; Hair, Johnathan

2012-01-16

High spectral resolution lidars (HSRLs) have shown great value in aircraft aerosol remote sensing application and are planned for future satellite missions. A compact, robust, quasi-monolithic tilted field-widened Michelson interferometer is being developed as the spectral discrimination filter for an second-generation HSRL(HSRL-2) at NASA Langley Research Center. The Michelson interferometer consists of a cubic beam splitter, a solid arm and an air arm. Piezo stacks connect the air arm mirror to the body of the interferometer and can tune the interferometer within a small range. The whole interferometer is tilted so that the standard Michelson output and the reflected complementary output can both be obtained. In this paper, the transmission ratio is proposed to evaluate the performance of the spectral filter for HSRL. The transmission ratios over different types of system imperfections, such as cumulative wavefront error, locking error, reflectance of the beam splitter and anti-reflection coatings, system tilt, and depolarization angle are analyzed. The requirements of each imperfection for good interferometer performance are obtained.

Study on the influence of attitude angle on lidar wind measurement results

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Xiaochen; Dou, Peilin; Xue, Yangyang

2017-11-01

When carrying on wind profile measurement of offshore wind farm by shipborne Doppler lidar technique, the ship platform often produces motion response under the action of ocean environment load. In order to measure the performance of shipborne lidar, this paper takes two lidar wind measurement results as the research object, simulating the attitude of the ship in the ocean through the three degree of freedom platform, carrying on the synchronous observation test of the wind profile, giving an example of comparing the wind measurement data of two lidars, and carrying out the linear regression statistical analysis for all the experimental correlation data. The results show that the attitude angle will affect the precision of the lidar, The influence of attitude angle on the accuracy of lidar is uncertain. It is of great significance to the application of shipborne Doppler lidar wind measurement technology in the application of wind resources assessment in offshore wind power projects.

SCROTAL SWELLING- EVALUATION BY HIGH FREQUENCY USG AND COLOUR DOPPLER STUDIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Krishna Kumar Borah

2017-01-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND The aim of the study is to- 1. Study ultrasonographic and colour Doppler patterns of different causes of scrotal swelling (masses. 2. Asses the role of high frequency real time USG in differentiating testicular and extra testicular masses. MATERIALS AND METHODS A hospital-based cross-sectional study of 100 cases of scrotal pathology were studied over a period of 1 year from 1 st August, 2008, to 31 st July, 2009, in the Department of Radiodiagnosis, Assam Medical College Hospital at Dibrugarh. All the patients were subjected to grey scale high resolutions USG of scrotum and then scrotal colour Doppler study. Sonographic imaging was performed with Phillips HD-11 real time scanner by using 2.5-5 MHz curvilinear probe and 10 MHz linear transducer. RESULTS Out of 100 cases of scrotal swelling- 97% were benign, 3% were malignant. Among the benign lesions, 82% cases were extra testicular, 7% intratesticular, 8% are both intra and extra testicular in origin. 100% of all malignant lesions were intratesticular. Of the benign lesion- 40% hydrocele, 26% inflammatory lesions, 5% hernia, 6% varicocele, 4% traumatic, 5% cases epididymal cyst, 2% cases torsion. CONCLUSION High resolution, high frequency US and colour Doppler study of scrotum had the advantages of being noninvasiveness, lack of ionising radiation, wide availability, cost effectiveness and repeatability. It is accurate in differentiating testicular ischaemia and torsion, solid and cystic, benign and malignant mass. It is highly sensitive in demonstrating varicocele.

High-resolution mapping of forest carbon stocks in the Colombian Amazon

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. P. Asner

2012-07-01

Full Text Available High-resolution mapping of tropical forest carbon stocks can assist forest management and improve implementation of large-scale carbon retention and enhancement programs. Previous high-resolution approaches have relied on field plot and/or light detection and ranging (LiDAR samples of aboveground carbon density, which are typically upscaled to larger geographic areas using stratification maps. Such efforts often rely on detailed vegetation maps to stratify the region for sampling, but existing tropical forest maps are often too coarse and field plots too sparse for high-resolution carbon assessments. We developed a top-down approach for high-resolution carbon mapping in a 16.5 million ha region (> 40% of the Colombian Amazon – a remote landscape seldom documented. We report on three advances for large-scale carbon mapping: (i employing a universal approach to airborne LiDAR-calibration with limited field data; (ii quantifying environmental controls over carbon densities; and (iii developing stratification- and regression-based approaches for scaling up to regions outside of LiDAR coverage. We found that carbon stocks are predicted by a combination of satellite-derived elevation, fractional canopy cover and terrain ruggedness, allowing upscaling of the LiDAR samples to the full 16.5 million ha region. LiDAR-derived carbon maps have 14% uncertainty at 1 ha resolution, and the regional map based on stratification has 28% uncertainty in any given hectare. High-resolution approaches with quantifiable pixel-scale uncertainties will provide the most confidence for monitoring changes in tropical forest carbon stocks. Improved confidence will allow resource managers and decision makers to more rapidly and effectively implement actions that better conserve and utilize forests in tropical regions.

High-resolution LIDAR and ground observations of snow cover in a complex forested terrain in the Sierra Nevada - implications for optical remote sensing of seasonal snow.

Science.gov (United States)

Kostadinov, T. S.; Harpold, A.; Hill, R.; McGwire, K.

2017-12-01

Seasonal snow cover is a key component of the hydrologic regime in many regions of the world, especially those in temperate latitudes with mountainous terrain and dry summers. Such regions support large human populations which depend on the mountain snowpack for their water supplies. It is thus important to quantify snow cover accurately and continuously in these regions. Optical remote-sensing methods are able to detect snow and leverage space-borne spectroradiometers with global coverage such as MODIS to produce global snow cover maps. However, snow is harder to detect accurately in mountainous forested terrain, where topography influences retrieval algorithms, and importantly - forest canopies complicate radiative transfer and obfuscate the snow. Current satellite snow cover algorithms assume that fractional snow-covered area (fSCA) under the canopy is the same as the fSCA in the visible portion of the pixel. In-situ observations and first principles considerations indicate otherwise, therefore there is a need for improvement of the under-canopy correction of snow cover. Here, we leverage multiple LIDAR overflights and in-situ observations with a distributed fiber-optic temperature sensor (DTS) to quantify snow cover under canopy as opposed to gap areas at the Sagehen Experimental Forest in the Northern Sierra Nevada, California, USA. Snow-off LIDAR overflights from 2014 are used to create a baseline high-resolution digital elevation model and classify pixels at 1 m resolution as canopy-covered or gap. Low canopy pixels are excluded from the analysis. Snow-on LIDAR overflights conducted by the Airborne Snow Observatory in 2016 are then used to classify all pixels as snow-covered or not and quantify fSCA under canopies vs. in gap areas over the Sagehen watershed. DTS observations are classified as snow-covered or not based on diel temperature fluctuations and used as validation for the LIDAR observations. LIDAR- and DTS-derived fSCA is also compared with

2012 NRCS-USGS Tupelo, MS Lidar Survey

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — LiDAR data is a remotely sensed high resolution elevation data collected by an airborne platform. The LiDAR sensor uses a combination of laser range finding, GPS...

Doppler-musical instrument

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sato, T.J.; Watanabe, N.

2001-01-01

We propose a possible ultra-high energy resolution backscattering spectrometer optimized to spallation neutron source. A combination of multi monochromator crystal and Doppler drive provides considerable neutron flux, together with the reasonable energy range -30 < E < 30 μeV, even when the ultra-high energy resolution of ΔE∼0.03 μeV is attained. (author)

Doppler-musical instrument

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sato, T.J. [National Research Institute for Metals, Tsukuba, Ibaraki (Japan); Watanabe, N. [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment; Shibata, K. [Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku Univ., Sendai, Miyagi (Japan)

2001-03-01

We propose a possible ultra-high energy resolution backscattering spectrometer optimized to spallation neutron source. A combination of multi monochromator crystal and Doppler drive provides considerable neutron flux, together with the reasonable energy range -30 < E < 30 {mu}eV, even when the ultra-high energy resolution of {delta}E{approx}0.03 {mu}eV is attained. (author)

Updraft and downdraft characterization with Doppler lidar: cloud-free versus cumuli-topped mixed layer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Ansmann

2010-08-01

Full Text Available For the first time, a comprehensive, height-resolved Doppler lidar study of updrafts and downdrafts in the mixing layer is presented. The Doppler lidar measurements were performed at Leipzig, Germany, in the summer half year of 2006. The conditional sampling method is applied to the measured vertical velocities to identify, count, and analyze significant updraft and downdraft events. Three cases of atmospheric boundary-layer (ABL evolution with and without fair-weather cumuli formation are discussed. Updrafts occur with an average frequency of 1–2 per unit length z_i (boundary-layer depth z_i, downdrafts 20–30% more frequently. In the case with cumuli formation, the draft occurrence frequency is enhanced by about 50% at cloud level or near cloud base. The counted updraft events cover 30–34%, downdrafts 53–57% of the velocity time series in the central part of the ABL (subcloud layer during the main period of convective activity. By considering all drafts with horizontal extent >36 m in the analysis, the updraft mean horizontal extent ranges here from 200–420 m and is about 0.16 z_i–0.18 z_i in all three cases disregarding the occurrence of cumulus clouds. Downdraft extents are a factor of 1.3–1.5 larger. The average value of the updraft mean vertical velocities is 0.5–0.7 m/s or 0.40 w_*–0.45 w_* (convective velocity scale w_*, and the negative downdraft mean vertical velocities are weaker by roughly 10–20%. The analysis of the relationship between the size (horizontal extent of the updrafts and downdrafts and their mean vertical velocity reveals a pronounced increase of the average vertical velocity in updrafts from 0.4–0.5 m/s for small thermals (100–200 m to about 1.5 m/s for large updrafts (>600 m in the subcloud layer in the case with fair-weather cumuli. At cloudless conditions, the updraft

Optimizing Lidar Scanning Strategies for Wind Energy Measurements (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Newman, J. F.; Bonin, T. A.; Klein, P.; Wharton, S.; Chilson, P. B.

2013-12-01

Environmental concerns and rising fossil fuel prices have prompted rapid development in the renewable energy sector. Wind energy, in particular, has become increasingly popular in the United States. However, the intermittency of available wind energy makes it difficult to integrate wind energy into the power grid. Thus, the expansion and successful implementation of wind energy requires accurate wind resource assessments and wind power forecasts. The actual power produced by a turbine is affected by the wind speeds and turbulence levels experienced across the turbine rotor disk. Because of the range of measurement heights required for wind power estimation, remote sensing devices (e.g., lidar) are ideally suited for these purposes. However, the volume averaging inherent in remote sensing technology produces turbulence estimates that are different from those estimated by a sonic anemometer mounted on a standard meteorological tower. In addition, most lidars intended for wind energy purposes utilize a standard Doppler beam-swinging or Velocity-Azimuth Display technique to estimate the three-dimensional wind vector. These scanning strategies are ideal for measuring mean wind speeds but are likely inadequate for measuring turbulence. In order to examine the impact of different lidar scanning strategies on turbulence measurements, a WindCube lidar, a scanning Halo lidar, and a scanning Galion lidar were deployed at the Southern Great Plains Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) site in Summer 2013. Existing instrumentation at the ARM site, including a 60-m meteorological tower and an additional scanning Halo lidar, were used in conjunction with the deployed lidars to evaluate several user-defined scanning strategies. For part of the experiment, all three scanning lidars were pointed at approximately the same point in space and a tri-Doppler analysis was completed to calculate the three-dimensional wind vector every 1 second. In another part of the experiment, one of

Generic Methodology for Field Calibration of Nacelle-Based Wind Lidars

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Borraccino, Antoine; Courtney, Michael; Wagner, Rozenn

2016-01-01

Nacelle-based Doppler wind lidars have shown promising capabilities to assess power performance, detect yaw misalignment or perform feed-forward control. The power curve application requires uncertainty assessment. Traceable measurements and uncertainties of nacelle-based wind lidars can be obtai...

Quantifying error of lidar and sodar Doppler beam swinging measurements of wind turbine wakes using computational fluid dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Lundquist, J. K.; Churchfield, M. J.; Lee, S.; Clifton, A.

2015-02-01

Wind-profiling lidars are now regularly used in boundary-layer meteorology and in applications such as wind energy and air quality. Lidar wind profilers exploit the Doppler shift of laser light backscattered from particulates carried by the wind to measure a line-of-sight (LOS) velocity. The Doppler beam swinging (DBS) technique, used by many commercial systems, considers measurements of this LOS velocity in multiple radial directions in order to estimate horizontal and vertical winds. The method relies on the assumption of homogeneous flow across the region sampled by the beams. Using such a system in inhomogeneous flow, such as wind turbine wakes or complex terrain, will result in errors. To quantify the errors expected from such violation of the assumption of horizontal homogeneity, we simulate inhomogeneous flow in the atmospheric boundary layer, notably stably stratified flow past a wind turbine, with a mean wind speed of 6.5 m s-1 at the turbine hub-height of 80 m. This slightly stable case results in 15° of wind direction change across the turbine rotor disk. The resulting flow field is sampled in the same fashion that a lidar samples the atmosphere with the DBS approach, including the lidar range weighting function, enabling quantification of the error in the DBS observations. The observations from the instruments located upwind have small errors, which are ameliorated with time averaging. However, the downwind observations, particularly within the first two rotor diameters downwind from the wind turbine, suffer from errors due to the heterogeneity of the wind turbine wake. Errors in the stream-wise component of the flow approach 30% of the hub-height inflow wind speed close to the rotor disk. Errors in the cross-stream and vertical velocity components are also significant: cross-stream component errors are on the order of 15% of the hub-height inflow wind speed (1.0 m s-1) and errors in the vertical velocity measurement exceed the actual vertical velocity

Simultaneous polarimeter retrievals of microphysical aerosol and ocean color parameters from the "MAPP" algorithm with comparison to high-spectral-resolution lidar aerosol and ocean products.

Science.gov (United States)

Stamnes, S; Hostetler, C; Ferrare, R; Burton, S; Liu, X; Hair, J; Hu, Y; Wasilewski, A; Martin, W; van Diedenhoven, B; Chowdhary, J; Cetinić, I; Berg, L K; Stamnes, K; Cairns, B

2018-04-01

We present an optimal-estimation-based retrieval framework, the microphysical aerosol properties from polarimetry (MAPP) algorithm, designed for simultaneous retrieval of aerosol microphysical properties and ocean color bio-optical parameters using multi-angular total and polarized radiances. Polarimetric measurements from the airborne NASA Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) were inverted by MAPP to produce atmosphere and ocean products. The RSP MAPP results are compared with co-incident lidar measurements made by the NASA High-Spectral-Resolution Lidar HSRL-1 and HSRL-2 instruments. Comparisons are made of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 355 and 532 nm, lidar column-averaged measurements of the aerosol lidar ratio and Ångstrøm exponent, and lidar ocean measurements of the particulate hemispherical backscatter coefficient and the diffuse attenuation coefficient. The measurements were collected during the 2012 Two-Column Aerosol Project (TCAP) campaign and the 2014 Ship-Aircraft Bio-Optical Research (SABOR) campaign. For the SABOR campaign, 73% RSP MAPP retrievals fall within ±0.04 AOD at 532 nm as measured by HSRL-1, with an R value of 0.933 and root-mean-square deviation of 0.0372. For the TCAP campaign, 53% of RSP MAPP retrievals are within 0.04 AOD as measured by HSRL-2, with an R value of 0.927 and root-mean-square deviation of 0.0673. Comparisons with HSRL-2 AOD at 355 nm during TCAP result in an R value of 0.959 and a root-mean-square deviation of 0.0694. The RSP retrievals using the MAPP optimal estimation framework represent a key milestone on the path to a combined lidar + polarimeter retrieval using both HSRL and RSP measurements.

2009 - 2011 CA Coastal Conservancy Coastal Lidar Project

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data is remotely sensed high-resolution elevation data collected by an airborne collection platform. This LiDAR dataset is a...

Making lidar more photogenic: creating band combinations from lidar information

Science.gov (United States)

Stoker, Jason M.

2010-01-01

Over the past five to ten years the use and applicability of light detection and ranging (lidar) technology has increased dramatically. As a result, an almost exponential amount of lidar data is being collected across the country for a wide range of applications, and it is currently the technology of choice for high resolution terrain model creation, 3-dimensional city and infrastructure modeling, forestry and a wide range of scientific applications (Lin and Mills, 2010). The amount of data that is being delivered across the country is impressive. For example, the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Center for Lidar Information Coordination and Knowledge (CLICK), which is a National repository of USGS and partner lidar point cloud datasets (Stoker et al., 2006), currently has 3.5 percent of the United States covered by lidar, and has approximately another 5 percent in the processing queue. The majority of data being collected by the commercial sector are from discrete-return systems, which collect billions of lidar points in an average project. There are also a lot of discussions involving a potential National-scale Lidar effort (Stoker et al., 2008).

The bat-bird-bug battle: daily flight activity of insects and their predators over a rice field revealed by high-resolution Scheimpflug Lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Malmqvist, Elin; Jansson, Samuel; Zhu, Shiming; Li, Wansha; Svanberg, Katarina; Svanberg, Sune; Rydell, Jens; Song, Ziwei; Bood, Joakim; Brydegaard, Mikkel; Åkesson, Susanne

2018-04-01

We present the results of, to our knowledge, the first Lidar study applied to continuous and simultaneous monitoring of aerial insects, bats and birds. It illustrates how common patterns of flight activity, e.g. insect swarming around twilight, depend on predation risk and other constraints acting on the faunal components. Flight activity was monitored over a rice field in China during one week in July 2016, using a high-resolution Scheimpflug Lidar system. The monitored Lidar transect was about 520 m long and covered approximately 2.5 m3. The observed biomass spectrum was bimodal, and targets were separated into insects and vertebrates in a categorization supported by visual observations. Peak flight activity occurred at dusk and dawn, with a 37 min time difference between the bat and insect peaks. Hence, bats started to feed in declining insect activity after dusk and stopped before the rise in activity before dawn. A similar time difference between insects and birds may have occurred, but it was not obvious, perhaps because birds were relatively scarce. Our observations are consistent with the hypothesis that flight activity of bats is constrained by predation in bright light, and that crepuscular insects exploit this constraint by swarming near to sunset/sunrise to minimize predation from bats.

A critical source area phosphorus index with topographic transport factors using high resolution LiDAR digital elevation models

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Ian; Murphy, Paul; Fenton, Owen; Shine, Oliver; Mellander, Per-Erik; Dunlop, Paul; Jordan, Phil

2015-04-01

A new phosphorus index (PI) tool is presented which aims to improve the identification of critical source areas (CSAs) of phosphorus (P) losses from agricultural land to surface waters. In a novel approach, the PI incorporates topographic indices rather than watercourse proximity as proxies for runoff risk, to account for the dominant control of topography on runoff-generating areas and P transport pathways. Runoff propensity and hydrological connectivity are modelled using the Topographic Wetness Index (TWI) and Network Index (NI) respectively, utilising high resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) derived from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) to capture the influence of micro-topographic features on runoff pathways. Additionally, the PI attempts to improve risk estimates of particulate P losses by incorporating an erosion factor that accounts for fine-scale topographic variability within fields. Erosion risk is modelled using the Unit Stream Power Erosion Deposition (USPED) model, which integrates DEM-derived upslope contributing area and Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) factors. The PI was developed using field, sub-field and sub-catchment scale datasets of P source, mobilisation and transport factors, for four intensive agricultural catchments in Ireland representing different agri-environmental conditions. Datasets included soil test P concentrations, degree of P saturation, soil attributes, land use, artificial subsurface drainage locations, and 2 m resolution LiDAR DEMs resampled from 0.25 m resolution data. All factor datasets were integrated within a Geographical Information System (GIS) and rasterised to 2 m resolution. For each factor, values were categorised and assigned relative risk scores which ranked P loss potential. Total risk scores were calculated for each grid cell using a component formulation, which summed the products of weighted factor risk scores for runoff and erosion pathways. Results showed that the new PI was able to predict

2003 Oahu Coastline Lidar

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — LIDAR data is remotely sensed high-resolution elevation data collected by an airborne collection platform. Using a combination of laser rangefinding, GPS positioning...

2006 FEMA New Jersey Flood Mitigation Lidar: Highlands Area

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data is remotely sensed high-resolution elevation data collected by an airborne collection platform. LiDAR was flown for...

High-resolution spectroscopy for Doppler-broadening ion temperature measurements of implosions at the National Ignition Facility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koch, J. A.; Stewart, R. E.; Beiersdorfer, P.; Shepherd, R.; Schneider, M. B.; Miles, A. R.; Scott, H. A.; Smalyuk, V. A.; Hsing, W. W. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, L-493, Livermore, California 94550 (United States)

2012-10-15

Future implosion experiments at the national ignition facility (NIF) will endeavor to simultaneously measure electron and ion temperatures with temporal and spatial resolution in order to explore non-equilibrium temperature distributions and their relaxation toward equilibrium. In anticipation of these experiments, and with understanding of the constraints of the NIF facility environment, we have explored the use of Doppler broadening of mid-Z dopant emission lines, such as krypton He-{alpha} at 13 keV, as a diagnostic of time- and potentially space-resolved ion temperature. We have investigated a number of options analytically and with numerical raytracing, and we have identified several promising candidate spectrometer designs that meet the expected requirements of spectral and temporal resolution and data signal-to-noise ratio for gas-filled exploding pusher implosions, while providing maximum flexibility for use on a variety of experiments that potentially include burning plasma.

In-beam measurement of the position resolution of a highly segmented coaxial germanium detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Descovich, M.; Lee, I.Y.; Fallon, P.; Cromaz, M.; Macchiavelli, A.O.; Radford, D.C.; Vetter, K.; Clark, R.M.; Deleplanque, M.A.; Stephens, F.S.; Ward, D.

2005-01-01

The position resolution of a highly segmented coaxial germanium detector was determined by analyzing the 2055keV γ-ray transition of Zr90 excited in a fusion-evaporation reaction. The high velocity of the Zr90 nuclei imparted large Doppler shifts. Digital analysis of the detector signals recovered the energy and position of individual γ-ray interactions. The location of the first interaction in the crystal was used to correct the Doppler energy shift. Comparison of the measured energy resolution with simulations implied a position resolution (root mean square) of 2mm in three-dimensions

Wind Ressources in Complex Terrain investigated with Synchronized Lidar Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Mann, J.; Menke, R.; Vasiljevic, N.

2017-12-01

The Perdigao experiment was performed by a number of European and American universities in Portugal 2017, and it is probably the largest field campaign focussing on wind energy ressources in complex terrain ever conducted. 186 sonic anemometers on 50 masts, 20 scanning wind lidars and a host of other instruments were deployed. The experiment is a part of an effort to make a new European wind atlas. In this presentation we investigate whether scanning the wind speed over ridges in this complex terrain with multiple Doppler lidars can lead to an efficient mapping of the wind resources at relevant positions. We do that by having pairs of Doppler lidars scanning 80 m above the ridges in Perdigao. We compare wind resources obtained from the lidars and from the mast-mounted sonic anemometers at 80 m on two 100 m masts, one on each of the two ridges. In addition, the scanning lidar measurements are also compared to profiling lidars on the ridges. We take into account the fact that the profiling lidars may be biased due to the curvature of the streamlines over the instrument, see Bingol et al, Meteorolog. Z. vol. 18, pp. 189-195 (2009). We also investigate the impact of interruptions of the lidar measurements on the estimated wind resource. We calculate the relative differences of wind along the ridge from the lidar measurements and compare those to the same obtained from various micro-scale models. A particular subject investigated is how stability affects the wind resources. We often observe internal gravity waves with the scanning lidars during the night and we quantify how these affect the relative wind speed on the ridges.

Creating high-resolution bare-earth digital elevation models (DEMs) from stereo imagery in an area of densely vegetated deciduous forest using combinations of procedures designed for lidar point cloud filtering

Science.gov (United States)

DeWitt, Jessica D.; Warner, Timothy A.; Chirico, Peter G.; Bergstresser, Sarah E.

2017-01-01

For areas of the world that do not have access to lidar, fine-scale digital elevation models (DEMs) can be photogrammetrically created using globally available high-spatial resolution stereo satellite imagery. The resultant DEM is best termed a digital surface model (DSM) because it includes heights of surface features. In densely vegetated conditions, this inclusion can limit its usefulness in applications requiring a bare-earth DEM. This study explores the use of techniques designed for filtering lidar point clouds to mitigate the elevation artifacts caused by above ground features, within the context of a case study of Prince William Forest Park, Virginia, USA. The influences of land cover and leaf-on vs. leaf-off conditions are investigated, and the accuracy of the raw photogrammetric DSM extracted from leaf-on imagery was between that of a lidar bare-earth DEM and the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission DEM. Although the filtered leaf-on photogrammetric DEM retains some artifacts of the vegetation canopy and may not be useful for some applications, filtering procedures significantly improved the accuracy of the modeled terrain. The accuracy of the DSM extracted in leaf-off conditions was comparable in most areas to the lidar bare-earth DEM and filtering procedures resulted in accuracy comparable of that to the lidar DEM.

Doppler lidar investigation of wind turbine wake characteristics and atmospheric turbulence under different surface roughness.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhai, Xiaochun; Wu, Songhua; Liu, Bingyi

2017-06-12

Four field experiments based on Pulsed Coherent Doppler Lidar with different surface roughness have been carried out in 2013-2015 to study the turbulent wind field in the vicinity of operating wind turbine in the onshore and offshore wind parks. The turbulence characteristics in ambient atmosphere and wake area was analyzed using transverse structure function based on Plane Position Indicator scanning mode. An automatic wake processing procedure was developed to determine the wake velocity deficit by considering the effect of ambient velocity disturbance and wake meandering with the mean wind direction. It is found that the turbine wake obviously enhances the atmospheric turbulence mixing, and the difference in the correlation of turbulence parameters under different surface roughness is significant. The dependence of wake parameters including the wake velocity deficit and wake length on wind velocity and turbulence intensity are analyzed and compared with other studies, which validates the empirical model and simulation of a turbine wake for various atmosphere conditions.

Crop 3D-a LiDAR based platform for 3D high-throughput crop phenotyping.

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Qinghua; Wu, Fangfang; Pang, Shuxin; Zhao, Xiaoqian; Chen, Linhai; Liu, Jin; Xue, Baolin; Xu, Guangcai; Li, Le; Jing, Haichun; Chu, Chengcai

2018-03-01

With the growing population and the reducing arable land, breeding has been considered as an effective way to solve the food crisis. As an important part in breeding, high-throughput phenotyping can accelerate the breeding process effectively. Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) is an active remote sensing technology that is capable of acquiring three-dimensional (3D) data accurately, and has a great potential in crop phenotyping. Given that crop phenotyping based on LiDAR technology is not common in China, we developed a high-throughput crop phenotyping platform, named Crop 3D, which integrated LiDAR sensor, high-resolution camera, thermal camera and hyperspectral imager. Compared with traditional crop phenotyping techniques, Crop 3D can acquire multi-source phenotypic data in the whole crop growing period and extract plant height, plant width, leaf length, leaf width, leaf area, leaf inclination angle and other parameters for plant biology and genomics analysis. In this paper, we described the designs, functions and testing results of the Crop 3D platform, and briefly discussed the potential applications and future development of the platform in phenotyping. We concluded that platforms integrating LiDAR and traditional remote sensing techniques might be the future trend of crop high-throughput phenotyping.

High-Throughput Phenotyping of Plant Height: Comparing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Ground LiDAR Estimates.

Science.gov (United States)

Madec, Simon; Baret, Fred; de Solan, Benoît; Thomas, Samuel; Dutartre, Dan; Jezequel, Stéphane; Hemmerlé, Matthieu; Colombeau, Gallian; Comar, Alexis

2017-01-01

The capacity of LiDAR and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to provide plant height estimates as a high-throughput plant phenotyping trait was explored. An experiment over wheat genotypes conducted under well watered and water stress modalities was conducted. Frequent LiDAR measurements were performed along the growth cycle using a phénomobile unmanned ground vehicle. UAV equipped with a high resolution RGB camera was flying the experiment several times to retrieve the digital surface model from structure from motion techniques. Both techniques provide a 3D dense point cloud from which the plant height can be estimated. Plant height first defined as the z -value for which 99.5% of the points of the dense cloud are below. This provides good consistency with manual measurements of plant height (RMSE = 3.5 cm) while minimizing the variability along each microplot. Results show that LiDAR and structure from motion plant height values are always consistent. However, a slight under-estimation is observed for structure from motion techniques, in relation with the coarser spatial resolution of UAV imagery and the limited penetration capacity of structure from motion as compared to LiDAR. Very high heritability values ( H 2 > 0.90) were found for both techniques when lodging was not present. The dynamics of plant height shows that it carries pertinent information regarding the period and magnitude of the plant stress. Further, the date when the maximum plant height is reached was found to be very heritable ( H 2 > 0.88) and a good proxy of the flowering stage. Finally, the capacity of plant height as a proxy for total above ground biomass and yield is discussed.

Assessing stream bank condition using airborne LiDAR and high spatial resolution image data in temperate semirural areas in Victoria, Australia

Science.gov (United States)

Johansen, Kasper; Grove, James; Denham, Robert; Phinn, Stuart

2013-01-01

Stream bank condition is an important physical form indicator for streams related to the environmental condition of riparian corridors. This research developed and applied an approach for mapping bank condition from airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and high-spatial resolution optical image data in a temperate forest/woodland/urban environment. Field observations of bank condition were related to LiDAR and optical image-derived variables, including bank slope, plant projective cover, bank-full width, valley confinement, bank height, bank top crenulation, and ground vegetation cover. Image-based variables, showing correlation with the field measurements of stream bank condition, were used as input to a cumulative logistic regression model to estimate and map bank condition. The highest correlation was achieved between field-assessed bank condition and image-derived average bank slope (R2=0.60, n=41), ground vegetation cover (R=0.43, n=41), bank width/height ratio (R=0.41, n=41), and valley confinement (producer's accuracy=100%, n=9). Cross-validation showed an average misclassification error of 0.95 from an ordinal scale from 0 to 4 using the developed model. This approach was developed to support the remotely sensed mapping of stream bank condition for 26,000 km of streams in Victoria, Australia, from 2010 to 2012.

2014 Mobile County, AL Lidar

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Atlantic was contracted to acquire high resolution topographic LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data located in Mobile County, Alabama. The intent was to collect...

Charactering lidar optical subsystem using four quadrants method

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Xiaomin; Liu, Dong; Xu, Jiwei; Wang, Zhenzhu; Wang, Bangxin; Wu, Decheng; Zhong, Zhiqing; Xie, Chenbo; Wang, Yingjian

2018-02-01

Lidar is a kind of active optical remote sensing instruments , can be applied to sound atmosphere with a high spatial and temporal resolution. Many parameter of atmosphere can be get by using different inverse algorithm with lidar backscatter signal. The basic setup of a lidar consist of a transmitter and a receiver. To make sure the quality of lidar signal data, the lidar must be calibrated before being used to measure the atmospheric variables. It is really significant to character and analyze lidar optical subsystem because a well equiped lidar optical subsystem contributes to high quality lidar signal data. we pay close attention to telecover test to character and analyze lidar optical subsystem.The telecover test is called four quadrants method consisting in dividing the telescope aperture in four quarants. when a lidar is well configured with lidar optical subsystem, the normalized signal from four qudrants will agree with each other on some level. Testing our WARL-II lidar by four quadrants method ,we find the signals of the four basically consistent with each other both in near range and in far range. But in detail, the signals in near range have some slight distinctions resulting from overlap function, some signals distinctions are induced by atmospheric instability.

Extensive Sampling of Forest Carbon using High Density Power Line Lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Hampton, H. M.; Chen, Q.; Dye, D. G.; Hungate, B. A.

2013-12-01

Estimating carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions from forest management, natural processes, and disturbance is of growing interest for mitigating global warming. Ponderosa pine is common at mid-elevations throughout the western United States and is a dominant tree species in southwestern forests. Existing unmanaged "relict" sites and stand reconstructions of southwestern ponderosa pine forests from before European settlement (late 1800s) provide evidence of forests of larger trees of lower density and less vulnerability to severe fires than today's typical conditions of high densities of small trees that have resulted from a century of fire suppression. Forest treatments to improve forest health in the region include tree cutting focused on small-diameter trees (thinning), low-intensity prescribed burning, and monitoring rather than suppressing wildfires. Stimulated by several uncharacteristically-intense fires in the last decade, a collaborative process found strong stakeholder agreement to accelerate forest treatments to reduce fire risk and restore ecological conditions. Land use planning to ramp up management is underway and could benefit from quick and inexpensive techniques to inventory tree-level carbon because existing inventory data are not adequate to capture the range of forest structural conditions. Our approach overcomes these shortcomings by employing recent breakthroughs in estimating aboveground biomass from high resolution light detection and ranging (lidar) remote sensing. Lidar is an active remote sensing technique, analogous to radar, which measures the time required for a transmitted pulse of laser light to return to the sensor after reflection from a target. Lidar data can capture 3-dimensional forest structure with greater detail and broader spatial coverage than is feasible with conventional field measurements. We developed a novel methodology for extensive sampling and field validation of forest carbon, applicable to managed and

Differential Absorption Measurements of Atmospheric Water Vapor with a Coherent Lidar at 2050.532 nm

Science.gov (United States)

Koch, Grady J.; Dharamsi, Amin; Davis, Richard E.; Petros, Mulugeta; McCarthy, John C.

1999-01-01

Wind and water vapor are two major factors driving the Earth's atmospheric circulation, and direct measurement of these factors is needed for better understanding of basic atmospheric science, weather forecasting, and climate studies. Coherent lidar has proved to be a valuable tool for Doppler profiling of wind fields, and differential absorption lidar (DIAL) has shown its effectiveness in profiling water vapor. These two lidar techniques are generally considered distinctly different, but this paper explores an experimental combination of the Doppler and DIAL techniques for measuring both wind and water vapor with an eye-safe wavelength based on a solid-state laser material. Researchers have analyzed and demonstrated coherent DIAL water vapor measurements at 10 micrometers wavelength based on CO2 lasers. The hope of the research presented here is that the 2 gm wavelength in a holmium or thulium-based laser may offer smaller packaging and more rugged operation that the CO2-based approach. Researchers have extensively modeled 2 um coherent lasers for water vapor profiling, but no published demonstration is known. Studies have also been made, and results published on the Doppler portion, of a Nd:YAG-based coherent DIAL operating at 1.12 micrometers. Eye-safety of the 1.12 micrometer wavelength may be a concern, whereas the longer 2 micrometer and 10 micrometer systems allow a high level of eyesafety.

The new scanning iron lidar, current state and future developments

Science.gov (United States)

Lautenbach, J.; Höffner, J.; Menzel, P.; Keller, P.

2005-08-01

This paper gives an update on the design and developments of the new scanning Doppler iron temperature lidar. Continuous temperature profiles in the altitude range from 50 to 105 km are derived by using the iron resonance and Rayleigh backscatter signal of this lidar. We show a common volume measurement with the well established potassium and Rayleigh-Mie-Raman (RMR) lidar at the Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) in Kühlungsborn (Germany, 54°N). The iron lidar temperatures match quite well and have an uncertainty of 0.4K at the top of the iron layer. Improvements for daylight capability are under development and will be pointed out.

Flood Modeling Using a Synthesis of Multi-Platform LiDAR Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ryan M. Csontos

2013-09-01

Full Text Available This study examined the utility of a high resolution ground-based (mobile and terrestrial Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR dataset (0.2 m point-spacing supplemented with a coarser resolution airborne LiDAR dataset (5 m point-spacing for use in a flood inundation analysis. The techniques for combining multi-platform LiDAR data into a composite dataset in the form of a triangulated irregular network (TIN are described, and quantitative comparisons were made to a TIN generated solely from the airborne LiDAR dataset. For example, a maximum land surface elevation difference of 1.677 m and a mean difference of 0.178 m were calculated between the datasets based on sample points. Utilizing the composite and airborne LiDAR-derived TINs, a flood inundation comparison was completed using a one-dimensional steady flow hydraulic modeling analysis. Quantitative comparisons of the water surface profiles and depth grids indicated an underestimation of flooding extent, volume, and maximum flood height using the airborne LiDAR data alone. A 35% increase in maximum flood height was observed using the composite LiDAR dataset. In addition, the extents of the water surface profiles generated from the two datasets were found to be statistically significantly different. The urban and mountainous characteristics of the study area as well as the density (file size of the high resolution ground based LiDAR data presented both opportunities and challenges for flood modeling analyses.

2005 Oahu/Maui Lidar Mapping Project

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — LIDAR data is remotely sensed high-resolution elevation data collected by an airborne collection platform. Using a combination of laser rangefinding, GPS positioning...

Overview and first results of the Wind and Storms Experiment (WASTEX): a field campaign to observe the formation of gusts using a Doppler lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Pantillon, Florian; Wieser, Andreas; Adler, Bianca; Corsmeier, Ulrich; Knippertz, Peter

2018-05-01

Wind gusts are responsible for most damages in winter storms over central Europe, but capturing their small scale and short duration is a challenge for both models and observations. This motivated the Wind and Storms Experiment (WASTEX) dedicated to investigate the formation of gusts during the passage of extratropical cyclones. The field campaign took place during the winter 2016-2017 on a former waste deposit located close to Karlsruhe in the Upper Rhine Valley in southwest Germany. Twelve extratropical cyclones were sampled during WASTEX with a Doppler lidar system performing vertical scans in the mean wind direction and complemented with a Doppler C-band radar and a 200 m instrumented tower. First results are provided here for the three most intense storms and include a potential sting jet, a unique direct observation of a convective gust and coherent boundary-layer structures of strong winds.

Coherent lidar modulated with frequency stepped pulse trains for unambiguous high duty cycle range and velocity sensing in the atmosphere

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lindelöw, Per Jonas Petter; Mohr, Johan Jacob

2007-01-01

Range unambiguous high duty cycle coherent lidars can be constructed based on frequency stepped pulse train modulation, even continuously emitting systems could be envisioned. Such systems are suitable for velocity sensing of dispersed targets, like the atmosphere, at fast acquisition rates....... The lightwave synthesized frequency sweeper is a suitable generator yielding fast pulse repetition rates and stable equidistant frequency steps. Theoretical range resolution profiles of modulated lidars are presented....

Doppler Lidar System Design via Interdisciplinary Design Concept at NASA Langley Research Center - Part III

Science.gov (United States)

Barnes, Bruce W.; Sessions, Alaric M.; Beyon, Jeffrey; Petway, Larry B.

2014-01-01

Optimized designs of the Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL) instrument for Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) were accomplished via Interdisciplinary Design Concept (IDEC) at NASA Langley Research Center during the summer of 2013. Three branches in the Engineering Directorate and three students were involved in this joint task through the NASA Langley Aerospace Research Summer Scholars (LARSS) Program. The Laser Remote Sensing Branch (LRSB), Mechanical Systems Branch (MSB), and Structural and Thermal Systems Branch (STSB) were engaged to achieve optimal designs through iterative and interactive collaborative design processes. A preliminary design iteration was able to reduce the power consumption, mass, and footprint by removing redundant components and replacing inefficient components with more efficient ones. A second design iteration reduced volume and mass by replacing bulky components with excessive performance with smaller components custom-designed for the power system. The existing power system was analyzed to rank components in terms of inefficiency, power dissipation, footprint and mass. Design considerations and priorities are compared along with the results of each design iteration. Overall power system improvements are summarized for design implementations.

A case history of using high-resolution LiDAR data to support archaeological prediction models in a low-relief area

Science.gov (United States)

Pacskó, Vivien; Székely, Balázs; Stibrányi, Máté; Koma, Zsófia

2016-04-01

Hungary is situated in the crossroad of several large-scale infrastructural pathways like transnational pipelines and transcontinental motorways. At the same time the country is rich in known and potential archaeological sites. Archaeological prediction techniques aided by remote sensing are intended to help increase preparedness for archaeological surveying and rescue activities in response to planned new infrastructural developments (e.g., a new pipeline), as they try to estimate the number of potential archaeological sites, area to be surveyed, potential cost and time needed for these activities. In very low-relief areas microtopographic forms may indicate sites, high-resolution LiDAR DTMs are suitable for their detection. Main sources of archaeological prediction models are known archaeological sites, where optimal environmental conditions of settling down existed at historic ages. Hydrological characteristics, relief, geology, vegetation cover and soil are considered to be as most important natural factors. Sorting of the factors and accuracy of the sampling differentiate our models. Resolution of an inductive model depends on the spatial properties of the integrated data: a raster data set can be generated that contains probability values and the reliability of the estimation. The information content of the predictive model is highly influenced by the resolution of the used digital terrain model (DTM): its derivatives (slope, aspect, topographic features) are important inputs of the modelling. The quality of the DTM is even more important in low-relief areas as microtopographic features may indicate archaeological sites. The conventional digital elevation models (SRTM, ASTER GDEM) provide unsatisfying resolution (both in horizontal and vertical senses) as they are rather digital surface models containing the vegetation and the built-up structures. Processed multiecho LiDAR data can be used instead. Our study area is situated in the foothills of the

Mitigating Uncertainty from Vegetation Spatial Complexity with Highly Portable Lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Paynter, I.; Schaaf, C.; Peri, F.; Saenz, E. J.; Genest, D.; Strahler, A. H.; Li, Z.

2015-12-01

To fully utilize the excellent spatial coverage and temporal resolution offered by satellite resources for estimating ecological variables, fine-scale observations are required for comparison, calibration and validation. Lidar instruments have proved effective in estimating the properties of vegetation components of ecosystems, but they are often challenged by occlusion, especially in structurally complex and spatially fragmented ecosystems such as tropical forests. Increasing the range of view angles, both horizontally and vertically, by increasing the number of scans, can mitigate occlusion. However these scans must occur within the window of temporal stability for the ecosystem and vegetation property being measured. The Compact Biomass Lidar (CBL) is a TLS optimized for portability and scanning speed, developed and operated by University of Massachusetts Boston. This 905nm wavelength scanner achieves an angular resolution of 0.25 degrees at a rate of 33 seconds per scan. The ability to acquire many scans within narrow windows of temporal stability for ecological variables has facilitated the more complete investigation of ecosystem structural characteristics, and their expression as a function of view angle. The lightweight CBL has facilitated the use of alternative deployment platforms including towers, trams and masts, allowing analysis of the vertical structure of ecosystems, even in highly enclosed environments such as the sub-canopy of tropical forests where aerial vehicles cannot currently operate. We will present results from view angle analyses of lidar surveys of tropical rainforest in La Selva, Costa Rica where the CBL was deployed at heights up to 10m in Carbono long-term research plots utilizing a portable mast, and on a 25m stationary tower; and temperate forest at Harvard Forest, Massachusetts, USA, where the CBL has been deployed biannually at long-term research plots of hardwood and hemlock, as well as at heights of up to 25m utilizing a

Derivation of Sky-View Factors from LIDAR Data

Science.gov (United States)

Kidd, Christopher; Chapman, Lee

2013-01-01

The use of Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging), an active light-emitting instrument, is becoming increasingly common for a range of potential applications. Its ability to provide fine resolution spatial and vertical resolution elevation data makes it ideal for a wide range of studies. This paper demonstrates the capability of Lidar data to measure sky view factors (SVF). The Lidar data is used to generate a spatial map of SVFs which are then compared against photographically-derived SVF at selected point locations. At each location three near-surface elevations measurements were taken and compared with collocated Lidar-derived estimated. It was found that there was generally good agreement between the two methodologies, although with decreasing SVF the Lidar-derived technique tended to overestimate the SVF: this can be attributed in part to the spatial resolution of the Lidar sampling. Nevertheless, airborne Lidar systems can map sky view factors over a large area easily, improving the utility of such data in atmospheric and meteorological models.

2006 FEMA Lidar: Rhode Island Coastline

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — LIDAR data is remotely sensed high-resolution elevation data collected by an airborne collection platform. By positioning laser range finding with the use of 1...

Lidars as an operational tool for meteorology and advanced atmospheric research

Science.gov (United States)

Simeonov, Valentin; Dinoev, Todor; Serikov, Ilya; Froidevaux, Martin; Bartlome, Marcel; Calpini, Bertrand; Bobrovnikov, Sergei; Ristori, Pablo; van den Bergh, Hubert; Parlange, Marc; Archinov, Yury

2010-05-01

The talk will present the concept and observation results of three advanced lidar systems developed recently at the Swiss federal Institute of Technology- Lausanne (EPFL) Switzerland. Two of the systems are Raman lidars for simultaneous water vapor, temperature and aerosol observations and the third one is an ozone UV DIAL system. The Ranan lidars use vibrational water vapor and nitrogen signals to derive water vapor mixing ratio and temperature, aerosol extinction and backscatter are measured using pure-rotational Raman and elastic signals. The first Raman lidar (RALMO) is a fully automated, water vapor /temperature/aerosol lidar developed for operational use by the Swiss meteorological office (MeteoSiss). The lidar supplies water vapor mixing ratio and temperature plus aerosol extinction and backscatter coefficients at 355 nm. The operational range of the lidar is 100-7000 m (night time) and 100- 5000 m (daytime) with time resolution of 30 min. The spatial resolution varies with height from 25 to 300 m in order to maintain the maximum measurement error of 10%. The system is designed to provide long-term database with minimal instrument-induced variations in time of the measured parameters. The lidar has been in regular operation in the main aerological station of Meteoswiss- Payerne since September 2008. The second Raman lidar is a new generation, solar-blind system with an operational range 10-500 m and high spatial (1.5 m) and temporal (1 s) resolutions designed for simultaneous humidity, temperature, and aerosol measurements in the lower atmosphere. To maintain the measurement accuracy while operating with fixed spatial and temporal resolution, the receiver is designed to provide lower than ten dynamic range of the signals within the distance range of the lidar. The lidar has 360° azimuth and 240°elevation scanning ability. The lidar was used in two field campaigns aiming to study the structure of the lower atmosphere over complex terrains and, in particular

2012 USGS Lidar: Brooks Camp (AK)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) had a requirement for high resolution Lidar needed for mapping the Brooks Camp region of Katmai National Park in Alaska....

Ground-based eye-safe networkable micro-pulse differential absorption and high spectral resolution lidar for water vapor and aerosol profiling in the lower troposphere

Science.gov (United States)

Repasky, K. S.; Spuler, S.; Hayman, M. M.; Bunn, C. E.

2017-12-01

Atmospheric water vapor is a greenhouse gas that is known to be a significant driver of weather and climate. Several National Research Council (NRC) reports have highlighted the need for improved water vapor measurements that can capture its spatial and temporal variability as a means to improve weather predictions. Researchers at Montana State University (MSU) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) have developed an eye-safe diode laser based micro-pulse differential absorption lidar (MP-DIAL) for water vapor profiling in the lower troposphere. The MP-DIAL is capable of long term unattended operation and is capable of monitoring water vapor in the lower troposphere in most weather conditions. Two MP-DIAL instruments are currently operational and have been deployed at the Front Range Air Pollution and Photochemistry Experiment (FRAPPE), the Plains elevated Convection at Night (PECAN) experiment, the Perdigão experiment, and the Land Atmosphere Feedback Experiment (LAFE). For each of these field experiments, the MP-DIAL was run unattended and provided near-continuous water vapor profiles, including periods of bright daytime clouds, from 300 m above the ground level to 4 km (or the cloud base) with 150 m vertical resolution and 5 minute temporal resolution. Three additional MP-DIAL instruments are currently under construction and will result in a network of five eye-safe MP-DIAL instruments for ground based weather and climate research experiments. Taking advantage of the broad spectral coverage and modularity or the diode based architecture, a high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) measurement capabilities was added to the second MP-DIAL instrument. The HSRL capabilities will be operational during the deployment at the LAFE field experiment. The instrument architecture will be presented along with examples of data collected during recent field experiments.

A multi-resolution analysis of lidar-DTMs to identify geomorphic processes from characteristic topographic length scales

Science.gov (United States)

Sangireddy, H.; Passalacqua, P.; Stark, C. P.

2013-12-01

Characteristic length scales are often present in topography, and they reflect the driving geomorphic processes. The wide availability of high resolution lidar Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) allows us to measure such characteristic scales, but new methods of topographic analysis are needed in order to do so. Here, we explore how transitions in probability distributions (pdfs) of topographic variables such as (log(area/slope)), defined as topoindex by Beven and Kirkby[1979], can be measured by Multi-Resolution Analysis (MRA) of lidar DTMs [Stark and Stark, 2001; Sangireddy et al.,2012] and used to infer dominant geomorphic processes such as non-linear diffusion and critical shear. We show this correlation between dominant geomorphic processes to characteristic length scales by comparing results from a landscape evolution model to natural landscapes. The landscape evolution model MARSSIM Howard[1994] includes components for modeling rock weathering, mass wasting by non-linear creep, detachment-limited channel erosion, and bedload sediment transport. We use MARSSIM to simulate steady state landscapes for a range of hillslope diffusivity and critical shear stresses. Using the MRA approach, we estimate modal values and inter-quartile ranges of slope, curvature, and topoindex as a function of resolution. We also construct pdfs at each resolution and identify and extract characteristic scale breaks. Following the approach of Tucker et al.,[2001], we measure the average length to channel from ridges, within the GeoNet framework developed by Passalacqua et al.,[2010] and compute pdfs for hillslope lengths at each scale defined in the MRA. We compare the hillslope diffusivity used in MARSSIM against inter-quartile ranges of topoindex and hillslope length scales, and observe power law relationships between the compared variables for simulated landscapes at steady state. We plot similar measures for natural landscapes and are able to qualitatively infer the dominant geomorphic

LIDAR Thomson scattering for advanced tokamaks. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Molvik, A.W.; Lerche, R.A.; Nilson, D.G.

1996-01-01

The LIDAR Thomson Scattering for Advanced Tokamaks project made a valuable contribution by combining LLNL expertise from the MFE Program: tokamak design and diagnostics, and the ICF Program and Physics Dept.: short-pulse lasers and fast streak cameras. This multidisciplinary group evaluated issues involved in achieving a factor of 20 higher high spatial resolution (to as small as 2-3 mm) from the present state of the art in LIDAR Thomson scattering, and developed conceptual designs to apply LIDAR Thomson scattering to three tokamaks: Upgraded divertor measurements in the existing DIII-D tokamak; Both core and divertor LIDAR Thomson scattering in the proposed (now cancelled) TPX; and core, edge, and divertor LIDAR Thomson scattering on the presently planned International Tokamak Experimental Reactor, ITER. Other issues were evaluated in addition to the time response required for a few millimeter spatial resolution. These include the optimum wavelength, 100 Hz operation of the laser and detectors, minimizing stray light - always the Achilles heel of Thomson scattering, and time dispersion in optics that could prevent good spatial resolution. Innovative features of our work included: custom short pulsed laser concepts to meet specific requirements, use of a prism spectrometer to maintain a constant optical path length for high temporal and spatial resolution, the concept of a laser focus outside the plasma to ionize gas and form an external fiducial to use in locating the plasma edge as well as to spread the laser energy over a large enough area of the inner wall to avoid laser ablation of wall material, an improved concept for cleaning windows between shots by means of laser ablation, and the identification of a new physics issue - nonlinear effects near a laser focus which could perturb the plasma density and temperature that are to be measured

Windscanner: 3-D wind and turbulence measurements from three steerable doppler lidars

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mikkelsen, T; Mann, J; Courtney, M; Sjoeholm, M

2008-01-01

At RISOe DTU we has started to build a new-designed laser-based lidar scanning facility for detailed remote measurements of the wind fields engulfing the huge wind turbines of today. Our aim is to measure in real-time 3D wind vector data at several hundred points every second: 1) upstream of the turbine, 2) near the turbine, and 3) in the wakes of the turbine rotors. Our first proto-type Windscanner is now being built from three commercially available Continuous Wave (CW) wind lidars modified with fast adjustable focus length and equipped with 2-D prism-based scan heads, in conjunction with a commercially available pulsed wind lidar for extended vertical profiling range. Design, construction and initial testing of the new 3-D wind lidar scanning facility are described and the functionality of the Windscanner and its potential as a new research facility within the wind energy community is discussed

2015 City of Portland, Maine, Lidar

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — 2015 City of Portland Maine Lidar Data Acquisition and Processing Woolpert Order No. 75564 Contractor: Woolpert, Inc. This task is for a high resolution data set of...

INTERACT-II campaign:comparison of commercial lidars and ceilometers with advanced multi-wavelength Raman lidars

Science.gov (United States)

Rosoldi, Marco; Madonna, Fabio; Pappalardo, Gelsomina; Vande Hey, Joshua; Zheng, Yunhui; Vaisala Team

2017-04-01

Knowledge of aerosol spatio-temporal distribution in troposphere is essential for the study of climate and air quality. For this purpose, global scale high resolution continuous measurements of tropospheric aerosols are needed. Global coverage high resolution networks of ground-based low-cost and low-maintenance remote sensing instruments, such as commercial automatic lidars and ceilometers, can strongly contribute to this scientific mission. Therefore, it is very interesting for scientific community to understand to which extent these instruments are able to provide reliable aerosol measurements and fill in the geographical gaps of existing networks of the advanced lidars, like EARLINET (European Aerosol Research LIdar NETwork). The INTERACT-II (INTERcomparison of Aerosol and Cloud Tracking) campaign, carried out at CIAO (CNR-IMAA Atmospheric Observatory) in Tito Scalo, Potenza, Italy (760m a.s.l., 40.60°N, 15.72°E), aims to evaluate the performances of commercial automatic lidars and ceilometers for tropospheric aerosol profiling. The campaign has been performed in the period from July 2016 to January 2017 in the framework of ACTRIS-2 (Aerosol Clouds Trace gases Research InfraStructure) H2020 research infrastructure project. Besides the commercial ceilometers operational at CIAO (VAISALA CT25K and Luftt CHM15k), the performance of a CL51 VAISALA ceilometer, a Campbell CS135 ceilometer and a mini-Micro Pulse Lidar (MPL) have been assessed using the EARLINET multi-wavelengths Raman lidars operative at CIAO as reference. Following a similar approach used in the first INTERACT campaign (Madonna et al., AMT 2015), attenuated backscatter coefficient profiles and signals obtained from all the instruments have been compared, over a vertical resolution of 60 meters and a temporal integration ranging between 1 and 2 hours, depending on the observed atmospheric scenario. CIAO lidars signals have been processed using the EARLINET Single Calculus Chain (SCC) also with the

High PRF ultrafast sliding compound doppler imaging: fully qualitative and quantitative analysis of blood flow

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Jinbum; Jang, Won Seuk; Yoo, Yangmo

2018-02-01

Ultrafast compound Doppler imaging based on plane-wave excitation (UCDI) can be used to evaluate cardiovascular diseases using high frame rates. In particular, it provides a fully quantifiable flow analysis over a large region of interest with high spatio-temporal resolution. However, the pulse-repetition frequency (PRF) in the UCDI method is limited for high-velocity flow imaging since it has a tradeoff between the number of plane-wave angles (N) and acquisition time. In this paper, we present high PRF ultrafast sliding compound Doppler imaging method (HUSDI) to improve quantitative flow analysis. With the HUSDI method, full scanline images (i.e. each tilted plane wave data) in a Doppler frame buffer are consecutively summed using a sliding window to create high-quality ensemble data so that there is no reduction in frame rate and flow sensitivity. In addition, by updating a new compounding set with a certain time difference (i.e. sliding window step size or L), the HUSDI method allows various Doppler PRFs with the same acquisition data to enable a fully qualitative, retrospective flow assessment. To evaluate the performance of the proposed HUSDI method, simulation, in vitro and in vivo studies were conducted under diverse flow circumstances. In the simulation and in vitro studies, the HUSDI method showed improved hemodynamic representations without reducing either temporal resolution or sensitivity compared to the UCDI method. For the quantitative analysis, the root mean squared velocity error (RMSVE) was measured using 9 angles (-12° to 12°) with L of 1-9, and the results were found to be comparable to those of the UCDI method (L  =  N  =  9), i.e.  ⩽0.24 cm s-1, for all L values. For the in vivo study, the flow data acquired from a full cardiac cycle of the femoral vessels of a healthy volunteer were analyzed using a PW spectrogram, and arterial and venous flows were successfully assessed with high Doppler PRF (e.g. 5 kHz at L�

High PRF ultrafast sliding compound doppler imaging: fully qualitative and quantitative analysis of blood flow.

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Jinbum; Jang, Won Seuk; Yoo, Yangmo

2018-02-09

Ultrafast compound Doppler imaging based on plane-wave excitation (UCDI) can be used to evaluate cardiovascular diseases using high frame rates. In particular, it provides a fully quantifiable flow analysis over a large region of interest with high spatio-temporal resolution. However, the pulse-repetition frequency (PRF) in the UCDI method is limited for high-velocity flow imaging since it has a tradeoff between the number of plane-wave angles (N) and acquisition time. In this paper, we present high PRF ultrafast sliding compound Doppler imaging method (HUSDI) to improve quantitative flow analysis. With the HUSDI method, full scanline images (i.e. each tilted plane wave data) in a Doppler frame buffer are consecutively summed using a sliding window to create high-quality ensemble data so that there is no reduction in frame rate and flow sensitivity. In addition, by updating a new compounding set with a certain time difference (i.e. sliding window step size or L), the HUSDI method allows various Doppler PRFs with the same acquisition data to enable a fully qualitative, retrospective flow assessment. To evaluate the performance of the proposed HUSDI method, simulation, in vitro and in vivo studies were conducted under diverse flow circumstances. In the simulation and in vitro studies, the HUSDI method showed improved hemodynamic representations without reducing either temporal resolution or sensitivity compared to the UCDI method. For the quantitative analysis, the root mean squared velocity error (RMSVE) was measured using 9 angles (-12° to 12°) with L of 1-9, and the results were found to be comparable to those of the UCDI method (L  =  N  =  9), i.e.  ⩽0.24 cm s -1 , for all L values. For the in vivo study, the flow data acquired from a full cardiac cycle of the femoral vessels of a healthy volunteer were analyzed using a PW spectrogram, and arterial and venous flows were successfully assessed with high Doppler PRF (e.g. 5 kHz at L�

High resolution compression elastography and color doppler sonography in characterization of breast fibroadenoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Rjosk-Dendorfer, D; Reu, S; Deak, Z; Hetterich, H; Kolben, T; Reiser, M; Clevert, D A

2014-01-01

To evaluate the use of color Doppler sonography and free hand sonoelastography in the assessment of breast fibroadenomas according to their size and shape. From December 2012 to March 2013 women with 16 solid breast masses, classified as BI-RADS category 3 or 4 were examined with B-mode ultrasound, sonoelastography and color Doppler sonography. Lesions were subdivided according to their shape in round, ovoid or macrolobulated and according to their size (fibroadenomas in B-mode sonography could be shown (p = 0.91) and also comparison of Tsukuba-scores and size of masses revealed no significant differences (p = 1.0). Sizes of fibroadenomas ≥2 cm were significantly associated with an increased vascularization of the lesions (p = 0.04) and a macrolobulated appearance in B-mode sonography (p = 0.04). The combination of color Doppler sonography and sonoelastography in addition to B-mode sonography leads to an increased accuracy in distinguishing benign from malignant breast masses and to an improvement in characterization of fibroadenomas independent of their shape or size.

Direct comparison of high‐temporal‐resolution CINE MRI with Doppler ultrasound for assessment of diastolic dysfunction in mice

Science.gov (United States)

Price, Anthony N.; Jackson, Laurence H.; Taylor, Valerie; David, Anna L.; Lythgoe, Mark F.; Stuckey, Daniel J.

2017-01-01

Diastolic dysfunction is a sensitive early indicator of heart failure and can provide additional data to conventional measures of systolic function. Transmitral Doppler ultrasound, which measures the one‐dimensional flow of blood through the mitral valve, is currently the preferred method for the measurement of diastolic function, but the measurement of the left ventricular volume changes using high‐temporal‐resolution cinematic magnetic resonance imaging (CINE MRI) is an alternative approach which is emerging as a potentially more robust and user‐independent technique. Here, we investigated the performance of high‐temporal‐resolution CINE MRI and compared it with ultrasound for the detection of diastolic dysfunction in a mouse model of myocardial infarction. An in‐house, high‐temporal‐resolution, retrospectively gated CINE sequence was developed with a temporal resolution of 1 ms. Diastolic function in mice was assessed using a custom‐made, open‐source reconstruction package. Early (E) and late (A) left ventricular filling phases were easily identifiable, and these measurements were compared directly with high‐frequency, pulsed‐wave, Doppler ultrasound measurements of mitral valve inflow. A repeatability study established that high‐temporal‐resolution CINE MRI and Doppler ultrasound showed comparable accuracy when measuring E/A in normal control mice. However, when applied in a mouse model of myocardial infarction, high‐temporal‐resolution CINE MRI indicated diastolic heart failure (E/A = 0.94 ± 0.11), whereas ultrasound falsely detected normal cardiac function (E/A = 1.21 ± 0.11). The addition of high‐temporal‐resolution CINE MRI to preclinical imaging studies enhances the library of sequences available to cardiac researchers and potentially identifies diastolic heart failure early in disease progression. PMID:28643891

2009 - 2011 CA Coastal Conservancy Coastal Lidar Project: Hydro-flattened Bare Earth DEM

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data is remotely sensed high-resolution elevation data collected by an airborne collection platform. This LiDAR dataset is a...

2004 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Bare Earth Topographic LiDAR: Connecticut River

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — LiDAR data is remotely sensed high-resolution elevation data collected by an airborne collection platform. The LiDAR files were converted from .PTS format to LAS...

Temperature lidar measurements from 1 to 105 km altitude using resonance, Rayleigh, and Rotational Raman scattering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Alpers

2004-01-01

Full Text Available For the first time, three different temperature lidar methods are combined to obtain time-resolved complete temperature profiles with high altitude resolution over an altitude range from the planetary boundary layer up to the lower thermosphere (about 1–105 km. The Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP at Kühlungsborn, Germany (54° N, 12° E operates two lidar instruments, using three different temperature measurement methods, optimized for three altitude ranges: (1 Probing the spectral Doppler broadening of the potassium D1 resonance lines with a tunable narrow-band laser allows atmospheric temperature profiles to be determined at metal layer altitudes (80–105 km. (2 Between about 20 and 90 km, temperatures were calculated from Rayleigh backscattering by air molecules, where the upper start values for the calculation algorithm were taken from the potassium lidar results. Correction methods have been applied to account for, e.g. Rayleigh extinction or Mie scattering of aerosols below about 32 km. (3 At altitudes below about 25 km, backscattering in the Rotational Raman lines is strong enough to obtain temperatures by measuring the temperature dependent spectral shape of the Rotational Raman spectrum. This method works well down to about 1 km. The instrumental configurations of the IAP lidars were optimized for a 3–6 km overlap of the temperature profiles at the method transition altitudes. We present two night-long measurements with clear wave structures propagating from the lower stratosphere up to the lower thermosphere.

Volumetric visualization of multiple-return LIDAR data: Using voxels

Science.gov (United States)

Stoker, Jason M.

2009-01-01

Elevation data are an important component in the visualization and analysis of geographic information. The creation and display of 3D models representing bare earth, vegetation, and surface structures have become a major focus of light detection and ranging (lidar) remote sensing research in the past few years. Lidar is an active sensor that records the distance, or range, of a laser usually fi red from an airplane, helicopter, or satellite. By converting the millions of 3D lidar returns from a system into bare ground, vegetation, or structural elevation information, extremely accurate, high-resolution elevation models can be derived and produced to visualize and quantify scenes in three dimensions. These data can be used to produce high-resolution bare-earth digital elevation models; quantitative estimates of vegetative features such as canopy height, canopy closure, and biomass; and models of urban areas such as building footprints and 3D city models.

Superimposed noninterfering probes to extend the capabilities of phase Doppler anemometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Onofri, Fabrice; Lenoble, Anne; Radev, Stefan

2002-06-20

We propose using multiple superimposed noninterfering probes (SNIPs) of the same wavelength but different beam angles to extend the capabilities of phase Doppler anemometry. When a particle is moving in a SNIP the Doppler signals that are produced exhibit multiple Doppler frequencies and phase shifts. The resolution of the measurements of particle size (i.e., by fringe spacing and Doppler frequency) increases with beam angle. Then, with the solution proposed, even with only two detectors several measurements of size can be obtained for the same particle with increasing resolution if we consider higher frequencies in the signal. Several optical solutions to produce SNIPs as well as a signal-processing algorithm to treat the multiple-frequency Doppler signals are proposed. Experimental validations of the sizing of spherical and cylindrical particles demonstrate the applicability of this technique for particle measurement. We believe that this new technique can be of great interest when high resolution of size, velocity, and even refractive index is required.

Frequency Stepped Pulse Train Modulated Wind Sensing Lidar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olesen, Anders Sig; Pedersen, Anders Tegtmeier; Rottwitt, Karsten

2011-01-01

of frequency shifts corresponding to a specific distance. The spatial resolution depends on the repetition rate of the pulses in the pulse train. Directional wind measurements are shown and compared to a CW lidar measurement. The carrier to noise ratio of the FSPT lidar compared to a CW lidar is discussed......In this paper a wind sensing lidar utilizing a Frequency Stepped Pulse Train (FSPT) is demonstrated. One of the advantages in the FSTP lidar is that it enables direct measurement of wind speed as a function of distance from the lidar. Theoretically the FSPT lidar continuously produces measurements...... as is the case with a CW lidar, but at the same time with a spatial resolution, and without the range ambiguity originating from e.g. clouds. The FSPT lidar utilizes a frequency sweeping source for generation of the FSPT. The source generates a pulse train where each pulse has an optical carrier frequency...

High-resolution sub-Doppler infrared spectroscopy of atmospherically relevant Criegee precursor CH2I radicals: CH2 stretch vibrations and "charge-sloshing" dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Kortyna, A.; Lesko, D. M. B.; Nesbitt, D. J.

2018-05-01

The combination of a pulsed supersonic slit-discharge source and single-mode difference frequency direct absorption infrared spectroscopy permit first high resolution infrared study of the iodomethyl (CH2I) radical, with the CH2I radical species generated in a slit jet Ne/He discharge and cooled to 16 K in the supersonic expansion. Dual laser beam detection and collisional collimation in the slit expansion yield sub-Doppler linewidths (60 MHz), an absolute frequency calibration of 13 MHz, and absorbance sensitivities within a factor of two of the shot-noise limit. Fully rovibrationally resolved direct absorption spectra of the CH2 symmetric stretch mode (ν2) are obtained and fitted to a Watson asymmetric top Hamiltonian with electron spin-rotation coupling, providing precision rotational constants and spin-rotation tensor elements for the vibrationally excited state. Analysis of the asymmetric top rotational constants confirms a vibrationally averaged planar geometry in both the ground- and first-excited vibrational levels. Sub-Doppler resolution permits additional nuclear spin hyperfine structures to be observed, with splittings in excellent agreement with microwave measurements on the ground state. Spectroscopic data on CH2I facilitate systematic comparison with previous studies of halogen-substituted methyl radicals, with the periodic trends strongly correlated with the electronegativity of the halogen atom. Interestingly, we do not observe any asymmetric CH2 stretch transitions, despite S/N ≈ 25:1 on strongest lines in the corresponding symmetric CH2 stretch manifold. This dramatic reversal of the more typical 3:1 antisymmetric/symmetric CH2 stretch intensity ratio signals a vibrational transition moment poorly described by simple "bond-dipole" models. Instead, the data suggest that this anomalous intensity ratio arises from "charge sloshing" dynamics in the highly polar carbon-iodine bond, as supported by ab initio electron differential density plots and

Advances in High Energy Solid-State Pulsed 2-Micron Lidar Development for Ground and Airborne Wind, Water Vapor and CO2 Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Upendra N.; Yu, Jirong; Petros, Mulugeta; Refaat, Tamer; Kavaya, Michael J.; Remus, Ruben

2015-01-01

NASA Langley Research Center has a long history of developing 2-micron lasers. From fundamental spectroscopy research, theoretical prediction of new materials, laser demonstration and engineering of lidar systems, it has been a very successful program spanning around two decades. Successful development of 2-micron lasers has led to development of a state-of-the-art compact lidar transceiver for a pulsed coherent Doppler lidar system for wind measurement with an unprecedented laser pulse energy of 250 millijoules in a rugged package. This high pulse energy is produced by a Ho:Tm:LuLiF laser with an optical amplifier. While the lidar is meant for use as an airborne instrument, ground-based tests were carried out to characterize performance of the lidar. Atmospheric measurements will be presented, showing the lidar's capability for wind measurement in the atmospheric boundary layer and free troposphere. Lidar wind measurements are compared to a balloon sonde, showing good agreement between the two sensors. Similar architecture has been used to develop a high energy, Ho:Tm:YLF double-pulsed 2-micron Integrated Differential Absorption Lidar (IPDA) instrument based on direct detection technique that provides atmospheric column CO2 measurements. This instrument has been successfully used to measure atmospheric CO2 column density initially from a ground mobile lidar trailer, and then it was integrated on B-200 plane and 20 hours of flight measurement were made from an altitude ranging 1500 meters to 8000 meters. These measurements were compared to in-situ measurements and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) airborne flask measurement to derive the dry mixing ratio of the column CO2 by reflecting the signal by various reflecting surfaces such as land, vegetation, ocean surface, snow and sand. The lidar measurements when compared showed a very agreement with in-situ and airborne flask measurement. NASA Langley Research Center is currently developing a

Estimating Turbulence Statistics and Parameters from Lidar Measurements. Remote Sensing Summer School

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sathe, Ameya

This report is prepared as a written contribution to the Remote Sensing Summer School, that is organized by the Department of Wind Energy, Technical University of Denmark. It provides an overview of the state-of-the-art with regards to estimating turbulence statistics from lidar measurements...... configuration. The so-called velocity Azimuth Display (VAD) and the Doppler Beam Swinging (DBS) methods of post processing the lidar data are investigated in greater details, partly due to their wide use in commercial lidars. It is demonstrated that the VAD or DBS techniques result in introducing significant...

Lidar Characterization of Boundary Layer Transport and Mixing for Estimating Urban-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hardesty R. Michael

2016-01-01

Full Text Available A compact commercial Doppler lidar has been deployed in Indianapolis for two years to measure wind profiles and mixing layer properties as part of project to improve greenhouse measurements from large area sources. The lidar uses vertical velocity variance and aerosol structure to measure mixing layer depth. Comparisons with aircraft and the NOAA HRDL lidar generally indicate good performance, although sensitivity might be an issue under low aerosol conditions.

A High Resolution Solar Spectrograph for the Berkeley Undergraduate Astronomy Lab

Science.gov (United States)

Strickler, R.; Bresloff, C.; Graham, J.

2005-05-01

The discovery of extra-solar planets has stimulated interest amongst undergraduates. The Doppler method for detecting exoplanets requires extraction of signals at the 1/1000 of a pixel level. To illustrate this technique, we used a newly built spectrometer to extract sub-pixel Doppler shifts in the solar photosphere. We have used this spectrograph to measure the velocity gradient across the sun and hence infer the solar radius. The limb-to-limb Doppler shift is only 1.8 km/s. A spectral resolution > 100,000 would be required to manifest this motion. Achieving such high spectral resolution is unnecessary since even a small telescope can record high SNR (> 100) spectra. Within a few seconds it is possible to discern solar rotational Doppler shifts at resolutions as low as 10,000. We must also understand coordinate transformation to convert the Doppler signal along the observed diameter to the equatorial rotation speed assuming solid body rotation. The spectrograph system includes an 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain stationary telescope; a 100-micron diameter multi-mode fiber; aspheric f-number reformatting optics; a collimating lens; a 110 mm, 80 grooves/mm, θ blaze = 64.5 degree replica echelle grating; and an Apogee 1024 x 1024 thermo-electrically cooled CCD. The spectrometer optics are mounted on a 5-ft x 3-ft optical bench. Operating the spectrometer remotely using VNC and a wireless laptop, we pointed the telescope so that the fiber scanned across a diameter of the solar disk while the CCD took repeated exposures. Although we were "guinea pigs," using the spectrograph for the first time in a class, it worked remarkably well. Combining measurement of the solar radius with observation of the rotation period from sunspots, the earth-sun distance can be deduced. In the future, students may measure the eccentricity of earth's orbit by measuring the sun's radial velocity over the course of a year. This work was supported by the NSF through award DUE-0311536.

2008 USGS New Jersey Lidar: Somerset County

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — These data support the general geospatial needs of the USGS and other federal agencies. LiDAR data is remotely sensed high-resolution elevation data collected by an...

Remote sensing of Sonoran Desert vegetation structure and phenology with ground-based LiDAR

Science.gov (United States)

Sankey, Joel B.; Munson, Seth M.; Webb, Robert H.; Wallace, Cynthia S.A.; Duran, Cesar M.

2015-01-01

Long-term vegetation monitoring efforts have become increasingly important for understanding ecosystem response to global change. Many traditional methods for monitoring can be infrequent and limited in scope. Ground-based LiDAR is one remote sensing method that offers a clear advancement to monitor vegetation dynamics at high spatial and temporal resolution. We determined the effectiveness of LiDAR to detect intra-annual variability in vegetation structure at a long-term Sonoran Desert monitoring plot dominated by cacti, deciduous and evergreen shrubs. Monthly repeat LiDAR scans of perennial plant canopies over the course of one year had high precision. LiDAR measurements of canopy height and area were accurate with respect to total station survey measurements of individual plants. We found an increase in the number of LiDAR vegetation returns following the wet North American Monsoon season. This intra-annual variability in vegetation structure detected by LiDAR was attributable to a drought deciduous shrub Ambrosia deltoidea, whereas the evergreen shrub Larrea tridentata and cactus Opuntia engelmannii had low variability. Benefits of using LiDAR over traditional methods to census desert plants are more rapid, consistent, and cost-effective data acquisition in a high-resolution, 3-dimensional context. We conclude that repeat LiDAR measurements can be an effective method for documenting ecosystem response to desert climatology and drought over short time intervals and at detailed-local spatial scale.

Coastal change analysis of Lovells Island using high resolution ground based LiDAR imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Ly, Jennifer K.

Many methods have been employed to study coastline change. These methods range from historical map analysis to GPS surveys to modern airborne LiDAR and satellite imagery. These previously used methods can be time consuming, labor intensive, and expensive and have varying degrees of accuracy and temporal coverage. Additionally, it is often difficult to apply such techniques in direct response to an isolated event within an appropriate temporal framework. Here we utilize a new ground based Canopy Biomass LiDAR (CBL) system built at The University of Massachusetts Boston (in collaboration with the Rochester Institute of Technology) in order to identify and analyze coastal change on Lovells Island, Boston Harbor. Surveys of a bluff developing in an eroding drumlin and beach cusps on a high-energy cobble beach on Lovells Island were conducted in June, September and December of 2013. At each site for each survey, the CBL was set up and multiple scans of each feature were taken on a predetermined transect that was established parallel to the high-water mark at distances relative to the scale of the bluff and cusps. The scans from each feature were compiled, integrated and visualized using Meshlab. Results from our surveys indicate that the highly portable and easy to deploy CBL system produces images of exceptional clarity, with the capacity to resolve small-scale changes to coastal features and systems. The CBL, while still under development (and coastal surveying protocols with it are just being established), appears to be an ideal tool for analyzing coastal geological features and is anticipated to prove to be a useful tool for the observation and analysis of coastal change. Furthermore, there is significant potential for utilizing the low cost ultra-portable CBL in frequent deployments to develop small-scale erosion rate and sediment budget analyses.

Emerging solid-state laser technology by lidar/DIAL remote sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Killinger, Dennis

1992-01-01

Significant progress has been made in recent years in the development of new, solid-state laser sources. This talk will present an overview of some of the new developments in solid-state lasers, and their application toward lidar/DIAL measurements of the atmosphere. Newly emerging lasers such as Ho:YAG, Tm:YAG, OPO, and Ti:Sapphire will be covered, along with the spectroscopic parameters required for differential operational modes of atmospheric remote sensing including Doppler-Windshear lidar, Tunable laser detection of water/CO2, and broad linewidth OPO's for open path detection of pollutant hydrocarbon gases. Additional considerations of emerging laser technology for lidar/DIAL will also be covered.

Approach to simultaneously denoise and invert backscatter and extinction from photon-limited atmospheric lidar observations.

Science.gov (United States)

Marais, Willem J; Holz, Robert E; Hu, Yu Hen; Kuehn, Ralph E; Eloranta, Edwin E; Willett, Rebecca M

2016-10-10

Atmospheric lidar observations provide a unique capability to directly observe the vertical column of cloud and aerosol scattering properties. Detector and solar-background noise, however, hinder the ability of lidar systems to provide reliable backscatter and extinction cross-section estimates. Standard methods for solving this inverse problem are most effective with high signal-to-noise ratio observations that are only available at low resolution in uniform scenes. This paper describes a novel method for solving the inverse problem with high-resolution, lower signal-to-noise ratio observations that are effective in non-uniform scenes. The novelty is twofold. First, the inferences of the backscatter and extinction are applied to images, whereas current lidar algorithms only use the information content of single profiles. Hence, the latent spatial and temporal information in noisy images are utilized to infer the cross-sections. Second, the noise associated with photon-counting lidar observations can be modeled using a Poisson distribution, and state-of-the-art tools for solving Poisson inverse problems are adapted to the atmospheric lidar problem. It is demonstrated through photon-counting high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) simulations that the proposed algorithm yields inverted backscatter and extinction cross-sections (per unit volume) with smaller mean squared error values at higher spatial and temporal resolutions, compared to the standard approach. Two case studies of real experimental data are also provided where the proposed algorithm is applied on HSRL observations and the inverted backscatter and extinction cross-sections are compared against the standard approach.

Application of short-range dual-Doppler lidars to evaluate the coherence of turbulence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cheynet, Etienne; Jakobsen, Jasna Bogunović; Snæbjörnsson, Jónas

2016-01-01

Two synchronized continuous wave scanning lidars are used to study the coherence of the along-wind and across-wind velocity components. The goal is to evaluate the potential of the lidar technology for application in wind engineering. The wind lidars were installed on the Lysefjord Bridge during...... four days in May 2014 to monitor the wind field in the horizontal plane upstream of the bridge deck. Wind records obtained by five sonic anemometers mounted on the West side of the bridge are used as reference data. Single- and two-point statistics of wind turbulence are studied, with special emphasis...

Determination of smoke plume and layer heights using scanning lidar data

Science.gov (United States)

Vladimir A. Kovalev; Alexander Petkov; Cyle Wold; Shawn Urbanski; Wei Min Hao

2009-01-01

The methodology of using mobile scanning lidar data for investigation of smoke plume rise and high-resolution smoke dispersion is considered. The methodology is based on the lidar-signal transformation proposed recently [Appl. Opt. 48, 2559 (2009)]. In this study, similar methodology is used to create the atmospheric heterogeneity height indicator (HHI...

Atmospheric energy harvesting: use of Doppler Wind Lidars on UAVs to extend mission endurance and enable quiet operations

Science.gov (United States)

Greco, S.; Emmitt, G. D.; Wood, S. A.; Costello, M.

2014-10-01

The investigators are developing a system tool that utilizes both pre-flight information and continuous real-time knowledge and description of the state of the atmosphere and atmospheric energetics by an Airborne Doppler Wind Lidar (ADWL) to provide the autonomous guidance for detailed and adaptive flight path planning by UAS and small manned aircraft. This flight planning and control has the potential to reduce mission dependence upon preflight assumptions, extend flight duration and endurance, enable long periods of quiet operations and allow for the optimum self-routing of the aircraft. The ADWL wind data is used in real-time to detect atmospheric energy features such as thermals, waves, wind shear and others. These detected features are then used with an onboard, weather model driven flight control model to adaptively plan a flight path that optimizes energy harvesting with frequent updates on local changes in the opportunities and atmospheric flow characteristics. We have named this package AEORA for the Atmospheric Energy Opportunity Ranking Algorithm (AEORA).

An Evaluation of Mesoscale Model Predictions of Down-Valley and Canyon Flows and Their Consequences Using Doppler Lidar Measurements During VTMX 2000

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fast, Jerome D.; Darby, Lisa S.

2004-01-01

A mesoscale model, a Lagrangian particle dispersion model, and extensive Doppler lidar wind measurements during the VTMX 2000 field campaign were used to examine converging flows over the Salt Lake Valley and their effect on vertical mixing of tracers at night and during the morning transition period. The simulated wind components were transformed into radial velocities to make a direct comparison with about 1.3 million Doppler lidar data points and critically evaluate, using correlation coefficients, the spatial variations in the simulated wind fields aloft. The mesoscale model captured reasonably well the general features of the observed circulations including the daytime up-valley flow, the nighttime slope, canyon, and down-valley flows, and the convergence of the flows over the valley. When there were errors in the simulated wind fields, they were usually associated with the timing, structure, or strength of specific flows. Simulated outflows from canyons along the Wasatch Mountains propagated over the valley and converged with the down-valley flow, but the advance and retreat of these simulated flows was often out of phase with the lidar measurements. While the flow reversal during the evening transition period produced rising motions over much of the valley atmosphere in the absence of significant ambient winds, average vertical velocities became close to zero as the down-valley flow developed. Still, vertical velocities between 5 and 15 cm s-1 occurred where down-slope, canyon and down-valley flows converged and vertical velocities greater than 50 cm s-1 were produced by hydraulic jumps at the base of the canyons. The presence of strong ambient winds resulted in smaller average rising motions during the evening transition period and larger average vertical velocities after that. A fraction of the tracer released at the surface was transported up to the height of the surrounding mountains; however, higher concentrations were produced aloft for evening s

Telescope aperture optimization for spacebased coherent wind lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Ge, Xian-ying; Zhu, Jun; Cao, Qipeng; Zhang, Yinchao; Yin, Huan; Dong, Xiaojing; Wang, Chao; Zhang, Yongchao; Zhang, Ning

2015-08-01

Many studies have indicated that the optimum measurement approach for winds from space is a pulsed coherent wind lidar, which is an active remote sensing tool with the characteristics that high spatial and temporal resolutions, real-time detection, high mobility, facilitated control and so on. Because of the significant eye safety, efficiency, size, and lifetime advantage, 2μm wavelength solid-state laser lidar systems have attracted much attention in spacebased wind lidar plans. In this paper, the theory of coherent detection is presented and a 2μm wavelength solid-state laser lidar system is introduced, then the ideal aperture is calculated from signal-to-noise(SNR) view at orbit 400km. However, considering real application, even if the lidar hardware is perfectly aligned, the directional jitter of laser beam, the attitude change of the lidar in the long round trip time of the light from the atmosphere and other factors can bring misalignment angle. So the influence of misalignment angle is considered and calculated, and the optimum telescope diameter(0.45m) is obtained as the misalignment angle is 4 μrad. By the analysis of the optimum aperture required for spacebased coherent wind lidar system, we try to present the design guidance for the telescope.

Study on analysis from sources of error for Airborne LIDAR

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, H. C.; Yan, Q.; Liu, Z. J.; Zuo, Z. Q.; Xu, Q. Q.; Li, F. F.; Song, C.

2016-11-01

With the advancement of Aerial Photogrammetry, it appears that to obtain geo-spatial information of high spatial and temporal resolution provides a new technical means for Airborne LIDAR measurement techniques, with unique advantages and broad application prospects. Airborne LIDAR is increasingly becoming a new kind of space for earth observation technology, which is mounted by launching platform for aviation, accepting laser pulses to get high-precision, high-density three-dimensional coordinate point cloud data and intensity information. In this paper, we briefly demonstrates Airborne laser radar systems, and that some errors about Airborne LIDAR data sources are analyzed in detail, so the corresponding methods is put forwarded to avoid or eliminate it. Taking into account the practical application of engineering, some recommendations were developed for these designs, which has crucial theoretical and practical significance in Airborne LIDAR data processing fields.

Three-dimension imaging lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Degnan, John J. (Inventor)

2007-01-01

This invention is directed to a 3-dimensional imaging lidar, which utilizes modest power kHz rate lasers, array detectors, photon-counting multi-channel timing receivers, and dual wedge optical scanners with transmitter point-ahead correction to provide contiguous high spatial resolution mapping of surface features including ground, water, man-made objects, vegetation and submerged surfaces from an aircraft or a spacecraft.

Connecting meteorology to surface transport in aeolian landscapes: Peering into the boundary layer with Doppler lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Gunn, A.; Jerolmack, D. J.; Edmonds, D. A.; Ewing, R. C.; Wanker, M.; David, S. R.

2017-12-01

Aolian sand dunes grow to 100s or 1000s of meters in wavelength by sand saltation, which also produces dust plumes that feed cloud formation and may spread around the world. The relations among sediment transport, landscape dynamics and wind are typically observed at the limiting ends of the relevant range: highly resolved and localized ground observations of turbulence and relevant fluxes; or regional and synoptic-scale meteorology and satellite imagery. Between the geostrophic winds aloft and shearing stress on the Earth's surface is the boundary layer, whose stability and structure determines how momentum is transferred and ultimately entrains sediment. Although the literature on atmospheric boundary layer flows is mature, this understanding is rarely applied to aeolian landscape dynamics. Moreover, there are few vertically and time-resolved datasets of atmospheric boundary layer flows in desert sand seas, where buoyancy effects are most pronounced. Here we employ a ground-based upward-looking doppler lidar to examine atmospheric boundary layer flow at the upwind margin of the White Sands (New Mexico) dune field, providing continuous 3D wind velocity data from the surface to 300-m aloft over 70 days of the characteristically windy spring season. Data show highly resolved daily cyles of convective instabilty due to daytime heating and stable stratification due to nightime cooling which act to enhance or depress, respectively, the surface wind stresses for a given free-stream velocity. Our data implicate convective instability in driving strong saltation and dust emission, because enhanced mixing flattens the vertical velocity profile (raising surface wind speed) while upward advection helps to deliver dust to the high atmosphere. We also find evidence for Ekman spiralling, with a magnitude that depends on atmospheric stability. This spiralling gives rise to a deflection in the direction between geostrophic and surface winds, that is significant for the

New Visualization Techniques to Analyze Ultra-High Resolution Four-dimensional Surface Deformation Imagery Collected With Ground-based Tripod LiDAR

Science.gov (United States)

Kreylos, O.; Bawden, G. W.; Kellogg, L. H.

2005-12-01

We are developing a visualization application to display and interact with very large (tens of millions of points) four-dimensional point position datasets in an immersive environment such that point groups from repeated Tripod LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) surveys can be selected, measured, and analyzed for land surface change using 3D~interactions. Ground-based tripod or terrestrial LiDAR (T-LiDAR) can remotely collect ultra-high resolution (centimeter to subcentimeter) and accurate (± 4 mm) digital imagery of the scanned target, and at scanning rates of 2,000 (x, y, z, i) (3D~position~+ intensity) points per second over 7~million points can be collected for a given target in an hour. We developed a multiresolution point set data representation based on octrees to display large T-LiDAR point cloud datasets at the frame rates required for immersive display (between 60 Hz and 120 Hz). Data inside an observer's region of interest is shown in full detail, whereas data outside the field of view or far away from the observer is shown at reduced resolution to provide context. Using 3D input devices at the University of California Davis KeckCAVES, users can navigate large point sets, accurately select related point groups in two or more point sets by sweeping regions of space, and guide the software in deriving positional information from point groups to compute their displacements between surveys. We used this new software application in the KeckCAVES to analyze 4D T-LiDAR imagery from the June~1, 2005 Blue Bird Canyon landslide in Laguna Beach, southern California. Over 50~million (x, y, z, i) data points were collected between 10 and 21~days after the landslide to evaluate T-LiDAR as a natural hazards response tool. The visualization of the T-LiDAR scans within the immediate landslide showed minor readjustments in the weeks following the primarily landslide with no observable continued motion on the primary landslide. Recovery and demolition efforts across the

Evaluation of three lidar scanning strategies for turbulence measurements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Newman, Jennifer F.; Klein, Petra M.; Wharton, Sonia

2016-01-01

Several errors occur when a traditional Doppler beam swinging (DBS) or velocity-azimuth display (VAD) strategy is used to measure turbulence with a lidar. To mitigate some of these errors, a scanning strategy was recently developed which employs six beam positions to independently estimate the u,...

Astronomy at high angular resolution a compendium of techniques in the visible and near-infrared

CERN Document Server

Hussain, Gaitee; Berger, Jean-Philippe; Schmidtobreick, Linda

2016-01-01

This book offers an essential compendium of astronomical high-resolution techniques. Recent years have seen considerable developments in such techniques, which are critical to advances in many areas of astronomy. As reflected in the book, these techniques can be divided into direct methods, interferometry, and reconstruction methods, and can be applied to a huge variety of astrophysical systems, ranging from planets, single stars and binaries to active galactic nuclei, providing angular resolution in the micro- to tens of milliarcsecond scales. Written by experts in their fields, the chapters cover adaptive optics, aperture masking imaging, spectra disentangling, interferometry, lucky imaging, Roche tomography, imaging with interferometry, interferometry of AGN, AGN reverberation mapping, Doppler- and magnetic imaging of stellar surfaces, Doppler tomography, eclipse mapping, Stokes imaging, and stellar tomography. This book is intended to enable a next generation of astronomers to apply high-resolution techni...

DEM Development from Ground-Based LiDAR Data: A Method to Remove Non-Surface Objects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maneesh Sharma

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Topography and land cover characteristics can have significant effects on infiltration, runoff, and erosion processes on watersheds. The ability to model the timing and routing of surface water and erosion is affected by the resolution of the digital elevation model (DEM. High resolution ground-based Light Detecting and Ranging (LiDAR technology can be used to collect detailed topographic and land cover characteristic data. In this study, a method was developed to remove vegetation from ground-based LiDAR data to create high resolution DEMs. Research was conducted on intensively studied rainfall–runoff plots on the USDA-ARS Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed in Southeast Arizona. LiDAR data were used to generate 1 cm resolution digital surface models (DSM for 5 plots. DSMs created directly from LiDAR data contain non-surface objects such as vegetation cover. A vegetation removal method was developed which used a slope threshold and a focal mean filter method to remove vegetation and create bare earth DEMs. The method was validated on a synthetic plot, where rocks and vegetation were added incrementally. Results of the validation showed a vertical error of ±7.5 mm in the final DEM.

CHIRON – A new high resolution spectrometer for CTIO

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcy G.W.

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Small telescopes can play an important role in the search for exoplanets because they offer an opportunity for high cadence observations that are not possible with large aperture telescopes. However, there is a shortage of high resolution spectrometers for precision Doppler planet searches. We report on an innovative design for CHIRON, an inexpensive spectrometer that we are building for the 1.5-m telescope at CTIO in Chile. The resolution will be R >80.000, the spectral format spanning 410 to 880 nm. The total throughput of the telescope and spectrometer will be better than 12%, comparable with the efficiency of state-of-the-art spectrometers. The design is driven by the requirements for precision Doppler searches for exoplanets using an iodine cell. The optical layout is a classical echelle with 140 mm beam size. The bench-mounted spectrometer will be fibre-fed followed by an image slicer. An apochromatic refractor is used as the camera. Image quality and throughput of the design are excellent over the full spectral range. Extensive use of commercially available components and avoidance of complicated custom optics are key for quick and resource-efficient implementation.

Helium temperature measurements in a hot filament magnetic mirror plasma using high resolution Doppler spectroscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Knott, S.; McCarthy, P. J.; Ruth, A. A.

2016-09-01

Langmuir probe and spectroscopic diagnostics are used to routinely measure electron temperature and density over a wide operating range in a reconfigured Double Plasma device at University College Cork, Ireland. The helium plasma, generated through thermionic emission from a negatively biased tungsten filament, is confined by an axisymmetric magnetic mirror configuration using two stacks of NdFeB permanent magnets, each of length 20 cm and diameter 3 cm placed just outside the 15 mm water cooling jacket enclosing a cylindrical vacuum vessel of internal diameter 25 cm. Plasma light is analysed using a Fourier Transform-type Bruker spectrometer with a highest achievable resolution of 0.08 cm-1 . In the present work, the conventional assumption of room temperature ions in the analysis of Langmuir probe data from low temperature plasmas is examined critically using Doppler spectroscopy of the 468.6 nm He II line. Results for ion temperatures obtained from spectroscopic data for a variety of engineering parameters (discharge voltage, gas pressure and plasma current) will be presented.

Doppler Lidar System Design via Interdisciplinary Design Concept at NASA Langley Research Center - Part II

Science.gov (United States)

Crasner, Aaron I.; Scola,Salvatore; Beyon, Jeffrey Y.; Petway, Larry B.

2014-01-01

Optimized designs of the Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL) instrument for Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) were accomplished via Interdisciplinary Design Concept (IDEC) at NASA Langley Research Center during the summer of 2013. Three branches in the Engineering Directorate and three students were involved in this joint task through the NASA Langley Aerospace Research Summer Scholars (LARSS) Program. The Laser Remote Sensing Branch (LRSB), Mechanical Systems Branch (MSB), and Structural and Thermal Systems Branch (STSB) were engaged to achieve optimal designs through iterative and interactive collaborative design processes. A preliminary design iteration was able to reduce the power consumption, mass, and footprint by removing redundant components and replacing inefficient components with more efficient ones. A second design iteration reduced volume and mass by replacing bulky components with excessive performance with smaller components custom-designed for the power system. Thermal modeling software was used to run steady state thermal analyses, which were used to both validate the designs and recommend further changes. Analyses were run on each redesign, as well as the original system. Thermal Desktop was used to run trade studies to account for uncertainty and assumptions about fan performance and boundary conditions. The studies suggested that, even if the assumptions were significantly wrong, the redesigned systems would remain within operating temperature limits.

High resolution transmission spectroscopy as a diagnostic for Jovian exoplanet atmospheres: constraints from theoretical models

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kempton, Eliza M.-R. [Department of Physics, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA 50112 (United States); Perna, Rosalba [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794 (United States); Heng, Kevin, E-mail: kemptone@grinnell.edu [University of Bern, Center for Space and Habitability, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern (Switzerland)

2014-11-01

We present high resolution transmission spectra of giant planet atmospheres from a coupled three-dimensional (3D) atmospheric dynamics and transmission spectrum model that includes Doppler shifts which arise from winds and planetary motion. We model Jovian planets covering more than two orders of magnitude in incident flux, corresponding to planets with 0.9-55 day orbital periods around solar-type stars. The results of our 3D dynamical models reveal certain aspects of high resolution transmission spectra that are not present in simple one-dimensional (1D) models. We find that the hottest planets experience strong substellar to anti-stellar (SSAS) winds, resulting in transmission spectra with net blueshifts of up to 3 km s{sup –1}, whereas less irradiated planets show almost no net Doppler shifts. We find only minor differences between transmission spectra for atmospheres with temperature inversions and those without. Compared to 1D models, peak line strengths are significantly reduced for the hottest atmospheres owing to Doppler broadening from a combination of rotation (which is faster for close-in planets under the assumption of tidal locking) and atmospheric winds. Finally, high resolution transmission spectra may be useful in studying the atmospheres of exoplanets with optically thick clouds since line cores for very strong transitions should remain optically thick to very high altitude. High resolution transmission spectra are an excellent observational test for the validity of 3D atmospheric dynamics models, because they provide a direct probe of wind structures and heat circulation. Ground-based exoplanet spectroscopy is currently on the verge of being able to verify some of our modeling predictions, most notably the dependence of SSAS winds on insolation. We caution that interpretation of high resolution transmission spectra based on 1D atmospheric models may be inadequate, as 3D atmospheric motions can produce a noticeable effect on the absorption

On mean wind and turbulence profile measurements from ground-based wind lidars

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mikkelsen, Torben

2009-01-01

Two types of wind lidar?s have become available for ground-based vertical mean wind and turbulence profiling. A continuous wave (CW) wind lidar, and a pulsed wind lidar. Although they both are build upon the same recent 1.55 μ telecom fibre technology, they possess fundamental differences between...... their temporal and spatial resolution capabilities. A literature review of the two lidar systems spatial and temporal resolution characteristics will be presented, and the implication for the two lidar types vertical profile measurements of mean wind and turbulence in the lower atmospheric boundary layer...

Coherent laser radar with dual-frequency Doppler estimation and interferometric range detection

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Onori, D.; Scotti, F.; Laghezza, F.; Scaffardi, M.; Bogoni, A.

2016-01-01

The concept of a coherent interferometric dual frequency laser radar, that measures both the target range and velocity, is presented and experimentally demonstrated. The innovative architecture combines the dual frequency lidar concept, allowing a precise and robust Doppler estimation, with the

Remote Sensing of Sonoran Desert Vegetation Structure and Phenology with Ground-Based LiDAR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joel B. Sankey

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Long-term vegetation monitoring efforts have become increasingly important for understanding ecosystem response to global change. Many traditional methods for monitoring can be infrequent and limited in scope. Ground-based LiDAR is one remote sensing method that offers a clear advancement to monitor vegetation dynamics at high spatial and temporal resolution. We determined the effectiveness of LiDAR to detect intra-annual variability in vegetation structure at a long-term Sonoran Desert monitoring plot dominated by cacti, deciduous and evergreen shrubs. Monthly repeat LiDAR scans of perennial plant canopies over the course of one year had high precision. LiDAR measurements of canopy height and area were accurate with respect to total station survey measurements of individual plants. We found an increase in the number of LiDAR vegetation returns following the wet North American Monsoon season. This intra-annual variability in vegetation structure detected by LiDAR was attributable to a drought deciduous shrub Ambrosia deltoidea, whereas the evergreen shrub Larrea tridentata and cactus Opuntia engelmannii had low variability. Benefits of using LiDAR over traditional methods to census desert plants are more rapid, consistent, and cost-effective data acquisition in a high-resolution, 3-dimensional context. We conclude that repeat LiDAR measurements can be an effective method for documenting ecosystem response to desert climatology and drought over short time intervals and at detailed-local spatial scale.

Thermal Design for a Diffraction-Limited Doppler Spectrometer

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Univ. of Notre Dame is building a new high-resolution spectrometer named “iLocater” to achieve unprecedented radial velocity (RV) precision for stellar Doppler...

2007 FEMA New Jersey Flood Mitigation Lidar: Gloucester County

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — LIDAR data is remotely sensed high-resolution elevation data collected by an airborne collection platform. By positioning laser range finding with the use of 1...

2006 FEMA New Jersey Flood Mitigation Lidar: Middlesex County

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — LIDAR data is remotely sensed high-resolution elevation data collected by an airborne collection platform. By positioning laser range finding with the use of 1...

Comparison of Surface Flow Features from Lidar-Derived Digital Elevation Models with Historical Elevation and Hydrography Data for Minnehaha County, South Dakota

Science.gov (United States)

Poppenga, Sandra K.; Worstell, Bruce B.; Stoker, Jason M.; Greenlee, Susan K.

2009-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has taken the lead in the creation of a valuable remote sensing product by incorporating digital elevation models (DEMs) derived from Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) into the National Elevation Dataset (NED), the elevation layer of 'The National Map'. High-resolution lidar-derived DEMs provide the accuracy needed to systematically quantify and fully integrate surface flow including flow direction, flow accumulation, sinks, slope, and a dense drainage network. In 2008, 1-meter resolution lidar data were acquired in Minnehaha County, South Dakota. The acquisition was a collaborative effort between Minnehaha County, the city of Sioux Falls, and the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. With the newly acquired lidar data, USGS scientists generated high-resolution DEMs and surface flow features. This report compares lidar-derived surface flow features in Minnehaha County to 30- and 10-meter elevation data previously incorporated in the NED and ancillary hydrography datasets. Surface flow features generated from lidar-derived DEMs are consistently integrated with elevation and are important in understanding surface-water movement to better detect surface-water runoff, flood inundation, and erosion. Many topographic and hydrologic applications will benefit from the increased availability of accurate, high-quality, and high-resolution surface-water data. The remotely sensed data provide topographic information and data integration capabilities needed for meeting current and future human and environmental needs.

High-Frame-Rate Power Doppler Ultrasound Is More Sensitive than Conventional Power Doppler in Detecting Rheumatic Vascularisation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M. van der Ven (Myrthe); J.J. Luime (Jolanda); van der Velden, L.L. (Levinia L.); J.G. Bosch (Hans); J.M.W. Hazes (Mieke); H.J. Vos (Rik)

2016-01-01

textabstractEarly recognition of joint inflammation will increase treatment efficacy in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Yet, conventional power Doppler (PD) ultrasound might not be sufficiently sensitive to detect minor inflammation. We investigated the sensitivity of high-frame rate Doppler, combined

Laser safety in design of near-infrared scanning LIDARs

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, X.; Elgin, D.

2015-05-01

3D LIDARs (Light Detection and Ranging) with 1.5μm nanosecond pulse lasers have been increasingly used in different applications. The main reason for their popularity is that these LIDARs have high performance while at the same time can be made eye-safe. Because the laser hazard effect on eyes or skin at this wavelength region (industrial mining applications. We have incorporated the laser safety requirements in the LIDAR design and conducted laser safety analysis for different operational scenarios. While 1.5μm is normally said to be the eye-safe wavelength, in reality a high performance 3D LIDAR needs high pulse energy, small beam size and high pulse repetition frequency (PRF) to achieve long range, high resolution and high density images. The resulting radiant exposure of its stationary beam could be many times higher than the limit for a Class 1 laser device. Without carefully choosing laser and scanning parameters, including field-of-view, scan speed and pattern, a scanning LIDAR can't be eye- or skin-safe based only on its wavelength. This paper discusses the laser safety considerations in the design of eye-safe scanning LIDARs, including laser pulse energy, PRF, beam size and scanning parameters in two basic designs of scanning mechanisms, i.e. galvanometer based scanner and Risley prism based scanner. The laser safety is discussed in terms of device classification, nominal ocular hazard distance (NOHD) and safety glasses optical density (OD).

2012 NOAA American Samoa Lidar: Islands of Tutuila, Aunu'u, Ofu, Olosega, Ta'u and Rose Atoll

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data is remotely sensed high-resolution elevation data collected by an airborne collection platform. This LiDAR dataset is a...

Progress on High-Energy 2-micron Solid State Laser for NASA Space-Based Wind and Carbon Dioxide Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Upendra N.

2011-01-01

Sustained research efforts at NASA Langley Research Center during last fifteen years have resulted in significant advancement of a 2-micron diode-pumped, solid-state laser transmitter for wind and carbon dioxide measurements from ground, air and space-borne platforms. Solid-state 2-micron laser is a key subsystem for a coherent Doppler lidar that measures the horizontal and vertical wind velocities with high precision and resolution. The same laser, after a few modifications, can also be used in a Differential Absorption Lidar system for measuring atmospheric CO2 concentration profiles. Researchers at NASA Langley Research Center have developed a compact, flight capable, high energy, injection seeded, 2-micron laser transmitter for ground and airborne wind and carbon dioxide measurements. It is capable of producing 250 mJ at 10 Hz by an oscillator and one amplifier. This compact laser transmitter was integrated into a mobile trailer based coherent Doppler wind and CO2 DIAL system and was deployed during field measurement campaigns. This paper will give an overview of 2-micron solid-state laser technology development and discuss results from recent ground-based field measurements.

Extinction effects of atmospheric compositions on return signals of space-based lidar from numerical simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Lilin; Wang, Fu; Min, Min; Zhang, Ying; Guo, Jianping; Yu, Xiao; Chen, Binglong; Zhao, Yiming; Wang, Lidong

2018-05-01

The atmospheric composition induced extinction effect on return signals of space-based lidar remains incomprehensively understood, especially around 355 nm and 2051 nm channels. Here we simulated the extinction effects of atmospheric gases (e.g., H2O, CO2, and O3) and six types of aerosols (clean continental, clean marine, dust, polluted continental, polluted dust, and smoke) on return signals of space-based lidar system at 355 nm, 532 nm, 1064 nm, and 2051 nm channels, based on a robust lidar return signal simulator in combination with radiative transfer model (LBLRTM). Results show significant Rayleigh (molecular) scattering effects in the return signals at 355 nm and 532 nm channels, which markedly decays with increases in wavelength. The spectral transmittance of CO2 is nearly 0, yet the transmittance of H2O is approximately 100% at 2051 nm, which verifies this 2051 nm channel is suitable for CO2 retrieval. The spectral transmittance also reveals another possible window for CO2 and H2O detection at 2051.6 nm, since their transmittance both near 0.5. Moreover the corresponding Doppler return signals at 2051.6 nm channel can be used to retrieve wind field. Thus we suggest 2051 nm channel may better be centered at 2051.6 nm. Using the threshold for the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of return signals, the detection ranges for three representative distribution scenarios for the six types of aerosols at four typical lidar channels are determined. The results clearly show that high SNR values can be seen ubiquitously in the atmosphere ranging from the height of aerosol layer top to 25 km at 355 nm, and can been found at 2051.6 nm in the lower troposphere that highly depends on aerosol distribution scenario in the vertical. This indicates that the Doppler space-based lidar system with a double-channel joint detection mode is able to retrieve atmospheric wind field or profile from 0 to 25 km.

European Space Agency lidar development programs for remote sensing of the atmosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Armandillo, Errico

1992-12-01

Active laser remote sensing from space is considered an important step forward in the understanding of the processes which regulate weather and climate changes. The planned launching into polar orbit in the late 1990s of a series of dedicated Earth observation satellites offer new possibilities for flying lidar in space. Among the various lidar candidates, ESA has recognized in the backscattering lidar and Doppler wind lidar the instruments which can most contribute to the Earth observation program. To meet the schedule of the on-coming flight opportunities, ESA has been engaged over the past years in a preparatory program aimed to define the instruments and ensure timely availability of the critical components. This paper reviews the status of the ongoing developments and highlights the critical issues addressed.

Analysis of lidar elevation data for improved identification and delineation of lands vulnerable to sea-level rise

Science.gov (United States)

Gesch, Dean B.

2009-01-01

The importance of sea-level rise in shaping coastal landscapes is well recognized within the earth science community, but as with many natural hazards, communicating the risks associated with sea-level rise remains a challenge. Topography is a key parameter that influences many of the processes involved in coastal change, and thus, up-to-date, high-resolution, high-accuracy elevation data are required to model the coastal environment. Maps of areas subject to potential inundation have great utility to planners and managers concerned with the effects of sea-level rise. However, most of the maps produced to date are simplistic representations derived from older, coarse elevation data. In the last several years, vast amounts of high quality elevation data derived from lidar have become available. Because of their high vertical accuracy and spatial resolution, these lidar data are an excellent source of up-to-date information from which to improve identification and delineation of vulnerable lands. Four elevation datasets of varying resolution and accuracy were processed to demonstrate that the improved quality of lidar data leads to more precise delineation of coastal lands vulnerable to inundation. A key component of the comparison was to calculate and account for the vertical uncertainty of the elevation datasets. This comparison shows that lidar allows for a much more detailed delineation of the potential inundation zone when compared to other types of elevation models. It also shows how the certainty of the delineation of lands vulnerable to a given sea-level rise scenario is much improved when derived from higher resolution lidar data.

Applications of KHZ-CW Lidar in Ecological Entomology

Science.gov (United States)

Malmqvist, Elin; Brydegaard, Mikkel

2016-06-01

The benefits of kHz lidar in ecological entomology are explained. Results from kHz-measurements on insects, carried out with a CW-lidar system, employing the Scheimpflug principle to obtain range resolution, are presented. A method to extract insect events and analyze the large amount of lidar data is also described.

Evaluation of performance of silicon photomultipliers in lidar applications

Science.gov (United States)

Vinogradov, Sergey L.

2017-05-01

Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) are a well-recognized new generation of photon number resolving avalanche photodetectors. Many advantages - a high gain with an ultra-low excess noise of multiplication, multi-pixel architecture, relatively low operating voltage - make SiPMs very competitive in a growing number of applications. Challenging demands of LIDAR applications for a receiver having high sensitivity starting from single photons, superior time-offlight resolution, robustness including surviving at bright light flashes, solid-state compactness and more, are expected to be feasible for the SiPMs. Despite some known drawbacks, namely crosstalk, afterpulsing, dark noise, limited dynamic range, SiPMs are already considered as promising substitutes for conventional APDs and PMTs in LIDAR applications. However, these initial considerations are based on a rather simplified representation of the SiPM as a generic LIDAR receiver described by generic expressions. This study is focused on a comprehensive evaluation of a SiPM potential considering essential features of this new technology, which could affect applicability and performance of SiPMs as LIDAR receivers. Namely, an excess noise due to correlated processes of crosstalk and afterpulsing, are included into account utilizing the well-established framework of analytical probabilistic models. The analysis of SiPM performance in terms of a photon number and time resolution clarifies their competitiveness over conventional APD and PMT and anticipates the development of next SiPM generations.

Comparison of Aerosol Classification From Airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar and the CALIPSO Vertical Feature Mask

Science.gov (United States)

Burton, Sharon P.; Ferrare, Rich A.; Omar, Ali H.; Vaughan, Mark A.; Rogers, Raymond R.; Hostetler, Chris a.; Hair, Johnathan W.; Obland, Michael D.; Butler, Carolyn F.; Cook, Anthony L.;

Comparison of three techniques for evaluating skin erythemal response for determination of sun protection factors of sunscreens: high resolution laser Doppler imaging, colorimetry and visual scoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilhelm, K P; Kaspar, K; Funkel, O

2001-04-01

Sun protection factor (SPF) measurement is based on the determination of the minimal erythema dose (MED). The ratio of doses required to induce a minimal erythema between product-treated and untreated skin is defined as SPF. The aim of this study was to validate the conventionally used visual scoring with two non-invasive methods: high resolution laser Doppler imaging (HR-LDI) and colorimetry. Another goal was to check whether suberythemal reactions could be detected by means of HR-LDI measurements. Four sunscreens were selected. The measurements were made on the back of 10 subjects. A solar simulator SU 5000 (m.u.t., Wedel, Germany) served as radiation source. For the visual assessment, the erythema was defined according to COLIPA as the first perceptible, clearly defined unambiguous redness of the skin. For the colorimetric determination of the erythema, a Chromameter CR 300 (Minolta, Osaka, Japan) was used. The threshold for the colorimetry was chosen according to the COLIPA recommendation as an increase of the redness parameter delta a* = 2.5. For the non-contact perfusion measurements of skin blood flow, a two-dimensional high resolution laser Doppler imager (HR-LDI) (Lisca, Linköping, Sweden) was used. For the HR-LDI measurements, an optimal threshold perfusion needed to be established. For the HR-LDI measurements basal perfusion +1 standard deviation of all basal measurements was found to be a reliable threshold perfusion corresponding to the minimal erythema. Smaller thresholds, which would be necessary for detection of suberythemal responses, did not provide unambiguous data. All three methods, visual scoring, colorimetry and HR-LDI, produced similar SPFs for the test products with a variability of colorimetry are suitable, reliable and observer-independent methods for MED determination. However, they do not provide greater sensitivity and thus do not result in lower UV dose requirements for testing.

Advances in High Energy Solid-State 2-micron Laser Transmitter Development for Ground and Airborne Wind and CO2 Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Upendra N.; Yu, Jirong; Petros, Mulugeta; Chen, Songsheng; Kavaya, Michael J.; Trieu, Bo; Bai, Yingxin; Petzar, Paul; Modlin, Edward A.; Koch, Grady;

LIDAR COMBINED SCANNING UNIT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. V. Elizarov

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Subject of Research. The results of lidar combined scanning unit development for locating leaks of hydrocarbons are presented The unit enables to perform high-speed scanning of the investigated space in wide and narrow angle fields. Method. Scanning in a wide angular field is produced by one-line scanning path by means of the movable aluminum mirror with a frequency of 20Hz and amplitude of 20 degrees of swing. Narrowband scanning is performed along a spiral path by the deflector. The deflection of the beam is done by rotation of the optical wedges forming part of the deflector at an angle of ±50. The control function of the scanning node is performed by a specialized software product written in C# programming language. Main Results. This scanning unit allows scanning the investigated area at a distance of 50-100 m with spatial resolution at the level of 3 cm. The positioning accuracy of the laser beam in space is 15'. The developed scanning unit gives the possibility to browse the entire investigated area for the time not more than 1 ms at a rotation frequency of each wedge from 50 to 200 Hz. The problem of unambiguous definition of the beam geographical coordinates in space is solved at the software level according to the rotation angles of the mirrors and optical wedges. Lidar system coordinates are determined by means of GPS. Practical Relevance. Development results open the possibility for increasing the spatial resolution of scanning systems of a wide range of lidars and can provide high positioning accuracy of the laser beam in space.

A Ground-Based Doppler Radar and Micropulse Lidar Forward Simulator for GCM Evaluation of Arctic Mixed-Phase Clouds: Moving Forward Towards an Apples-to-apples Comparison of Hydrometeor Phase

Science.gov (United States)

Lamer, K.; Fridlind, A. M.; Ackerman, A. S.; Kollias, P.; Clothiaux, E. E.

2017-12-01

An important aspect of evaluating Artic cloud representation in a general circulation model (GCM) consists of using observational benchmarks which are as equivalent as possible to model output in order to avoid methodological bias and focus on correctly diagnosing model dynamical and microphysical misrepresentations. However, current cloud observing systems are known to suffer from biases such as limited sensitivity, and stronger response to large or small hydrometeors. Fortunately, while these observational biases cannot be corrected, they are often well understood and can be reproduced in forward simulations. Here a ground-based millimeter wavelength Doppler radar and micropulse lidar forward simulator able to interface with output from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) ModelE GCM is presented. ModelE stratiform hydrometeor fraction, mixing ratio, mass-weighted fall speed and effective radius are forward simulated to vertically-resolved profiles of radar reflectivity, Doppler velocity and spectrum width as well as lidar backscatter and depolarization ratio. These forward simulated fields are then compared to Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) North Slope of Alaska (NSA) ground-based observations to assess cloud vertical structure (CVS). Model evalution of Arctic mixed-phase cloud would also benefit from hydrometeor phase evaluation. While phase retrieval from synergetic observations often generates large uncertainties, the same retrieval algorithm can be applied to observed and forward-simulated radar-lidar fields, thereby producing retrieved hydrometeor properties with potentially the same uncertainties. Comparing hydrometeor properties retrieved in exactly the same way aims to produce the best apples-to-apples comparisons between GCM ouputs and observations. The use of a comprenhensive ground-based forward simulator coupled with a hydrometeor classification retrieval algorithm provides a new perspective for GCM evaluation of Arctic mixed

Doppler Lidar System Design via Interdisciplinary Design Concept at NASA Langley Research Center - Part I

Science.gov (United States)

Boyer, Charles M.; Jackson, Trevor P.; Beyon, Jeffrey Y.; Petway, Larry B.

2013-01-01

Optimized designs of the Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL) instrument for Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) were accomplished via Interdisciplinary Design Concept (IDEC) at NASA Langley Research Center during the summer of 2013. Three branches in the Engineering Directorate and three students were involved in this joint task through the NASA Langley Aerospace Research Summer Scholars (LARSS) Program. The Laser Remote Sensing Branch (LRSB), Mechanical Systems Branch (MSB), and Structural and Thermal Systems Branch (STSB) were engaged to achieve optimal designs through iterative and interactive collaborative design processes. A preliminary design iteration was able to reduce the power consumption, mass, and footprint by removing redundant components and replacing inefficient components with more efficient ones. A second design iteration reduced volume and mass by replacing bulky components with excessive performance with smaller components custom-designed for the power system. Mechanical placement collaboration reduced potential electromagnetic interference (EMI). Through application of newly selected electrical components and thermal analysis data, a total electronic chassis redesign was accomplished. Use of an innovative forced convection tunnel heat sink was employed to meet and exceed project requirements for cooling, mass reduction, and volume reduction. Functionality was a key concern to make efficient use of airflow, and accessibility was also imperative to allow for servicing of chassis internals. The collaborative process provided for accelerated design maturation with substantiated function.

Application of short-range dual-Doppler lidars to evaluate the coherence of turbulence

Science.gov (United States)

Cheynet, Etienne; Jakobsen, Jasna Bogunović; Snæbjörnsson, Jónas; Mikkelsen, Torben; Sjöholm, Mikael; Mann, Jakob; Hansen, Per; Angelou, Nikolas; Svardal, Benny

2016-12-01

Two synchronized continuous wave scanning lidars are used to study the coherence of the along-wind and across-wind velocity components. The goal is to evaluate the potential of the lidar technology for application in wind engineering. The wind lidars were installed on the Lysefjord Bridge during four days in May 2014 to monitor the wind field in the horizontal plane upstream of the bridge deck. Wind records obtained by five sonic anemometers mounted on the West side of the bridge are used as reference data. Single- and two-point statistics of wind turbulence are studied, with special emphasis on the root-coherence and the co-coherence of turbulence. A four-parameter decaying exponential function has been fitted to the measured co-coherence, and a good agreement is observed between data obtained by the sonic anemometers and the lidars. The root-coherence of turbulence is compared to theoretical models. The analytical predictions agree rather well with the measured coherence for the along-wind component. For increasing wavenumbers, larger discrepancies are, however, noticeable between the measured coherence and the theoretical predictions. The WindScanners are observed to slightly overestimate the integral length scales, which could not be explained by the laser beam averaging effect alone. On the other hand, the spatial averaging effect does not seem to have any significant effect on the coherence.

2008 Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) Lidar: Ontario

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Oregon Department of Geology & Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) contracted with Watershed Sciences, Inc. to collect high resolution topographic lidar data for...

Micro-Doppler Ambiguity Resolution Based on Short-Time Compressed Sensing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jing-bo Zhuang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available When using a long range radar (LRR to track a target with micromotion, the micro-Doppler embodied in the radar echoes may suffer from ambiguity problem. In this paper, we propose a novel method based on compressed sensing (CS to solve micro-Doppler ambiguity. According to the RIP requirement, a sparse probing pulse train with its transmitting time random is designed. After matched filtering, the slow-time echo signals of the micromotion target can be viewed as randomly sparse sampling of Doppler spectrum. Select several successive pulses to form a short-time window and the CS sensing matrix can be built according to the time stamps of these pulses. Then performing Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP, the unambiguous micro-Doppler spectrum can be obtained. The proposed algorithm is verified using the echo signals generated according to the theoretical model and the signals with micro-Doppler signature produced using the commercial electromagnetic simulation software FEKO.

High resolution measurements and modeling of auroral hydrogen emission line profiles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. S. Lanchester

Full Text Available Measurements in the visible wavelength range at high spectral resolution (1.3 Å have been made at Longyearbyen, Svalbard (15.8 E,78.2 N during an interval of intense proton precipitation. The shape and Doppler shift of hydrogen Balmer beta line profiles have been compared with model line profiles, using as input ion energy spectra from almost coincident passes of the FAST and DMSP spacecraft. The comparison shows that the simulation contains the important physical processes that produce the profiles, and confirms that measured changes in the shape and peak wave-length of the hydrogen profiles are the result of changing energy input. This combination of high resolution measurements with modeling provides a method of estimating the incoming energy and changes in flux of precipitating protons over Svalbard, for given energy and pitch-angle distributions. Whereas for electron precipitation, information on the incident particles is derived from brightness and brightness ratios which require at least two spectral windows, for proton precipitation the Doppler profile of resulting hydrogen emission is directly related to the energy and energy flux of the incident energetic protons and can be used to gather information about the source region. As well as the expected Doppler shift to shorter wavelengths, the measured profiles have a significant red-shifted component, the result of upward flowing emitting hydrogen atoms.

Key words. Ionosphere (auroral ionosphere; particle precipitation – Magnetospheric physics (auroral phenomena

High resolution measurements and modeling of auroral hydrogen emission line profiles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. S. Lanchester

2003-07-01

Full Text Available Measurements in the visible wavelength range at high spectral resolution (1.3 Å have been made at Longyearbyen, Svalbard (15.8 E,78.2 N during an interval of intense proton precipitation. The shape and Doppler shift of hydrogen Balmer beta line profiles have been compared with model line profiles, using as input ion energy spectra from almost coincident passes of the FAST and DMSP spacecraft. The comparison shows that the simulation contains the important physical processes that produce the profiles, and confirms that measured changes in the shape and peak wave-length of the hydrogen profiles are the result of changing energy input. This combination of high resolution measurements with modeling provides a method of estimating the incoming energy and changes in flux of precipitating protons over Svalbard, for given energy and pitch-angle distributions. Whereas for electron precipitation, information on the incident particles is derived from brightness and brightness ratios which require at least two spectral windows, for proton precipitation the Doppler profile of resulting hydrogen emission is directly related to the energy and energy flux of the incident energetic protons and can be used to gather information about the source region. As well as the expected Doppler shift to shorter wavelengths, the measured profiles have a significant red-shifted component, the result of upward flowing emitting hydrogen atoms.Key words. Ionosphere (auroral ionosphere; particle precipitation – Magnetospheric physics (auroral phenomena

Use of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) to Obtain High-Resolution Elevation Data for Sussex County, Delaware

Science.gov (United States)

Barlow, Roger A.; Nardi, Mark R.; Reyes, Betzaida

2008-01-01

Sussex County, Delaware, occupies a 938-square-mile area of low relief near sea level in the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The county is bounded on the east by the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, including a barrier-island system, and inland bays that provide habitat for valuable living resources. Eastern Sussex County is an area of rapid population growth with a long-established beach-resort community, where land elevation is a key factor in determining areas that are appropriate for development. Of concern to State and local planners are evacuation routes inland to escape flooding from severe coastal storms, as most major transportation routes traverse areas of low elevation that are subject to inundation. The western half of the county is typically rural in character, and land use is largely agricultural with some scattered forest land cover. Western Sussex County has several low-relief river flood-prone areas, where accurate high-resolution elevation data are needed for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Digital Flood Insurance Rate Map (DFIRM) studies. This fact sheet describes the methods and techniques used to collect and process LiDAR elevation data, the generation of the digital elevation model (DEM) and the 2-foot contours, and the quality-assurance procedures and results. It indicates where to view metadata on the data sets and where to acquire bare-earth mass points, DEM data, and contour data.

Lidar Investigation of Aerosol Pollution Distribution near a Coal Power Plant

Science.gov (United States)

Mitsev, TS.; Kolarov, G.

1992-01-01

Using aerosol lidars with high spatial and temporal resolution with the possibility of real-time data interpretation can solve a large number of ecological problems related to the aerosol-field distribution and variation and the structure of convective flows. Significantly less expensive specialized lidars are used in studying anthropogenic aerosols in the planetary boundary layer. Here, we present results of lidar measurements of the mass-concentration field around a coal-fired power plant with intensive local aerosol sources. We studied the pollution evolution as a function of the emission dynamics and the presence of retaining layers. The technique used incorporates complex analysis of three types of lidar mapping: horizontal map of the aerosol field, vertical cross-section map, and a series of profiles along a selected path. The lidar-sounding cycle was performed for the time of atmosphere's quasi-stationarity.

Lidar investigation of aerosol pollution distribution near a coal power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mitsev, T.S.; Kolarov, G.

1992-01-01

Using aerosol lidars with high spatial and temporal resolution with the possibility of real-time data interpretation can solve a large number of ecological problems related to the aerosol-field distribution and variation and the structure of convective flows. Significantly less expensive specialized lidars are used in studying anthropogenic aerosols in the planetary boundary layer. Here, results are presented of lidar measurements of the mass-concentration field around a coal-fired power plant with intensive local aerosol sources. The authors studied the pollution evolution as a function of the emission dynamics and the presence of retaining layers. The technique used incorporates complex analysis of three types of lidar mapping: horizontal map of the aerosol field, vertical cross-section map, and a series of profiles along a selected path. The lidar-sounding cycle was performed for the time of atmosphere's quasi-stationarity

Measurements of CO2 Concentration and Wind Profiles with A Scanning 1.6μm DIAL

Science.gov (United States)

Abo, M.; Shibata, Y.; Nagasawa, C.; Nagai, T.; Sakai, T.; Tsukamoto, M.

2012-12-01

Horizontal carbon dioxide (CO2) distribution and wind profiles are important information for understanding of the regional sink and source of CO2. The differential absorption lidar (DIAL) and the Doppler lidar with the range resolution is expected to bring several advantages over passive measurements. We have developed a new scanning 1.6μm DIAL and incoherent Doppler lidar system to perform simultaniously measurements of CO2 concentration and wind speed profiles in the atmosphere. The 1.6μm DIAL and Doppler lidar system consists of the Optical Parametric Generator (OPG) transmitter that excited by the LD pumped Nd:YAG laser with high repetition rate (500 Hz). The receiving optics include the near-infrared photomultiplier tube with high quantum efficiency operating at the photon counting mode, a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) filter to detct Doppler shift, and a 25 cm telescope[1][2]. Laser beam is transmitted coaxially and motorized scanning mirror system can scan the laser beam and field of view 0-360deg horizontally and 0-52deg vertically. We report the results of vertical CO2 scanning measurenents and vertical wind profiles. The scanning elevation angles were from 12deg to 24deg with angular step of 4deg and CO2 concentration profiles were obtained up to 1 km altitude with 200 m altitude resolution. We also obtained vertical wind vector profiles by measuring line-of-sight wind profiles at two azimuth angles with a fixed elevation angle 52deg. Vertical wind vector profiles were obtained up to 5 km altitude with 1 km altitude rasolution. This work was financially supported by the System Development Program for Advanced Measurement and Analysis of the Japan Science and Technology Agency. References [1] L. B. Vann, et al., "Narrowband fiber-optic phase-shifted Fabry-Perot Bragg grating filters for atmospheric water vapor lidar measurements", Appl. Opt., 44, pp. 7371-7377 (2005). [2] Y. Shibata, et al., "1.5μm incoherent Doppler lidar using a FBG filter", Proceedings

Pure Rotational Raman Lidar for Temperature Measurements from 5-40 Km Over Wuhan, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Yajuan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper a pure rotational Raman lidar (PRR was established for the atmospheric temperature measurements from 5 km to 40 km over Wuhan, China (30.5°N, 114.5°E. To extract the expected PRR signals and simultaneously suppress the elastically backscattered light, a high-spectral resolution polychromator for light splitting and filtering was designed. Observational results revealed that the temperature difference measured by PRR lidar and the local radiosonde below 30 km was less than 3.0 K. The good agreement validated the reliability of the PRR lidar. With the 1-h integration and 150-m spatial resolution, the statistical temperature error for PRR lidar increases from 0.4 K at 10 km up to 4 K at altitudes of about 30 km. In addition, the whole night temperature profiles were obtained for study of the long-term observation of atmospheric fluctuations.

2007 Northwest Florida Water Management District (NWFWMD) Lidar: North Jefferson County

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — LIDAR data is remotely sensed high-resolution elevation data collected by an airborne collection platform. Using a combination of laser range finding, GPS...

High-resolution digital elevation model of lower Cowlitz and Toutle Rivers, adjacent to Mount St. Helens, Washington, based on an airborne lidar survey of October 2007

Science.gov (United States)

Mosbrucker, Adam

2015-01-01

The lateral blast, debris avalanche, and lahars of the May 18th, 1980, eruption of Mount St. Helens, Washington, dramatically altered the surrounding landscape. Lava domes were extruded during the subsequent eruptive periods of 1980–1986 and 2004–2008. More than three decades after the emplacement of the 1980 debris avalanche, high sediment production persists in the Toutle River basin, which drains the northern and western flanks of the volcano. Because this sediment increases the risk of flooding to downstream communities on the Toutle and lower Cowlitz Rivers, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), under the direction of Congress to maintain an authorized level of flood protection, continues to monitor and mitigate excess sediment in North and South Fork Toutle River basins to help reduce this risk and to prevent sediment from clogging the shipping channel of the Columbia River. From October 22–27, 2007, Watershed Sciences, Inc., under contract to USACE, collected high-precision airborne lidar (light detection and ranging) data that cover 273 square kilometers (105 square miles) of lower Cowlitz and Toutle River tributaries from the Columbia River at Kelso, Washington, to upper North Fork Toutle River (below the volcano's edifice), including lower South Fork Toutle River. These data provide a digital dataset of the ground surface, including beneath forest cover. Such remotely sensed data can be used to develop sediment budgets and models of sediment erosion, transport, and deposition. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) used these lidar data to develop digital elevation models (DEMs) of the study area. DEMs are fundamental to monitoring natural hazards and studying volcanic landforms, fluvial and glacial geomorphology, and surface geology. Watershed Sciences, Inc., provided files in the LASer (LAS) format containing laser returns that had been filtered, classified, and georeferenced. The USGS produced a hydro-flattened DEM from ground-classified points at

Lidar to lidar calibration of Ground-based Lidar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fernandez Garcia, Sergio; Courtney, Michael

This report presents the result of the lidar to lidar calibration performed for ground-based lidar. Calibration is here understood as the establishment of a relation between the reference lidar wind speed measurements with measurement uncertainties provided by measurement standard and corresponding...... lidar wind speed indications with associated measurement uncertainties. The lidar calibration concerns the 10 minute mean wind speed measurements. The comparison of the lidar measurements of the wind direction with that from the reference lidar measurements are given for information only....

The lidar dark band: An oddity of the radar bright band analogy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sassen, K. [Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)

1996-04-01

Although much has sbeen learned from independent radar and lidar studies of atmospheric precipitations, occasionally supported by aircraft profiling, what has been lacking is combined optical, microwave, and insitu observations of the melting layer. Fortunately, the rainshowers on April 21, 1994, during the Remote Cloud Sensing intensive obervations Period (RCSIOP) at the Southern Great Plains Cloud and radiation Testbed (CART) site provided an opportunity for coordinated dual-wavelength University of Utah Polarization Diversity Lidar, University of Massachusetts Cloud Profiling Radar System Doppler Radar, and the University of North Dakota Citation aircraft measurements.

HiRes camera and LIDAR ranging system for the Clementine mission

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ledebuhr, A.G.; Kordas, J.F.; Lewis, I.T. [and others

1995-04-01

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory developed a space-qualified High Resolution (HiRes) imaging LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) system for use on the DoD Clementine mission. The Clementine mission provided more than 1.7 million images of the moon, earth, and stars, including the first ever complete systematic surface mapping of the moon from the ultra-violet to near-infrared spectral regions. This article describes the Clementine HiRes/LIDAR system, discusses design goals and preliminary estimates of on-orbit performance, and summarizes lessons learned in building and using the sensor. The LIDAR receiver system consists of a High Resolution (HiRes) imaging channel which incorporates an intensified multi-spectral visible camera combined with a Laser ranging channel which uses an avalanche photo-diode for laser pulse detection and timing. The receiver was bore sighted to a light-weight McDonnell-Douglas diode-pumped ND:YAG laser transmitter that emmitted 1.06 {micro}m wavelength pulses of 200 mJ/pulse and 10 ns pulse-width, The LIDAR receiver uses a common F/9.5 Cassegrain telescope assembly. The optical path of the telescope is split using a color-separating beamsplitter. The imaging channel incorporates a filter wheel assembly which spectrally selects the light which is imaged onto a custom 12 mm gated image intensifier fiber-optically-coupled into a 384 x 276 pixel frame transfer CCD FPA. The image intensifier was spectrally sensitive over the 0.4 to 0.8 {micro}m wavelength region. The six-position filter wheel contained 4 narrow spectral filters, one broadband and one blocking filter. At periselene (400 km) the HiRes/LIDAR imaged a 2.8 km swath width at 20-meter resolution. The LIDAR function detected differential signal return with a 40-meter range accuracy, with a maximum range capability of 640 km, limited by the bit counter in the range return counting clock.

Lidar-Based Rock-Fall Hazard Characterization of Cliffs

Science.gov (United States)

Collins, Brian D.; Greg M.Stock,

2017-01-01

Rock falls from cliffs and other steep slopes present numerous challenges for detailed geological characterization. In steep terrain, rock-fall source areas are both dangerous and difficult to access, severely limiting the ability to make detailed structural and volumetric measurements necessary for hazard assessment. Airborne and terrestrial lidar survey methods can provide high-resolution data needed for volumetric, structural, and deformation analyses of rock falls, potentially making these analyses straightforward and routine. However, specific methods to collect, process, and analyze lidar data of steep cliffs are needed to maximize analytical accuracy and efficiency. This paper presents observations showing how lidar data sets should be collected, filtered, registered, and georeferenced to tailor their use in rock fall characterization. Additional observations concerning surface model construction, volumetric calculations, and deformation analysis are also provided.

LIDAR, Point Clouds, and their Archaeological Applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

White, Devin A [ORNL

2013-01-01

It is common in contemporary archaeological literature, in papers at archaeological conferences, and in grant proposals to see heritage professionals use the term LIDAR to refer to high spatial resolution digital elevation models and the technology used to produce them. The goal of this chapter is to break that association and introduce archaeologists to the world of point clouds, in which LIDAR is only one member of a larger family of techniques to obtain, visualize, and analyze three-dimensional measurements of archaeological features. After describing how point clouds are constructed, there is a brief discussion on the currently available software and analytical techniques designed to make sense of them.

A cloud masking algorithm for EARLINET lidar systems

Science.gov (United States)

Binietoglou, Ioannis; Baars, Holger; D'Amico, Giuseppe; Nicolae, Doina

2015-04-01

Cloud masking is an important first step in any aerosol lidar processing chain as most data processing algorithms can only be applied on cloud free observations. Up to now, the selection of a cloud-free time interval for data processing is typically performed manually, and this is one of the outstanding problems for automatic processing of lidar data in networks such as EARLINET. In this contribution we present initial developments of a cloud masking algorithm that permits the selection of the appropriate time intervals for lidar data processing based on uncalibrated lidar signals. The algorithm is based on a signal normalization procedure using the range of observed values of lidar returns, designed to work with different lidar systems with minimal user input. This normalization procedure can be applied to measurement periods of only few hours, even if no suitable cloud-free interval exists, and thus can be used even when only a short period of lidar measurements is available. Clouds are detected based on a combination of criteria including the magnitude of the normalized lidar signal and time-space edge detection performed using the Sobel operator. In this way the algorithm avoids misclassification of strong aerosol layers as clouds. Cloud detection is performed using the highest available time and vertical resolution of the lidar signals, allowing the effective detection of low-level clouds (e.g. cumulus humilis). Special attention is given to suppress false cloud detection due to signal noise that can affect the algorithm's performance, especially during day-time. In this contribution we present the details of algorithm, the effect of lidar characteristics (space-time resolution, available wavelengths, signal-to-noise ratio) to detection performance, and highlight the current strengths and limitations of the algorithm using lidar scenes from different lidar systems in different locations across Europe.

Mapping river bathymetry with a small footprint green LiDAR: Applications and challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Kinzel, Paul J.; Legleiter, Carl; Nelson, Jonathan M.

2013-01-01

Airborne bathymetric Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) systems designed for coastal and marine surveys are increasingly sought after for high-resolution mapping of fluvial systems. To evaluate the potential utility of bathymetric LiDAR for applications of this kind, we compared detailed surveys collected using wading and sonar techniques with measurements from the United States Geological Survey’s hybrid topographic⁄ bathymetric Experimental Advanced Airborne Research LiDAR (EAARL). These comparisons, based upon data collected from the Trinity and Klamath Rivers, California, and the Colorado River, Colorado, demonstrated

Lidar 2009 - IMG

Data.gov (United States)

Kansas Data Access and Support Center — ESRI Grids 1 meter resolution are created from the ground classified lidar points. The tiles are delivered in 5,000m by 5,000m tiles. The ESRI grids are exported to...

Ensonifying Change: Repeat Ultra-High-Resolution Surveys in Monterey Canyon before and after Passage of a Turbidity Current

Science.gov (United States)

Wolfson-Schwehr, M.; Paull, C. K.; Caress, D. W.; Carvajal, C.; Thomas, H. J.; Maier, K. L.; Parsons, D. R.; Simmons, S.

2017-12-01

Turbidity currents are one of the primary means of global sediment transport, yet our understanding of how they interact with the seafloor is hindered by the limited number of direct measurements. The Coordinated Canyon Experiment (CCE; October 2015 - April 2017) has made great strides in addressing this issue by providing direct measurements of turbidity currents and detailed observations of the resulting seafloor change in Monterey Canyon, offshore California. Here we focus on a section of the canyon at 1850-m water depth, where a Seafloor Instrument Node (SIN) recorded passage of three turbidity currents using a range of sensors, including three upward-looking acoustic Doppler current profilers. The fastest event at this site had a maximum velocity of 2.8 m/s, and dragged the 430-Kg SIN 26 m down-canyon. Repeat mapping surveys were conducted four times during the CCE, utilizing a prototype ultra-high-resolution mapping system mounted on the ROV Doc Ricketts. The survey platform hosts a 400-kHz Reson 7125 multibeam sonar, a 3DatDepth SL1 subsea LiDAR, two stereo color cameras, and a Kearfott SeaDevil INS. At a survey altitude of 2.5 m above the bed, the system provides remarkable 5-cm resolution multibeam bathymetry, 1-cm resolution LiDAR bathymetry, and 2-mm resolution photomosaics, and can cover a 100-m2 survey area. Surveys of the SIN site prior to and after the fastest event show areas of net deposition/erosion of 60 cm and 20 cm, respectively. Net deposition occurred in the topographic lows between bedforms, while erosion was focused on the bedform crests. At the end of the experiment, transects of sediment cores were taken by ROV within areas of net deposition. The cores show a variety of sedimentary facies, including muds, sands, gravel, and organic rich layers. Gravel layers have sharp erosive bases. The repeat surveys document the dynamic nature of flute-like scours as the flow events erode and deposit material along the canyon floor, as well as the

Lidar to lidar calibration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fernandez Garcia, Sergio; Villanueva, Héctor

This report presents the result of the lidar to lidar calibration performed for ground-based lidar. Calibration is here understood as the establishment of a relation between the reference lidar wind speed measurements with measurement uncertainties provided by measurement standard and corresponding...... lidar wind speed indications with associated measurement uncertainties. The lidar calibration concerns the 10 minute mean wind speed measurements. The comparison of the lidar measurements of the wind direction with that from the reference lidar measurements are given for information only....

High Frequency Field Measurements of an Undular Bore Using a 2D LiDAR Scanner

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kévin Martins

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The secondary wave field associated with undular tidal bores (known as whelps has been barely studied in field conditions: the wave field can be strongly non-hydrostatic, and the turbidity is generally high. In situ measurements based on pressure or acoustic signals can therefore be limited or inadequate. The intermittent nature of this process in the field and the complications encountered in the downscaling to laboratory conditions also render its study difficult. Here, we present a new methodology based on LiDAR technology to provide high spatial and temporal resolution measurements of the free surface of an undular tidal bore. A wave-by-wave analysis is performed on the whelps, and comparisons between LiDAR, acoustic and pressure-derived measurements are used to quantify the non-hydrostatic nature of this phenomenon. A correction based on linear wave theory applied on individual wave properties improves the results from the pressure transducer (Root mean square error, R M S E of 0 . 19 m against 0 . 38 m; however, more robust data is obtained from an upwards-looking acoustic sensor despite high turbidity during the passage of the whelps ( R M S E of 0 . 05 m. Finally, the LiDAR scanner provides the unique possibility to study the wave geometry: the distribution of measured wave height, period, celerity, steepness and wavelength are presented. It is found that the highest wave from the whelps can be steeper than the bore front, explaining why breaking events are sometimes observed in the secondary wave field of undular tidal bores.

Linking rainforest ecophysiology and microclimate through fusion of airborne LiDAR and hyperspectral imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Eben N. Broadbent; Angélica M. Almeyda Zambrano; Gregory P. Asner; Christopher B. Field; Brad E. Rosenheim; Ty Kennedy-Bowdoin; David E. Knapp; David Burke; Christian Giardina; Susan Cordell

2014-01-01

We develop and validate a high-resolution three-dimensional model of light and air temperature for a tropical forest interior in Hawaii along an elevation gradient varying greatly in structure but maintaining a consistent species composition. Our microclimate models integrate high-resolution airborne waveform light detection and ranging data (LiDAR) and hyperspectral...

Space- and time-resolved raman and breakdown spectroscopy: advanced lidar techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Silviu, Gurlui; Marius Mihai, Cazacu; Adrian, Timofte; Oana, Rusu; Georgiana, Bulai; Dimitriu, Dan

2018-04-01

DARLIOES - the advanced LIDAR is based on space- and time-resolved RAMAN and breakdown spectroscopy, to investigate chemical and toxic compounds, their kinetics and physical properties at high temporal (2 ns) and spatial (1 cm) resolution. The high spatial and temporal resolution are needed to resolve a large variety of chemical troposphere compounds, emissions from aircraft, the self-organization space charges induced light phenomena, temperature and humidity profiles, ice nucleation, etc.

Noise Studies of Externally Dispersed Interferometry for Doppler Velocimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Erskine, D J; Edelstein, J; Lloyd, J; Muirhead, P

2006-01-01

Externally Dispersed Interferometry (EDI) is the series combination of a fixed-delay field-widened Michelson interferometer with a dispersive spectrograph. This combination boosts the spectrograph performance for both Doppler velocimetry and high resolution spectroscopy. The interferometer creates a periodic comb that multiplies against the input spectrum to create moire fringes, which are recorded in combination with the regular spectrum. Both regular and high-frequency spectral components can be recovered from the data--the moire component carries additional information that increases the signal to noise for velocimetry and spectroscopy. Here we present simulations and theoretical studies of the photon limited Doppler velocity noise in an EDI. We used a model spectrum of a 1600K temperature star. For several rotational blurring velocities 0, 7.5, 15 and 25 km/s we calculated the dimensionless Doppler quality index (Q) versus wavenumber v. This is the normalized RMS of the derivative of the spectrum and is proportional to the photon-limited Doppler signal to noise ratio

Performance characterization of a pressure-tuned wide-angle Michelson interferometric spectral filter for high spectral resolution lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Seaman, Shane T.; Cook, Anthony L.; Scola, Salvatore J.; Hostetler, Chris A.; Miller, Ian; Welch, Wayne

2015-09-01

High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) is typically realized using an absorption filter to separate molecular returns from particulate returns. NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) has designed and built a Pressure-Tuned Wide-Angle Michelson Interferometer (PTWAMI) as an alternate means to separate the two types of atmospheric returns. While absorption filters only work at certain wavelengths and suffer from low photon efficiency due to light absorption, an interferometric spectral filter can be designed for any wavelength and transmits nearly all incident photons. The interferometers developed at LaRC employ an air spacer in one arm, and a solid glass spacer in the other. Field widening is achieved by specific design and selection of the lengths and refractive indices of these two arms. The principal challenge in using such an interferometer as a spectral filter for HSRL aboard aircraft is that variations in glass temperature and air pressure cause changes in the interferometer's optical path difference. Therefore, a tuning mechanism is needed to actively accommodate for these changes. The pressure-tuning mechanism employed here relies on changing the pressure in an enclosed, air-filled arm of the interferometer to change the arm's optical path length. However, tuning using pressure will not adjust for tilt, mirror warpage, or thermally induced wavefront error, so the structural, thermal, and optical behavior of the device must be well understood and optimized in the design and manufacturing process. The PTWAMI has been characterized for particulate transmission ratio, wavefront error, and tilt, and shows acceptable performance for use in an HSRL instrument.

2011 - 2012 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) Lidar: Coastal New York (Long Island and along the Hudson River)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data is remotely sensed high-resolution elevation data collected by an airborne collection platform. This LiDAR dataset is a...

Airborne 3D Imaging Lidar for Contiguous Decimeter Resolution Terrain Mapping and Shallow Water Bathymetry

Science.gov (United States)

Degnan, J. J.; Wells, D. N.; Huet, H.; Chauvet, N.; Lawrence, D. W.; Mitchell, S. E.; Eklund, W. D.

2005-12-01

A 3D imaging lidar system, developed for the University of Florida at Gainesville and operating at the water transmissive wavelength of 532 nm, is designed to contiguously map underlying terrain and/or perform shallow water bathymetry on a single overflight from an altitude of 600 m with a swath width of 225 m and a horizontal spatial resolution of 20 cm. Each 600 psec pulse from a frequency-doubled, low power (~3 microjoules @ 8 kHz = 24 mW), passively Q-switched Nd:YAG microchip laser is passed through a holographic element which projects a 10x10 array of spots onto a 2m x 2m target area. The individual ground spots are then imaged onto individual anodes within a 10x10 segmented anode photomultiplier. The latter is followed by a 100 channel multistop ranging receiver with a range resolution of about 4 cm. The multistop feature permits single photon detection in daylight with wide range gates as well as multiple single photon returns per pixel per laser fire from volumetric scatterers such as tree canopies or turbid water columns. The individual single pulse 3D images are contiguously mosaiced together through the combined action of the platform velocity and a counter-rotating dual wedge optical scanner whose rotations are synchronized to the laser pulse train. The paper provides an overview of the lidar opto-mechanical design, the synchronized dual wedge scanner and servo controller, and the experimental results obtained to date.

A time-space synchronization of coherent Doppler scanning lidars for 3D measurements of wind fields

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vasiljevic, Nikola

initiates the laser pulse emission and acquisition of the backscattered light, while the two servo motors conduct the scanner head rotation that provides means to direct the laser pulses into the atmosphere. By controlling the rotation of the three motors from the motion controller the strict......-dimensional flow field by emitting the laser beams from the three spatially separated lidars, directing them to intersect, and moving the beam intersection over an area of interest. Each individual lidar was engineered to be powered by two real servo motors, and one virtual stepper motor. The stepper motor...... synchronization and time control of the emission, steering and acquisition were achieved, resulting that the complete lidar measurement process is controlled from the single hardware component. The system was formed using a novel approach, in which the master computer simultaneously coordinates the remote lidars...

Determination of the particulate extinction-coefficient profile and the column-integrated lidar ratios using the backscatter-coefficient and optical-depth profiles

Science.gov (United States)

Vladimir A Kovalev; Wei Min Hao; Cyle Wold

2007-01-01

A new method is considered that can be used for inverting data obtained from a combined elastic-inelastic lidar or a high spectral resolution lidar operating in a one-directional mode, or an elastic lidar operating in a multiangle mode. The particulate extinction coefficient is retrieved from the simultaneously measured profiles of the particulate backscatter...

New methods of data calibration for high power-aperture lidar.

Science.gov (United States)

Guan, Sai; Yang, Guotao; Chang, Qihai; Cheng, Xuewu; Yang, Yong; Gong, Shaohua; Wang, Jihong

2013-03-25

For high power-aperture lidar sounding of wide atmospheric dynamic ranges, as in middle-upper atmospheric probing, photomultiplier tubes' (PMT) pulse pile-up effects and signal-induced noise (SIN) complicates the extraction of information from lidar return signal, especially from metal layers' fluorescence signal. Pursuit for sophisticated description of metal layers' characteristics at far range (80~130km) with one PMT of high quantum efficiency (QE) and good SNR, contradicts the requirements for signals of wide linear dynamic range (i.e. from approximate 10(2) to 10(8) counts/s). In this article, Substantial improvements on experimental simulation of Lidar signals affected by PMT are reported to evaluate the PMTs' distortions in our High Power-Aperture Sodium LIDAR system. A new method for pile-up calibration is proposed by taking into account PMT and High Speed Data Acquisition Card as an Integrated Black-Box, as well as a new experimental method for identifying and removing SIN from the raw Lidar signals. Contradiction between the limited linear dynamic range of raw signal (55~80km) and requirements for wider acceptable linearity has been effectively solved, without complicating the current lidar system. Validity of these methods was demonstrated by applying calibrated data to retrieve atmospheric parameters (i.e. atmospheric density, temperature and sodium absolutely number density), in comparison with measurements of TIMED satellite and atmosphere model. Good agreements are obtained between results derived from calibrated signal and reference measurements where differences of atmosphere density, temperature are less than 5% in the stratosphere and less than 10K from 30km to mesosphere, respectively. Additionally, approximate 30% changes are shown in sodium concentration at its peak value. By means of the proposed methods to revert the true signal independent of detectors, authors approach a new balance between maintaining the linearity of adequate signal (20

High-resolution digital elevation model of Mount St. Helens crater and upper North Fork Toutle River basin, Washington, based on an airborne lidar survey of September 2009

Science.gov (United States)

Mosbrucker, Adam

2014-01-01

The lateral blast, debris avalanche, and lahars of the May 18th, 1980, eruption of Mount St. Helens, Washington, dramatically altered the surrounding landscape. Lava domes were extruded during the subsequent eruptive periods of 1980–1986 and 2004–2008. More than three decades after the emplacement of the 1980 debris avalanche, high sediment production persists in the North Fork Toutle River basin, which drains the northern flank of the volcano. Because this sediment increases the risk of flooding to downstream communities on the Toutle and Cowlitz Rivers, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), under the direction of Congress to maintain an authorized level of flood protection, built a sediment retention structure on the North Fork Toutle River in 1989 to help reduce this risk and to prevent sediment from clogging the shipping channel of the Columbia River. From September 16–20, 2009, Watershed Sciences, Inc., under contract to USACE, collected high-precision airborne lidar (light detection and ranging) data that cover 214 square kilometers (83 square miles) of Mount St. Helens and the upper North Fork Toutle River basin from the sediment retention structure to the volcano's crater. These data provide a digital dataset of the ground surface, including beneath forest cover. Such remotely sensed data can be used to develop sediment budgets and models of sediment erosion, transport, and deposition. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) used these lidar data to develop digital elevation models (DEMs) of the study area. DEMs are fundamental to monitoring natural hazards and studying volcanic landforms, fluvial and glacial geomorphology, and surface geology. Watershed Sciences, Inc., provided files in the LASer (LAS) format containing laser returns that had been filtered, classified, and georeferenced. The USGS produced a hydro-flattened DEM from ground-classified points at Castle, Coldwater, and Spirit Lakes. Final results averaged about five laser last

An Effective Method for Detecting Potential Woodland Vernal Pools Using High-Resolution LiDAR Data and Aerial Imagery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qiusheng Wu

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Effective conservation of woodland vernal pools—important components of regional amphibian diversity and ecosystem services—depends on locating and mapping these pools accurately. Current methods for identifying potential vernal pools are primarily based on visual interpretation and digitization of aerial photographs, with variable accuracy and low repeatability. In this paper, we present an effective and efficient method for detecting and mapping potential vernal pools using stochastic depression analysis with additional geospatial analysis. Our method was designed to take advantage of high-resolution light detection and ranging (LiDAR data, which are becoming increasingly available, though not yet frequently employed in vernal pool studies. We successfully detected more than 2000 potential vernal pools in a ~150 km2 study area in eastern Massachusetts. The accuracy assessment in our study indicated that the commission rates ranged from 2.5% to 6.0%, while the proxy omission rate was 8.2%, rates that are much lower than reported errors of previous vernal pool studies conducted in the northeastern United States. One significant advantage of our semi-automated approach for vernal pool identification is that it may reduce inconsistencies and alleviate repeatability concerns associated with manual photointerpretation methods. Another strength of our strategy is that, in addition to detecting the point-based vernal pool locations for the inventory, the boundaries of vernal pools can be extracted as polygon features to characterize their geometric properties, which are not available in the current statewide vernal pool databases in Massachusetts.

Typical Applications of Airborne LIDAR Technolagy in Geological Investigation

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, X.; Xiao, C.

2018-05-01

The technology of airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR), also referred to as Airborne Laser Scanning, is widely used for high-resolution topographic data acquisition (even under forest cover) with sub-meter planimetric and vertical accuracy. This contribution constructs the real digital terrain model to provide the direct observation data for the landscape analysis in geological domains. Based on the advantage of LiDAR, the authors mainly deal with the applications of LiDAR data to such fields as surface land collapse, landslide and fault structure extraction. The review conclusion shows that airborne LiDAR technology is becoming an indispensable tool for above mentioned issues, especially in the local and large scale investigations of micro-topography. The technology not only can identify the surface collapse, landslide boundary and subtle faulted landform, but also be able to extract the filling parameters of collapsed surface, the geomorphic parameters of landslide stability evaluation and cracks. This technology has extensive prospect of applications in geological investigation.

TYPICAL APPLICATIONS OF AIRBORNE LIDAR TECHNOLAGY IN GEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

X. Zheng

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The technology of airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR, also referred to as Airborne Laser Scanning, is widely used for high-resolution topographic data acquisition (even under forest cover with sub-meter planimetric and vertical accuracy. This contribution constructs the real digital terrain model to provide the direct observation data for the landscape analysis in geological domains. Based on the advantage of LiDAR, the authors mainly deal with the applications of LiDAR data to such fields as surface land collapse, landslide and fault structure extraction. The review conclusion shows that airborne LiDAR technology is becoming an indispensable tool for above mentioned issues, especially in the local and large scale investigations of micro-topography. The technology not only can identify the surface collapse, landslide boundary and subtle faulted landform, but also be able to extract the filling parameters of collapsed surface, the geomorphic parameters of landslide stability evaluation and cracks. This technology has extensive prospect of applications in geological investigation.

Simulated full-waveform lidar compared to Riegl VZ-400 terrestrial laser scans

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Angela M.; Olsen, Richard C.; Béland, Martin

2016-05-01

A 3-D Monte Carlo ray-tracing simulation of LiDAR propagation models the reflection, transmission and ab- sorption interactions of laser energy with materials in a simulated scene. In this presentation, a model scene consisting of a single Victorian Boxwood (Pittosporum undulatum) tree is generated by the high-fidelity tree voxel model VoxLAD using high-spatial resolution point cloud data from a Riegl VZ-400 terrestrial laser scanner. The VoxLAD model uses terrestrial LiDAR scanner data to determine Leaf Area Density (LAD) measurements for small volume voxels (20 cm sides) of a single tree canopy. VoxLAD is also used in a non-traditional fashion in this case to generate a voxel model of wood density. Information from the VoxLAD model is used within the LiDAR simulation to determine the probability of LiDAR energy interacting with materials at a given voxel location. The LiDAR simulation is defined to replicate the scanning arrangement of the Riegl VZ-400; the resulting simulated full-waveform LiDAR signals compare favorably to those obtained with the Riegl VZ-400 terrestrial laser scanner.

Development of Prototype Micro-Lidar using Narrow Linewidth Semiconductor Lasers for Mars Boundary Layer Wind and Dust Opacity Profiles

Science.gov (United States)

Menzies, Robert T.; Cardell, Greg; Chiao, Meng; Esproles, Carlos; Forouhar, Siamak; Hemmati, Hamid; Tratt, David

1999-01-01

We have developed a compact Doppler lidar concept which utilizes recent developments in semiconductor diode laser technology in order to be considered suitable for wind and dust opacity profiling in the Mars lower atmosphere from a surface location. The current understanding of the Mars global climate and meteorology is very limited, with only sparse, near-surface data available from the Viking and Mars Pathfinder landers, supplemented by long-range remote sensing of the Martian atmosphere. The in situ measurements from a lander-based Doppler lidar would provide a unique dataset particularly for the boundary layer. The coupling of the radiative properties of the lower atmosphere with the dynamics involves the radiative absorption and scattering effects of the wind-driven dust. Variability in solar irradiance, on diurnal and seasonal time scales, drives vertical mixing and PBL (planetary boundary layer) thickness. The lidar data will also contribute to an understanding of the impact of wind-driven dust on lander and rover operations and lifetime through an improvement in our understanding of Mars climatology. In this paper we discuss the Mars lidar concept, and the development of a laboratory prototype for performance studies, using, local boundary layer and topographic target measurements.

4D Near Real-Time Environmental Monitoring Using Highly Temporal LiDAR

Science.gov (United States)

Höfle, Bernhard; Canli, Ekrem; Schmitz, Evelyn; Crommelinck, Sophie; Hoffmeister, Dirk; Glade, Thomas

2016-04-01

The last decade has witnessed extensive applications of 3D environmental monitoring with the LiDAR technology, also referred to as laser scanning. Although several automatic methods were developed to extract environmental parameters from LiDAR point clouds, only little research has focused on highly multitemporal near real-time LiDAR (4D-LiDAR) for environmental monitoring. Large potential of applying 4D-LiDAR is given for landscape objects with high and varying rates of change (e.g. plant growth) and also for phenomena with sudden unpredictable changes (e.g. geomorphological processes). In this presentation we will report on the most recent findings of the research projects 4DEMON (http://uni-heidelberg.de/4demon) and NoeSLIDE (https://geomorph.univie.ac.at/forschung/projekte/aktuell/noeslide/). The method development in both projects is based on two real-world use cases: i) Surface parameter derivation of agricultural crops (e.g. crop height) and ii) change detection of landslides. Both projects exploit the "full history" contained in the LiDAR point cloud time series. One crucial initial step of 4D-LiDAR analysis is the co-registration over time, 3D-georeferencing and time-dependent quality assessment of the LiDAR point cloud time series. Due to the high amount of datasets (e.g. one full LiDAR scan per day), the procedure needs to be performed fully automatically. Furthermore, the online near real-time 4D monitoring system requires to set triggers that can detect removal or moving of tie reflectors (used for co-registration) or the scanner itself. This guarantees long-term data acquisition with high quality. We will present results from a georeferencing experiment for 4D-LiDAR monitoring, which performs benchmarking of co-registration, 3D-georeferencing and also fully automatic detection of events (e.g. removal/moving of reflectors or scanner). Secondly, we will show our empirical findings of an ongoing permanent LiDAR observation of a landslide (Gresten

Improving low-relief coastal LiDAR DEMs with hydro-conditioning of fine-scale and artificial drainages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Richard Allen

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Improvements in Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR technology and spatial analysis of high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs have advanced the accuracy and diversity of applications for coastal hazards and natural resources management. This article presents a concise synthesis of LiDAR analysis for coastal flooding and management applications in low-relief coastal plains and a case study demonstration of a new, efficient drainage mapping algorithm. The impetus for these LiDAR applications follows historic flooding from Hurricane Floyd in 1999, after which the State of North Carolina and the Federal Emergency Management Agency undertook extensive LiDAR data acquisition and technological developments for high-resolution floodplain mapping. An efficient algorithm is outlined for hydro-conditioning bare earth LiDAR DEMs using available US Geological Survey National Hydrography Dataset canal and ditch vectors. The methodology is illustrated in Moyock, North Carolina, for refinement of hydro-conditioning by combines pre-existing bare earth DEMs with spatial analysis of LiDAR point clouds in segmented and buffered ditch and canal networks. The methodology produces improved maps of fine-scale drainage, reduced omission of areal flood inundation, and subwatershed delineations that typify heavily ditched and canalled drainage areas. These preliminary results illustrate the capability of the technique to improve the representation of ditches in DEMs as well as subsequent flow and inundation modeling that could spur further research on low-relief coastal LiDAR applications.

Use of TRIGA-pulsed irradiations for high-temperature Doppler measurements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Foell, W K; Cashwell, R J; Bhattacharyya, S K [Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL (United States); Russell, G J [Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, University of California, Los Alamos, NM (United States)

1974-07-01

Conventional activation and reactivity measurements of the nuclear Doppler Effect have been limited to temperatures of about 2000{sup o}K because of problems with furnace equipment. There is a need for Doppler data at higher temperatures for design of reactors and analysis of reactor accidents. To fill this need, a novel technique using pulsed-mode operation of a TRIGA reactor has been developed at the University of Wisconsin. This new method, the Pulsed Activation Doppler (PAD) technique, has been used successfully for high temperature Doppler measurements of UO{sub 2} fuel pellets. In the PAD technique, UO{sub 2} test pellets were doped with varying amounts of U-235, with fissile enrichments varying from 0.22% to 12% by weight. The pellets were encapsulated in individual irradiation cells and electrically preheated to predetermined temperatures. Pyrofoam-graphite heaters were used to give preheat temperatures of up to 1720 deg. K. The cells were then positioned in the University of Wisconsin TRIGA reactor core and pulse-irradiated. During the rapid irradiation, adiabatic fission energy deposition occurred in the pellets and very high temperatures (over 3115 deg, K) were attained. Corresponding resonance neutron captures occurred at the elevated temperatures. The Doppler Ratio was deduced from the gamma activities of the Np-239 in the heated and unheated reference pellets. UO{sub 2} pellets of two nominal diameters, 210 mils (a surface-to-mass ratio, s/m = 1.1 cm{sup 2} /gm) and 360 mils (s/m = 0.63 cm{sup 2}/gm), were used for the experiments. For the 210 mil diameter pellets there was very good agreement between experimental results and Doppler ratios predicted both from extrapolations of the Hellstrand low-temperature resonance integral correlations and from GAROL calculations. Significantly, the agreement was good even for those pellets which experienced extensive melting. For the 360 mil diameter pellets the theoretical predictions were 10-15% lower than

Registration of vehicle based panoramic image and LiDAR point cloud

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Changjun; Cao, Liang; Xie, Hong; Zhuo, Xiangyu

2013-10-01

Higher quality surface information would be got when data from optical images and LiDAR were integrated, owing to the fact that optical images and LiDAR point cloud have unique characteristics that make them preferable in many applications. While most previous works focus on registration of pinhole perspective cameras to 2D or 3D LiDAR data. In this paper, a method for the registration of vehicle based panoramic image and LiDAR point cloud is proposed. Using the translation among panoramic image, single CCD image, laser scanner and Position and Orientation System (POS) along with the GPS/IMU data, precise co-registration between the panoramic image and the LiDAR point cloud in the world system is achieved. Results are presented under a real world data set collected by a new developed Mobile Mapping System (MMS) integrated with a high resolution panoramic camera, two laser scanners and a POS.

Remote Sensing of Three-dimensional Winds with Elastic Lidar: Explanation of Maximum Cross-correlation Method

Science.gov (United States)

Buttler, William T.; Soriano, Cecilia; Baldasano, Jose M.; Nickel, George H.

Maximum cross-correlation provides a method toremotely de-ter-mine high-lyre-solved three-dimensional fields of horizontalwinds with e-las-tic li-darthrough-out large volumes of the planetaryboundary layer (PBL). This paperdetails the technique and shows comparisonsbetween elastic lidar winds, remotelysensed laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) windprofiles, and radiosonde winds.Radiosonde wind data were acquired at Barcelona,Spain, during the BarcelonaAir-Quality Initiative (1992), and the LDVwind data were acquired at SunlandPark, New Mexico during the 1994 Border AreaAir-Quality Study. Comparisonsshow good agreement between the differentinstruments, and demonstrate the methoduseful for air pollution management at thelocal/regional scale. Elastic lidar windscould thus offer insight into aerosol andpollution transport within the PBL. Lidarwind fields might also be used to nudge orimprove initialization and evaluation ofatmospheric meteorological models.

A High-Speed Optical Diagnostic that uses Interference Filters to Measure Doppler Shifts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paul, S.F.; Cates, C.; Mauel, M.; Maurer, D.; Navratil, G.; Shilov, M.

2004-01-01

A high-speed, non-invasive velocity diagnostic has been developed for measuring plasma rotation. The Doppler shift is determined by employing two detectors that view line emission from the identical volume of plasma. Each detector views through an interference filter having a passband that varies linearly with wavelength. One detector views the plasma through a filter whose passband has a negative slope and the second detector views through one with a positive slope. Because each channel views the same volume of plasma, the ratio of the amplitudes is not sensitive to variations in plasma emission. With suitable knowledge of the filter characteristics and the relative gain, the Doppler shift is readily obtained in real time from the ratio of two channels without needing a low throughput spectrometer. The systematic errors--arising from temperature drifts, stability, and frequency response of the detectors and amplifiers, interference filter linearity, and ability to thoroughly homogenize the light from the fiber bundle--can be characterized well enough to obtain velocity data with + or - 1 km/sec with a time resolution of 0.3 msec

2006 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Topographic LiDAR: Connecticut Coastline Survey

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — LIDAR data is remotely sensed high-resolution elevation data collected by an airborne collection platform. By positioning laser range finding with the use of 1...

Vertical profiles of atmospheric fluorescent aerosols observed by a mutil-channel lidar spectrometer system

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Z.; Huang, J.; Zhou, T.; Sugimoto, N.; Bi, J.

2015-12-01

Zhongwei Huang1*, Jianping Huang1, Tian Zhou1, Nobuo Sugimoto2, Jianrong Bi1 and Jinsen Shi11Key Laboratory for Semi-Arid Climate Change of the Ministry of Education, College of Atmospheric Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China. 2Atmospheric Environment Division, National Institutes for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan Email: huangzhongwei@lzu.edu.cn Abstract Atmospheric aerosols have a significant impact on regional and globe climate. The challenge in quantifying aerosol direct radiative forcing and aerosol-cloud interactions arises from large spatial and temporal heterogeneity of aerosol concentrations, compositions, sizes, shape and optical properties (IPCC, 2007). Lidar offers some remarkable advantages for determining the vertical structure of atmospheric aerosols and their related optical properties. To investigate the characterization of atmospheric aerosols (especially bioaerosols) with high spatial and temporal resolution, we developed a Raman/fluorescence/polarization lidar system employed a multi-channel spectrometer, with capabilities of providing measurements of Raman scattering and laser-induced fluorescence excitation at 355 nm from atmospheric aerosols. Meanwhile, the lidar system operated polarization measurements both at 355nm and 532nm wavelengths, aiming to obtain more information of aerosols. It employs a high power pulsed laser and a received telescope with 350mm diameter. The receiver could simultaneously detect a wide fluorescent spectrum about 178 nm with spectral resolution 5.7 nm, mainly including an F/3.7 Crossed Czerny-Turner spectrograph, a grating (1200 gr/mm) and a PMT array with 32 photocathode elements. Vertical structure of fluorescent aerosols in the atmosphere was observed by the developed lidar system at four sites across northwest China, during 2014 spring field observation that conducted by Lanzhou University. It has been proved that the developed lidar could detect the fluorescent aerosols with high temporal and

Validation and deployment of the first Lidar based weather observation network in New York State: The NYS MesoNet Project

Science.gov (United States)

Thobois, L.; Freedman, J.; Royer, P.; Brotzge, J.; Joseph, E.

2018-04-01

The number and quality of atmospheric observations used by meteorologists and operational forecasters are increasing year after year, and yet, consistent improvements in forecast skill remains a challenge. While contributing factors involving these challenges have been identified, including the difficulty in accurately establishing initial conditions, improving the observations at regional and local scales is necessary for accurate depiction of the atmospheric boundary layer (below 2km), particularly the wind profile, in high resolution numerical models. Above the uncertainty of weather forecasts, the goal is also to improve the detection of severe and extreme weather events (severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and other mesoscale phenomena) that can adversely affect life, property and commerce, primarily in densely populated urban centers. This paper will describe the New York State Mesonet that is being deployed in the state of New York, USA. It is composed of 126 stations including 17 profiler sites. These sites will acquire continuous upper air observations through the combination of WINDCUBE Lidars and microwave radiometers. These stations will provide temperature, relative humidity & "3D" wind profile measurements through and above the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and will retrieve derived atmospheric quantities such as the PBL height, cloud base, momentum fluxes, and aerosol & cloud optical properties. The different modes and configurations that will be used for the Lidars are discussed. The performances in terms of data availability and wind accuracy and precision are evaluated. Several profiles with specific wind and aerosol features are presented to illustrate the benefits of the use of Coherent Doppler Lidars to monitor accurately the PBL.

2010 Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) Lidar: Klamath Study Area

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Oregon Department of Geology & Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) contracted with Watershed Sciences, Inc. to collect high resolution topographic LiDAR data for...

2011 Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) Lidar: Burns Study Area

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Oregon Department of Geology & Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) contracted with Watershed Sciences, Inc. to collect high resolution topographic LiDAR data for...

2009 Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) Oregon Lidar: Willamette Valley

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Oregon Department of Geology & Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) contracted with Watershed Sciences, Inc. to collect high resolution topographic LiDAR data for...

2010 Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) Lidar: Newberry Study Area

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Oregon Department of Geology & Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) contracted with Watershed Sciences, Inc. to collect high resolution topographic LiDAR data for...

Results of the Simulation and Assimilation of Doppler Wind Lidar Observations in Preparation for European Space Agency's Aeolus Mission

Science.gov (United States)

McCarty, Will

2011-01-01

With the launch of the European Space Agency's Aeolus Mission in 2013, direct spaceborne measurements of vertical wind profiles are imminent via Doppler wind lidar technology. Part of the preparedness for such missions is the development of the proper data assimilation methodology for handling such observations. Since no heritage measurements exist in space, the Joint Observing System Simulation Experiment (Joint OSSE) framework has been utilized to generate a realistic proxy dataset as a precursor to flight. These data are being used for the development of the Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation (GSI) data assimilation system utilized at a number of centers through the United States including the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NOAA/NWS/NCEP) as an activity through the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation. An update of this ongoing effort will be presented, including the methodology of proxy data generation, the limitations of the proxy data, the handling of line-of-sight wind measurements within the GSI, and the impact on both analyses and forecasts with the addition of the new data type.

Monitoring cirrus cloud and tropopause height over Hanoi using a compact lidar system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bui Van Hai; Dinh Van Trung; Nguyen Xuan Tuan; Dao Duy Thang; Nguyen Thanh Binh

2012-01-01

Cirrus clouds in the upper troposphere and the lower stratosphere have attracted great attention due to their important role and impact on the atmospheric radioactive balance. Because cirrus clouds are located high in the atmosphere, their study requires a high resolution remote sensing technique not only for detection but also for the characterization of their properties. The lidar technique with its inherent high sensitivity and resolution has become an indispensable tool for studying and improving our understanding of cirrus cloud. Using lidar technique we can simultaneously measure the cloud height, thickness and follow its temporal evolution. In this paper we describe the development of a compact and highly sensitive lidar system with the aim to remotely monitor for the first time the cirrus clouds over Hanoi (2101:42 N, 10551:12 W). From the lidar data collected during the year 2011. We derive the mean cloud height, location of cloud top, the cloud mean thickness and their temporal evolution. We then compare the location of the cloud top with the position of the tropopause determined the radiosonde data and found good that the distance between cloud top and tropopause remains fairly stable, indicating that generally the top of cirrus clouds is the good tracer of the tropopause. We found that the cirrus clouds are generally located at height between 11.2 to 15 km with average height of 13.4 km. Their thickness is between 0.3 and 3.8 km with average value of 1.7 km. We also compare the properties of cirrus cloud with that observed at other locations around the world based on lidar technique. (author)

Statistical correction of lidar-derived digital elevation models with multispectral airborne imagery in tidal marshes

Science.gov (United States)

Buffington, Kevin J.; Dugger, Bruce D.; Thorne, Karen M.; Takekawa, John Y.

2016-01-01

Airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) is a valuable tool for collecting large amounts of elevation data across large areas; however, the limited ability to penetrate dense vegetation with lidar hinders its usefulness for measuring tidal marsh platforms. Methods to correct lidar elevation data are available, but a reliable method that requires limited field work and maintains spatial resolution is lacking. We present a novel method, the Lidar Elevation Adjustment with NDVI (LEAN), to correct lidar digital elevation models (DEMs) with vegetation indices from readily available multispectral airborne imagery (NAIP) and RTK-GPS surveys. Using 17 study sites along the Pacific coast of the U.S., we achieved an average root mean squared error (RMSE) of 0.072 m, with a 40–75% improvement in accuracy from the lidar bare earth DEM. Results from our method compared favorably with results from three other methods (minimum-bin gridding, mean error correction, and vegetation correction factors), and a power analysis applying our extensive RTK-GPS dataset showed that on average 118 points were necessary to calibrate a site-specific correction model for tidal marshes along the Pacific coast. By using available imagery and with minimal field surveys, we showed that lidar-derived DEMs can be adjusted for greater accuracy while maintaining high (1 m) resolution.

To assess the intimal thickness, flow velocities, and luminal diameter of carotid arteries using high-resolution B-mode ultrasound doppler imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Vemuru, Madhuri; Jabbar, Afzal; Chandra, Suman

2004-04-01

Carotid imaging is a Gold Standard test that provides useful information about the structure and functions of carotid arteries. Spectral imaging helps to evaluate the vessel and hemodynamic changes. High resolution B-mode imaging has emerged as one of the methods of choice for determining the anatomic extent of atherosclerosis and its progression and for assessing cardiovascular risks. The measurements made with Doppler correlate well with pathologic measurements. Recent prospective studies have clearly demonstrated that these measurements of carotid intimal thickness are potent predictors of Myocardial Infarction and Stroke. This method appears very attractive as it is non-invasive, extremely safe, well accepted by the patient and relatively inexpensive. It can be performed serially and has the advantage of visualizing the arterial wall in contrast to angiographic techniques which provide only an outline of the arterial lumen. Recently, there has been an interest in the clinical use of this technique in making difficult clinical decisions like deciding on preventive therapies. 30 subjects aged 21-60 years and 30 subjects aged 61-85 years of both sexes are selected after doing a baseline study to exclude Hypertension, Diabetes, Obesity and Hyperlipidemia. The carotid arteries were examined for intimal thickening, blood flow velocities and luminal diameter. With aging there is a narrowing of the carotid vessels and significant increase in intimal thickening with a consequent increase in the blood flow velocities. Inter-observer, intra-observer and instrument variations are seen and there is no significant change in the values when the distal flow pattern is considered for measurements. Aging produces major cardiovascular changes including decreased elasticity and compliance of great arteries leading to structural and functional alterations in heart and vessels. With aging there is increased intimal thickness and increased pulse wave velocity which is clearly

Quantifying TOLNet Ozone Lidar Accuracy During the 2014 DISCOVER-AQ and FRAPPE Campaigns

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Lihua; Newchurch, Michael J.; Alvarez, Raul J., II; Berkoff, Timothy A.; Brown, Steven S.; Carrion, William; De Young, Russell J.; Johnson, Bryan J.; Ganoe, Rene; Gronoff, Guillaume;

Independent evaluation of the SNODAS snow depth product using regional-scale lidar-derived measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Hedrick, A.; Marshall, H.-P.; Winstral, A.; Elder, K.; Yueh, S.; Cline, D.

2015-01-01

Repeated light detection and ranging (lidar) surveys are quickly becoming the de facto method for measuring spatial variability of montane snowpacks at high resolution. This study examines the potential of a 750 km2 lidar-derived data set of snow depths, collected during the 2007 northern Colorado Cold Lands Processes Experiment (CLPX-2), as a validation source for an operational hydrologic snow model. The SNOw Data Assimilation System (SNODAS) model framework, operated by the US National Weather Service, combines a physically based energy-and-mass-balance snow model with satellite, airborne and automated ground-based observations to provide daily estimates of snowpack properties at nominally 1 km resolution over the conterminous United States. Independent validation data are scarce due to the assimilating nature of SNODAS, compelling the need for an independent validation data set with substantial geographic coverage. Within 12 distinctive 500 × 500 m study areas located throughout the survey swath, ground crews performed approximately 600 manual snow depth measurements during each of the CLPX-2 lidar acquisitions. This supplied a data set for constraining the uncertainty of upscaled lidar estimates of snow depth at the 1 km SNODAS resolution, resulting in a root-mean-square difference of 13 cm. Upscaled lidar snow depths were then compared to the SNODAS estimates over the entire study area for the dates of the lidar flights. The remotely sensed snow depths provided a more spatially continuous comparison data set and agreed more closely to the model estimates than that of the in situ measurements alone. Finally, the results revealed three distinct areas where the differences between lidar observations and SNODAS estimates were most drastic, providing insight into the causal influences of natural processes on model uncertainty.

High resolution SETI: Experiences and prospects

Science.gov (United States)

Horowitz, Paul; Clubok, Ken

Megachannel spectroscopy with sub-Hertz resolution constitutes an attractive strategy for a microwave search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), assuming the transmission of a narrowband radiofrequency beacon. Such resolution matches the properties of the interstellar medium, and the necessary Doppler corrections provide a high degree of interference rejection. We have constructed a frequency-agile receiver with an FFT-based 8 megachannel digital spectrum analyzer, on-line signal recognition, and multithreshold archiving. We are using it to conduct a meridian transit search of the northern sky at the Harvard-Smithsonian 26-m antenna, with a second identical system scheduled to begin observations in Argentina this month. Successive 400 kHz spectra, at 0.05 Hz resolution, are searched for features characteristic of an intentional narrowband beacon transmission. These spectra are centered on guessable frequencies (such as λ21 cm), referenced successively to the local standard of rest, the galactic barycenter, and the cosmic blackbody rest frame. This search has rejected interference admirably, but is greatly limited both in total frequency coverage and sensitivity to signals other than carriers. We summarize five years of high resolution SETI at Harvard, in the context of answering the questions "How useful is narrowband SETI, how serious are its limitations, what can be done to circumvent them, and in what direction should SETI evolve?" Increasingly powerful signal processing hardware, combined with ever-higher memory densities, are particularly relevant, permitting the construction of compact and affordable gigachannel spectrum analyzers covering hundreds of megahertz of instantaneous bandwidth.

Lidar detection of carbon dioxide in volcanic plumes

Science.gov (United States)

Fiorani, Luca; Santoro, Simone; Parracino, Stefano; Maio, Giovanni; Del Franco, Mario; Aiuppa, Alessandro

2015-06-01

Volcanic gases give information on magmatic processes. In particular, anomalous releases of carbon dioxide precede volcanic eruptions. Up to now, this gas has been measured in volcanic plumes with conventional measurements that imply the severe risks of local sampling and can last many hours. For these reasons and for the great advantages of laser sensing, the thorough development of volcanic lidar has been undertaken at the Diagnostics and Metrology Laboratory (UTAPRAD-DIM) of the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA). In fact, lidar profiling allows one to scan remotely volcanic plumes in a fast and continuous way, and with high spatial and temporal resolution. Two differential absorption lidar instruments will be presented in this paper: BILLI (BrIdge voLcanic LIdar), based on injection seeded Nd:YAG laser, double grating dye laser, difference frequency mixing (DFM) and optical parametric amplifier (OPA), and VULLI (VULcamed Lidar), based on injection seeded Nd:YAG laser and optical parametric oscillator (OPO). The first one is funded by the ERC (European Research Council) project BRIDGE and the second one by the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) project VULCAMED. While VULLI has not yet been tested in a volcanic site, BILLI scanned the gas emitted by Pozzuoli Solfatara (Campi Flegrei volcanic area, Naples, Italy) during a field campaign carried out from 13 to 17 October 2014. Carbon dioxide concentration maps were retrieved remotely in few minutes in the crater area. Lidar measurements were in good agreement with well-established techniques, based on different operating principles. To our knowledge, it is the first time that carbon dioxide in a volcanic plume is retrieved by lidar, representing the first direct measurement of this kind ever performed on an active volcano and showing the high potential of laser remote sensing in geophysical research.

Toward reduced transport errors in a high resolution urban CO2 inversion system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aijun Deng

2017-05-01

Full Text Available We present a high-resolution atmospheric inversion system combining a Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Model (LPDM and the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF, and test the impact of assimilating meteorological observation on transport accuracy. A Four Dimensional Data Assimilation (FDDA technique continuously assimilates meteorological observations from various observing systems into the transport modeling system, and is coupled to the high resolution CO2 emission product Hestia to simulate the atmospheric mole fractions of CO2. For the Indianapolis Flux Experiment (INFLUX project, we evaluated the impact of assimilating different meteorological observation systems on the linearized adjoint solutions and the CO2 inverse fluxes estimated using observed CO2 mole fractions from 11 out of 12 communications towers over Indianapolis for the Sep.-Nov. 2013 period. While assimilating WMO surface measurements improved the simulated wind speed and direction, their impact on the planetary boundary layer (PBL was limited. Simulated PBL wind statistics improved significantly when assimilating upper-air observations from the commercial airline program Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS and continuous ground-based Doppler lidar wind observations. Wind direction mean absolute error (MAE decreased from 26 to 14 degrees and the wind speed MAE decreased from 2.0 to 1.2 m s–1, while the bias remains small in all configurations (< 6 degrees and 0.2 m s–1. Wind speed MAE and ME are larger in daytime than in nighttime. PBL depth MAE is reduced by ~10%, with little bias reduction. The inverse results indicate that the spatial distribution of CO2 inverse fluxes were affected by the model performance while the overall flux estimates changed little across WRF simulations when aggregated over the entire domain. Our results show that PBL wind observations are a potent tool for increasing the precision of urban meteorological reanalyses

TFTR horizontal high-resolution Bragg x-ray spectrometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hill, K.W.; Bitter, M.; Tavernier, M.

1984-11-01

A bent quartz crystal spectrometer of the Johann type with a spectral resolution of lambda/Δlambda = 10,000 to 25,000 is used on TFTR to determine central plasma parameters from the spectra of heliumlike and lithiumlike metal impurity ions (Ti, Cr, Fe, and Ni). The spectra are observed along a central radial chord and are recorded by a position sensitive multiwire proportional counter with a spatial resolution of 250. Standard delay-line time-difference readout is employed. The data are histogrammed and stored in 64k of memory providing 128 time groups of 512-channel spectra. The central ion temperature and the toroidal plasma rotation are inferred from the Doppler broadening and Doppler shift of the K lines. The central electron temperature, the distribution of ionization states, and dielectronic recombination rates are obtained from satellite-to-resonance line ratios. The performance of the spectrometer is demonstrated by measurements of the Ti XXI K radiation

Beyond RGB: Very high resolution urban remote sensing with multimodal deep networks

Science.gov (United States)

Audebert, Nicolas; Le Saux, Bertrand; Lefèvre, Sébastien

2018-06-01

In this work, we investigate various methods to deal with semantic labeling of very high resolution multi-modal remote sensing data. Especially, we study how deep fully convolutional networks can be adapted to deal with multi-modal and multi-scale remote sensing data for semantic labeling. Our contributions are threefold: (a) we present an efficient multi-scale approach to leverage both a large spatial context and the high resolution data, (b) we investigate early and late fusion of Lidar and multispectral data, (c) we validate our methods on two public datasets with state-of-the-art results. Our results indicate that late fusion make it possible to recover errors steaming from ambiguous data, while early fusion allows for better joint-feature learning but at the cost of higher sensitivity to missing data.

Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) From Space - Laser Altimeters

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Xiaoli

2016-01-01

Light detection and ranging, or lidar, is like radar but atoptical wavelengths. The principle of operation and theirapplications in remote sensing are similar. Lidars havemany advantages over radars in instrument designs andapplications because of the much shorter laser wavelengthsand narrower beams. The lidar transmitters and receiveroptics are much smaller than radar antenna dishes. Thespatial resolution of lidar measurement is much finer thanthat of radar because of the much smaller footprint size onground. Lidar measurements usually give a better temporalresolution because the laser pulses can be much narrowerthan radio frequency (RF) signals. The major limitation oflidar is the ability to penetrate clouds and ground surfaces.

Analysis of the SNR and sensing ability of different sensor types in a LIDAR system

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Gyudong; Han, Munhyun; Seo, Hongseok; Mheen, Bongki

2017-10-01

LIDAR (light distance and ranging) systems use sensors to detect reflected signals. The performance of the sensors significantly affects the specification of the LIDAR system. Especially, the number and size of the sensors determine the FOV (field of view) and resolution of the system, regardless of which sensors are used. The resolution of an array-type sensor normally depends on the number of pixels in the array. In this type of sensor, there are several limitations to increase the number of pixels in an array for higher resolution, specifically complexity, cost, and size limitations. Another type of sensors uses multiple pairs of transmitter and receiver channels. Each channel detects different points with the corresponding directions indicated by the laser points of each channel. In this case, in order to increase the resolution, it is required to increase the number of channels, resulting in bigger sensor head size and deteriorated reliability due to heavy rotating head module containing all the pairs. In this paper, we present a method to overcome these limitations and improve the performance of the LIDAR system. ETRI developed a type of scanning LIDAR system called a STUD (static unitary detector) LIDAR system. It was developed to solve the problems associated with the aforementioned sensors. The STUD LIDAR system can use a variety of sensors without any limitations on the size or number of sensors, unlike other LIDAR systems. Since it provides optimal performance in terms of range and resolution, the detailed analysis was conducted in the STUD LIDAR system by applying different sensor type to have improved sensing performance.

A Scalable Infrastructure for Lidar Topography Data Distribution, Processing, and Discovery

Science.gov (United States)

Crosby, C. J.; Nandigam, V.; Krishnan, S.; Phan, M.; Cowart, C. A.; Arrowsmith, R.; Baru, C.

2010-12-01

High-resolution topography data acquired with lidar (light detection and ranging) technology have emerged as a fundamental tool in the Earth sciences, and are also being widely utilized for ecological, planning, engineering, and environmental applications. Collected from airborne, terrestrial, and space-based platforms, these data are revolutionary because they permit analysis of geologic and biologic processes at resolutions essential for their appropriate representation. Public domain lidar data collection by federal, state, and local agencies are a valuable resource to the scientific community, however the data pose significant distribution challenges because of the volume and complexity of data that must be stored, managed, and processed. Lidar data acquisition may generate terabytes of data in the form of point clouds, digital elevation models (DEMs), and derivative products. This massive volume of data is often challenging to host for resource-limited agencies. Furthermore, these data can be technically challenging for users who lack appropriate software, computing resources, and expertise. The National Science Foundation-funded OpenTopography Facility (www.opentopography.org) has developed a cyberinfrastructure-based solution to enable online access to Earth science-oriented high-resolution lidar topography data, online processing tools, and derivative products. OpenTopography provides access to terabytes of point cloud data, standard DEMs, and Google Earth image data, all co-located with computational resources for on-demand data processing. The OpenTopography portal is built upon a cyberinfrastructure platform that utilizes a Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) to provide a modular system that is highly scalable and flexible enough to support the growing needs of the Earth science lidar community. OpenTopography strives to host and provide access to datasets as soon as they become available, and also to expose greater application level functionalities to

Toward a New Capability for Upper Atmospheric Research using Atomic Oxygen Lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Clemmons, J. H.; Steinvurzel, P.; Mu, X.; Beck, S. M.; Lotshaw, W. T.; Rose, T. S.; Hecht, J. H.; Westberg, K. R.; Larsen, M. F.; Chu, X.; Fritts, D. C.

2017-12-01

Progress on development of a lidar system for probing the upper atmosphere based on atomic oxygen resonance is presented and discussed. The promise of a fully-developed atomic oxygen lidar system, which must be based in space to measure the upper atmosphere, for yielding comprehensive new insights is discussed in terms of its potential to deliver global, height-resolved measurements of winds, temperature, and density at a high cadence. An overview of the system is given, and its measurement principles are described, including its use of 1) a two-photon transition to keep the optical depth low; 2) laser tuning to provide the Doppler information needed to measure winds; and 3) laser tuning to provide a Boltzmann temperature measurement. The current development status is presented with a focus on what has been done to demonstrate capability in the laboratory and its evolution to a funded sounding rocket investigation designed to make measurements of three-dimensional turbulence in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere.

Compressive full waveform lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Weiyi; Ke, Jun

2017-05-01

To avoid high bandwidth detector, fast speed A/D converter, and large size memory disk, a compressive full waveform LIDAR system, which uses a temporally modulated laser instead of a pulsed laser, is studied in this paper. Full waveform data from NEON (National Ecological Observatory Network) are used. Random binary patterns are used to modulate the source. To achieve 0.15 m ranging resolution, a 100 MSPS A/D converter is assumed to make measurements. SPIRAL algorithm with canonical basis is employed when Poisson noise is considered in the low illuminated condition.

Lidar-based mapping of flood control levees in south Louisiana

Science.gov (United States)

Thatcher, Cindy A.; Lim, Samsung; Palaseanu-Lovejoy, Monica; Danielson, Jeffrey J.; Kimbrow, Dustin R.

2016-01-01

Flood protection in south Louisiana is largely dependent on earthen levees, and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina the state’s levee system has received intense scrutiny. Accurate elevation data along the levees are critical to local levee district managers responsible for monitoring and maintaining the extensive system of non-federal levees in coastal Louisiana. In 2012, high resolution airborne lidar data were acquired over levees in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, and a mobile terrestrial lidar survey was conducted for selected levee segments using a terrestrial lidar scanner mounted on a truck. The mobile terrestrial lidar data were collected to test the feasibility of using this relatively new technology to map flood control levees and to compare the accuracy of the terrestrial and airborne lidar. Metrics assessing levee geometry derived from the two lidar surveys are also presented as an efficient, comprehensive method to quantify levee height and stability. The vertical root mean square error values of the terrestrial lidar and airborne lidar digital-derived digital terrain models were 0.038 m and 0.055 m, respectively. The comparison of levee metrics derived from the airborne and terrestrial lidar-based digital terrain models showed that both types of lidar yielded similar results, indicating that either or both surveying techniques could be used to monitor geomorphic change over time. Because airborne lidar is costly, many parts of the USA and other countries have never been mapped with airborne lidar, and repeat surveys are often not available for change detection studies. Terrestrial lidar provides a practical option for conducting repeat surveys of levees and other terrain features that cover a relatively small area, such as eroding cliffs or stream banks, and dunes.

Analysis of multiple scattering effects in optical Doppler tomography

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yura, H.T.; Thrane, L.; Andersen, Peter E.

2005-01-01

Optical Doppler tomography (ODT) combines Doppler velocimetry and optical coherence tomography (OCT) to obtain high-resolution cross-sectional imaging of particle flow velocity in scattering media such as the human retina and skin. Here, we present the results of a theoretical analysis of ODT where...... multiple scattering effects are included. The purpose of this analysis is to determine how multiple scattering affects the estimation of the depth-resolved localized flow velocity. Depth-resolved velocity estimates are obtained directly from the corresponding mean or standard deviation of the observed...

Year-Long Vertical Velocity Statistics Derived from Doppler Lidar Data for the Continental Convective Boundary Layer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berg, Larry K. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington; Newsom, Rob K. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington; Turner, David D. [Global Systems Division, NOAA/Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado

2017-09-01

One year of Coherent Doppler Lidar (CDL) data collected at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) site in Oklahoma is analyzed to provide profiles of vertical velocity variance, skewness, and kurtosis for cases of cloud-free convective boundary layers. The variance was scaled by the Deardorff convective velocity scale, which was successful when the boundary layer depth was stationary but failed in situations when the layer was changing rapidly. In this study the data are sorted according to time of day, season, wind direction, surface shear stress, degree of instability, and wind shear across the boundary-layer top. The normalized variance was found to have its peak value near a normalized height of 0.25. The magnitude of the variance changes with season, shear stress, and degree of instability, but was not impacted by wind shear across the boundary-layer top. The skewness was largest in the top half of the boundary layer (with the exception of wintertime conditions). The skewness was found to be a function of the season, shear stress, wind shear across the boundary-layer top, with larger amounts of shear leading to smaller values. Like skewness, the vertical profile of kurtosis followed a consistent pattern, with peak values near the boundary-layer top (also with the exception of wintertime data). The altitude of the peak values of kurtosis was found to be lower when there was a large amount of wind shear at the boundary-layer top.

2010 Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) Lidar: Crater Lake Study Area

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Oregon Department of Geology & Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) contracted with Watershed Sciences, Inc. to collect high resolution topographic LiDAR data for...

2008 Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) Lidar: Lake Billy Chinook, Oregon

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Oregon Department of Geology & Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) contracted with Watershed Sciences, Inc. to collect high resolution topographic LiDAR data for...

2010 Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) Lidar: Mt. Shasta Study Area

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Oregon Department of Geology & Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) contracted with Watershed Sciences, Inc. to collect high resolution topographic LiDAR data for...

Combining satellite photographs and raster lidar data for channel connectivity in tidal marshes.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zhi; Hodges, Ben

2017-04-01

High resolution airborne lidar is capable of providing topographic detail down to the 1 x 1 m scale or finer over large tidal marshes of a river delta. Such data sets can be challenging to develop and ground-truth due to the inherent complexities of the environment, the relatively small changes in elevation throughout a marsh, and practical difficulties in accessing the variety of flooded, dry, and muddy regions. Standard lidar point-cloud processing techniques (as typically applied in large lidar data collection program) have a tendency to mis-identify narrow channels and water connectivity in a marsh, which makes it difficult to directly use such data for modeling marsh flows. Unfortunately, it is not always practical, or even possible, to access the point cloud and re-analyze the raw lidar data when discrepancies have been found in a raster work product. Faced with this problem in preparing a model of the Trinity River delta (Texas, USA), we developed an approach to integrating analysis of a lidar-based raster with satellite images. Our primary goal was to identify the clear land/water boundaries needed to identify channelization in the available rasterized lidar data. The channel extraction method uses pixelized satellite photographs that are stretched/distorted with image-processing techniques to match identifiable control features in both lidar and photographic data sets. A kmeans clustering algorithm was applied cluster pixels based on their colors, which is effective in separating land and water in a satellite photograph. The clustered image was matched to the lidar data such that the combination shows the channel network. In effect, we are able to use the fact that the satellite photograph is higher resolution than the lidar data, and thus provides connectivity in the clustering at a finer scale. The principal limitation of the method is the where the satellite image and lidar suffer from similar problems For example, vegetation overhanging a narrow

Remote measurement of atmospheric temperature profiles in clouds with rotational Raman lidar; Fernmessung atmosphaerischer Temperaturprofile in Wolken mit Rotations-Raman-Lidar

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Behrendt, A. [GKSS-Forschungszentrum Geesthacht GmbH (Germany). Inst. fuer Physikalische und Chemische Analytik

2000-07-01

The development of a lidar receiver for remote measurements of atmospheric temperature profiles with the rotational Raman method is described. By a new receiver concept, this instrument allowed for the first time remote temperature measurements without any perturbation by the presence of clouds up to a backscatter ratio of 45. In addition, high efficiency of the spectral separation of atmospheric backscatter signals leads to improved measurement resolution: the minimum integration time needed for a statistical uncertainty < {+-}1 K at, e.g., 10 km height and 960 m height resolution is only 5 minutes. The measurement range extends to over 45 km altitude. Results of field campaigns obtained with the instrument are presented and discussed. In winter 1997/98, the instrument was transferred with the GKSS Raman lidar to Esrange (67.9 N, 21.1 E) in northern Sweden, where pioneering remote measurements of local temperatures in orographically induced polar stratospheric clouds could be carried out. (orig.)

Airborne Lidar Measurements of Aerosol Optical Properties During SAFARI-2000

Science.gov (United States)

McGill, M. J.; Hlavka, D. L.; Hart, W. D.; Welton, E. J.; Campbell, J. R.; Starr, David OC. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL) operated onboard the NASA ER-2 high altitude aircraft during the SAFARI-2000 field campaign. The CPL provided high spatial resolution measurements of aerosol optical properties at both 1064 nm and 532 nm. We present here results of planetary boundary layer (PBL) aerosol optical depth analysis and profiles of aerosol extinction. Variation of optical depth and extinction are examined as a function of regional location. The wide-scale aerosol mapping obtained by the CPL is a unique data set that will aid in future studies of aerosol transport. Comparisons between the airborne CPL and ground-based MicroPulse Lidar Network (MPL-Net) sites are shown to have good agreement.

An Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE to Assess the Impact of Doppler Wind Lidar (DWL Measurements on the Numerical Simulation of a Tropical Cyclone

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lei Zhang

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The importance of wind observations has been recognized for many years. However, wind observations—especially three-dimensional global wind measurements—are very limited. A satellite-based Doppler Wind Lidar (DWL is proposed to measure three-dimensional wind profiles using remote sensing techniques. Assimilating these observations into a mesoscale model is expected to improve the performance of the numerical weather prediction (NWP models. In order to examine the potential impact of the DWL three-dimensional wind profile observations on the numerical simulation and prediction of tropical cyclones, a set of observing simulation system experiments (OSSEs is performed using the advanced research version of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF model and its three-dimensional variational (3DVAR data assimilation system. Results indicate that assimilating the DWL wind observations into the mesoscale numerical model has significant potential for improving tropical cyclone track and intensity forecasts.

EFFICIENT LIDAR POINT CLOUD DATA MANAGING AND PROCESSING IN A HADOOP-BASED DISTRIBUTED FRAMEWORK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Wang

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR is one of the most promising technologies in surveying and mapping，city management, forestry, object recognition, computer vision engineer and others. However, it is challenging to efficiently storage, query and analyze the high-resolution 3D LiDAR data due to its volume and complexity. In order to improve the productivity of Lidar data processing, this study proposes a Hadoop-based framework to efficiently manage and process LiDAR data in a distributed and parallel manner, which takes advantage of Hadoop’s storage and computing ability. At the same time, the Point Cloud Library (PCL, an open-source project for 2D/3D image and point cloud processing, is integrated with HDFS and MapReduce to conduct the Lidar data analysis algorithms provided by PCL in a parallel fashion. The experiment results show that the proposed framework can efficiently manage and process big LiDAR data.

Efficient LIDAR Point Cloud Data Managing and Processing in a Hadoop-Based Distributed Framework

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, C.; Hu, F.; Sha, D.; Han, X.

2017-10-01

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is one of the most promising technologies in surveying and mapping city management, forestry, object recognition, computer vision engineer and others. However, it is challenging to efficiently storage, query and analyze the high-resolution 3D LiDAR data due to its volume and complexity. In order to improve the productivity of Lidar data processing, this study proposes a Hadoop-based framework to efficiently manage and process LiDAR data in a distributed and parallel manner, which takes advantage of Hadoop's storage and computing ability. At the same time, the Point Cloud Library (PCL), an open-source project for 2D/3D image and point cloud processing, is integrated with HDFS and MapReduce to conduct the Lidar data analysis algorithms provided by PCL in a parallel fashion. The experiment results show that the proposed framework can efficiently manage and process big LiDAR data.

Advancing Lidar Sensors Technologies for Next Generation Landing Missions

Science.gov (United States)

Amzajerdian, Farzin; Hines, Glenn D.; Roback, Vincent E.; Petway, Larry B.; Barnes, Bruce W.; Brewster, Paul F.; Pierrottet, Diego F.; Bulyshev, Alexander

2015-01-01

Missions to solar systems bodies must meet increasingly ambitious objectives requiring highly reliable "precision landing", and "hazard avoidance" capabilities. Robotic missions to the Moon and Mars demand landing at pre-designated sites of high scientific value near hazardous terrain features, such as escarpments, craters, slopes, and rocks. Missions aimed at paving the path for colonization of the Moon and human landing on Mars need to execute onboard hazard detection and precision maneuvering to ensure safe landing near previously deployed assets. Asteroid missions require precision rendezvous, identification of the landing or sampling site location, and navigation to the highly dynamic object that may be tumbling at a fast rate. To meet these needs, NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) has developed a set of advanced lidar sensors under the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project. These lidar sensors can provide precision measurement of vehicle relative proximity, velocity, and orientation, and high resolution elevation maps of the surface during the descent to the targeted body. Recent flights onboard Morpheus free-flyer vehicle have demonstrated the viability of ALHAT lidar sensors for future landing missions to solar system bodies.

Evaluating Mesoscale Simulations of the Coastal Flow Using Lidar Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Floors, R.; Hahmann, A. N.; Peña, A.

2018-03-01

The atmospheric flow in the coastal zone is investigated using lidar and mast measurements and model simulations. Novel dual-Doppler scanning lidars were used to investigate the flow over a 7 km transect across the coast, and vertically profiling lidars were used to study the vertical wind profile at offshore and onshore positions. The Weather, Research and Forecasting model is set up in 12 different configurations using 2 planetary boundary layer schemes, 3 horizontal grid spacings and varied sources of land use, and initial and lower boundary conditions. All model simulations describe the observed mean wind profile well at different onshore and offshore locations from the surface up to 500 m. The simulated mean horizontal wind speed gradient across the shoreline is close to that observed, although all simulations show wind speeds that are slightly higher than those observed. Inland at the lowest observed height, the model has the largest deviations compared to the observations. Taylor diagrams show that using ERA-Interim data as boundary conditions improves the model skill scores. Simulations with 0.5 and 1 km horizontal grid spacing show poorer model performance compared to those with a 2 km spacing, partially because smaller resolved wave lengths degrade standard error metrics. Modeled and observed velocity spectra were compared and showed that simulations with the finest horizontal grid spacing resolved more high-frequency atmospheric motion.

Low-frequency high-definition power Doppler in visualizing and defining fetal pulmonary venous connections.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Lin; He, Yihua; Li, Zhian; Gu, Xiaoyan; Zhang, Ye; Zhang, Lianzhong

2014-07-01

The use of low-frequency high-definition power Doppler in assessing and defining pulmonary venous connections was investigated. Study A included 260 fetuses at gestational ages ranging from 18 to 36 weeks. Pulmonary veins were assessed by performing two-dimensional B-mode imaging, color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI), and low-frequency high-definition power Doppler. A score of 1 was assigned if one pulmonary vein was visualized, 2 if two pulmonary veins were visualized, 3 if three pulmonary veins were visualized, and 4 if four pulmonary veins were visualized. The detection rate between Exam-1 and Exam-2 (intra-observer variability) and between Exam-1 and Exam-3 (inter-observer variability) was compared. In study B, five cases with abnormal pulmonary venous connection were diagnosed and compared to their anatomical examination. In study A, there was a significant difference between CDFI and low-frequency high-definition power Doppler for the four pulmonary veins observed (P low-frequency high-definition power Doppler was higher than that when employing two-dimensional B-mode imaging or CDFI. There was no significant difference between the intra- and inter-observer variabilities using low-frequency high-definition power Doppler display of pulmonary veins (P > 0.05). The coefficient correlation between Exam-1 and Exam-2 was 0.844, and the coefficient correlation between Exam-1 and Exam-3 was 0.821. In study B, one case of total anomalous pulmonary venous return and four cases of partial anomalous pulmonary venous return were diagnosed by low-frequency high-definition power Doppler and confirmed by autopsy. The assessment of pulmonary venous connections by low-frequency high-definition power Doppler is advantageous. Pulmonary venous anatomy can and should be monitored during fetal heart examination.

CMS: LiDAR Data for Mangrove Forests in the Zambezi River Delta, Mozambique, 2014

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This data set provides high-resolution LiDAR point cloud data collected during surveys over mangrove forests in the Zambezi River Delta in Mozambique in May 2014....

A Two-Stage Optimization Strategy for Fuzzy Object-Based Analysis Using Airborne LiDAR and High-Resolution Orthophotos for Urban Road Extraction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maher Ibrahim Sameen

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In the last decade, object-based image analysis (OBIA has been extensively recognized as an effective classification method for very high spatial resolution images or integrated data from different sources. In this study, a two-stage optimization strategy for fuzzy object-based analysis using airborne LiDAR was proposed for urban road extraction. The method optimizes the two basic steps of OBIA, namely, segmentation and classification, to realize accurate land cover mapping and urban road extraction. This objective was achieved by selecting the optimum scale parameter to maximize class separability and the optimum shape and compactness parameters to optimize the final image segments. Class separability was maximized using the Bhattacharyya distance algorithm, whereas image segmentation was optimized using the Taguchi method. The proposed fuzzy rules were created based on integrated data and expert knowledge. Spectral, spatial, and texture features were used under fuzzy rules by implementing the particle swarm optimization technique. The proposed fuzzy rules were easy to implement and were transferable to other areas. An overall accuracy of 82% and a kappa index of agreement (KIA of 0.79 were achieved on the studied area when results were compared with reference objects created via manual digitization in a geographic information system. The accuracy of road extraction using the developed fuzzy rules was 0.76 (producer, 0.85 (user, and 0.72 (KIA. Meanwhile, overall accuracy was decreased by approximately 6% when the rules were applied on a test site. A KIA of 0.70 was achieved on the test site using the same rules without any changes. The accuracy of the extracted urban roads from the test site was 0.72 (KIA, which decreased to approximately 0.16. Spatial information (i.e., elongation and intensity from LiDAR were the most interesting properties for urban road extraction. The proposed method can be applied to a wide range of real applications

Utilizing LiDAR Datasets From Experimental Watersheds to Advance Ecohydrological Understanding in Seasonally Snow-Covered Forests

Science.gov (United States)

Harpold, A. A.; Broxton, P. D.; Guo, Q.; Barlage, M. J.; Gochis, D. J.

2014-12-01

The Western U.S. is strongly reliant on snowmelt from forested areas for ecosystem services and downstream populations. The ability to manage water resources from snow-covered forests faces major challenges from drought, disturbance, and regional changes in climate. An exciting avenue for improving ecohydrological process understanding is Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) because the technology simultaneously observes topography, forest properties, and snow/ice at high-resolution (100 km2). The availability and quality of LiDAR datasets is increasing rapidly, however they remain under-utilized for process-based ecohydrology investigations. This presentation will illustrate how LiDAR datasets from the Critical Zone Observatory (CZO) network have been applied to advance ecohydrological understanding through direct empirical analysis, as well as model parameterization and verification. Direct analysis of the datasets has proved fruitful for pre- and post-disturbance snow distribution estimates and interpreting in-situ snow depth measurements across sites. In addition, we illustrate the potential value of LiDAR to parameterize and verify of physical models with two examples. First, we use LiDAR to parameterize a land surface model, Noah multi-parameterization (Noah-MP), to investigate the sensitivity of modeled water and energy fluxes to high-resolution forest information. Second, we present a Snow Physics and Laser Mapping (SnowPALM) model that is parameterized with LiDAR information at its native 1-m scale. Both modeling studies demonstrate the value of LiDAR for representing processes with greater fidelity. More importantly, the increased model fidelity led to different estimates of water and energy fluxes at larger, watershed scales. Creating a network of experimental watersheds with LiDAR datasets offers the potential to test theories and models in previously unexplored ways.

Relativity effects for space-based coherent lidar experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Gudimetla, V. S. Rao

1996-01-01

An effort was initiated last year in the Astrionics Laboratory at Marshall Space Flight Center to examine and incorporate, if necessary, the effects of relativity in the design of space-based lidar systems. A space-based lidar system, named AEOLUS, is under development at Marshall Space Flight Center and it will be used to accurately measure atmospheric wind profiles. Effects of relativity were also observed in the performance of space-based systems, for example in case of global positioning systems, and corrections were incorporated into the design of instruments. During the last summer, the effects of special relativity on the design of space-based lidar systems were studied in detail, by analyzing the problem of laser scattering off a fixed target when the source and a co-located receiver are moving on a spacecraft. Since the proposed lidar system uses a coherent detection system, errors even in the order of a few microradians must be corrected to achieve a good signal-to-noise ratio. Previous analysis assumed that the ground is flat and the spacecraft is moving parallel to the ground, and developed analytical expressions for the location, direction and Doppler shift of the returning radiation. Because of the assumptions used in that analysis, only special relativity effects were involved. In this report, that analysis is extended to include general relativity and calculate its effects on the design.

On deriving transport pathways and morphodynamics in a tidal inlet from high-resolution MBES and LiDAR surveys: the Knudedyb tidal inlet in the Danish Wadden Sea

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ernstsen, Verner Brandbyge; Lefebvre, Alice; Fraccascia, Serena

and topobathymetric surveys using high-resolution red and green Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR), respectively. Detailed digital elevation models with a grid cell size of 1 m x 1 m were generated and analysed geomorphometrically. The analyses reveal a main ebb-directed net sand transport in the main channel......; however, due to the geometry of the main channel, displaying a confluent meander bend, confined areas in the main channel are characterised by an opposite-directed net sand transport. In the inter-tidal areas the main net sand transport is flood-directed. However, also here the analyses reveal...... that during storm events with winds from SW, sand is transported from the inlet channel to the intertidal flat. Hence, in addition to the typical main sand transport directions with net export in the inlet channel and net import over the adjacent inter-tidal flats, these investigations suggest an exchange...

High spatial and temporal resolution charge exchange recombination spectroscopy on the HL-2A tokamak

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wei, Y. L.; Yu, D. L., E-mail: yudl@swip.ac.cn; Liu, L.; Cao, J. Y.; Sun, A. P.; Ma, Q.; Chen, W. J.; Liu, Yi; Yan, L. W.; Yang, Q. W.; Duan, X. R.; Liu, Yong [Southwestern Institute of Physics, Chengdu 610041 (China); Ida, K. [National Institute for Fusion Science, Toki 509-5292 (Japan); Hellermann, M. von [ITER Diagnostic Team, IO, Route de Vinon sur Verdon, 13115 St Paul lez Durance (France); FOM-Institute for Plasma physics “Rijnhuizen,” Association EURATOM, Trilateral Euregio Cluster, 3430 BE Nieuwegein (Netherlands)

2014-10-01

A 32/64-channel charge exchange recombination spectroscopy (CXRS) diagnostic system is developed on the HL-2A tokamak (R = 1.65 m, a = 0.4 m), monitoring plasma ion temperature and toroidal rotation velocity simultaneously. A high throughput spectrometer (F/2.8) and a pitch-controlled fiber bundle enable the temporal resolution of the system up to 400 Hz. The observation geometry and an optimized optic system enable the highest radial resolution up to ~1 cm at the plasma edge. The CXRS system monitors the carbon line emission (C VI, n = 8–7, 529.06 nm) whose Doppler broadening and Doppler shift provide ion temperature and plasma rotation velocity during the neutral beam injection. The composite CX spectral data are analyzed by the atomic data and analysis structure charge exchange spectroscopy fitting (ADAS CXSFIT) code. First experimental results are shown for the case of HL-2A plasmas with sawtooth oscillations, electron cyclotron resonance heating, and edge transport barrier during the high-confinement mode (H-mode)

Doppler color flow mapping of peripheral vessels: Comparison of angiodynography with conventional duplex US

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Merritt, C.R.B.; Bluth, E.I.; Sullivan, M.A.

1986-01-01

A new Doppler color flow imager was compared to duplex US in the evaluation of carotid and peripheral vessels in 50 patients. A 7.5-MHz transducer permitted simultaneous high-resolution real-time imaging of Doppler flow and tissue. The system was found to have excellent image quality and Doppler sensitivity. Flow characteristics and velocity measurements obtained with this system correlated well with those obtained using the duplex scanner and were obtained more quickly than with the conventional system, allowing more complete assessment of flow characteristics. Color Doppler flow imaging appears to be an extremely promising method for the rapid and effective evaluation of peripheral vascular flow

PulseCam: high-resolution blood perfusion imaging using a camera and a pulse oximeter.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Mayank; Suliburk, James; Veeraraghavan, Ashok; Sabharwal, Ashutosh

2016-08-01

Measuring blood perfusion is important in medical care as an indicator of injury and disease. However, currently available devices to measure blood perfusion like laser Doppler flowmetry are bulky, expensive, and cumbersome to use. An alternative low-cost and portable camera-based blood perfusion measurement system has recently been proposed, but such camera-only system produces noisy low-resolution blood perfusion maps. In this paper, we propose a new multi-sensor modality, named PulseCam, for measuring blood perfusion by combining a traditional pulse oximeter with a video camera in a unique way to provide low noise and high-resolution blood perfusion maps. Our proposed multi-sensor modality improves per pixel signal to noise ratio of measured perfusion map by up to 3 dB and improves the spatial resolution by 2 - 3 times compared to best known camera-only methods. Blood perfusion measured in the palm using our PulseCam setup during a post-occlusive reactive hyperemia (PORH) test replicates standard PORH response curve measured using laser Doppler flowmetry device but with much lower cost and a portable setup making it suitable for further development as a clinical device.

Parametric Investigation of Laser Doppler Microphones

Science.gov (United States)

Daoud, M.; Naguib, A.

2002-11-01

The concept of a Laser Doppler Microphone (LDM) is based on utilizing the Doppler frequency shift of a focused laser beam to measure the unsteady velocity of the center point of a flexible polymer diaphragm that is mounted on top of a hole and subjected to the unsteady pressure. Time integration of the velocity signal yields a time series of the diaphragm displacement, which can be converted to pressure from knowledge of the sensor's deflection sensitivity. In our APS/DFD presentation last year, the stringent frequency resolution requirement of these new sensors and methods to meet this requirement were discussed. Here, the dependence of the sensor characteristics (sensitivity, bandwidth, and noise floor) on various significant parameters is investigated in detail by calibrating the sensor in a plane wave tube in the frequency range of 50 - 5000 Hz. Parameters investigated include sensor diaphragm material and thickness, sensor size, damping of the diaphragm motion and laser beam spot size. The results shed light on the operating limits of the new sensor and demonstrate its ability to conduct high-spatial-resolution measurements in typical high-Reynolds-number test facilities. Moreover, calibrated LDM sensors were used to conduct measurements in a separating/reattaching flow and the results are compared to classical electret-type microphones with a similar sensing diameter.

Optical Instruments Synergy in Determination of Optical Depth of Thin Clouds

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vladutescu, Daniela V.; Schwartz, Stephen E.

2017-06-25

Optically thin clouds have a strong radiative effect and need to be represented accurately in climate models. Cloud optical depth of thin clouds was retrieved using high resolution digital photography, lidar, and a radiative transfer model. The Doppler Lidar was operated at 1.5 μm, minimizing return from Rayleigh scattering, emphasizing return from aerosols and clouds. This approach examined cloud structure on scales 3 to 5 orders of magnitude finer than satellite products, opening new avenues for examination of cloud structure and evolution.

Using the Rapid-Scanning, Ultra-Portable, Canopy Biomass Lidar (CBL) Alone and In Tandem with the Full-Waveform Dual-Wavelength Echidna® Lidar (DWEL) to Establish Forest Structure and Biomass Estimates in a Variety of Ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Schaaf, C.; Paynter, I.; Saenz, E. J.; Li, Z.; Strahler, A. H.; Peri, F.; Erb, A.; Raumonen, P.; Muir, J.; Howe, G.; Hewawasam, K.; Martel, J.; Douglas, E. S.; Chakrabarti, S.; Cook, T.; Schaefer, M.; Newnham, G.; Jupp, D. L. B.; van Aardt, J. A.; Kelbe, D.; Romanczyk, P.; Faulring, J.

2014-12-01

Terrestrial lidars are increasingly being deployed in a variety of ecosystems to calibrate and validate large scale airborne and spaceborne estimates of forest structure and biomass. While these lidars provide a wealth of high resolution information on canopy structure and understory vegetation, they tend to be expensive, slow scanning and somewhat ponderous to deploy. Therefore, frequent deployments and characterization of larger areas of a hectare or more can still be challenging. This suggests a role for low cost, ultra-portable, rapid scanning (but lower resolution) instruments -- particularly in scanning extreme environments and as a way to augment and extend strategically placed scans from the more highly capable lidars. The Canopy Biomass Lidar (CBL) is an inexpensive, highly portable, fast-scanning (33 seconds), time-of-flight, terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) instrument, built in collaboration with RIT, by U Mass Boston. The instrument uses a 905nm SICK time of flight laser with a 0.25o resolution and 30m range. The higher resolution, full-waveform Dual Wavelength Echidna® Lidar (DWEL), developed by Boston University, U Mass Lowell and U Mass Boston, builds on the Australian CSIRO single wavelength, full-waveform Echidna® Validation Instrument (EVI), but utilizes two simultaneous laser pulses at 1064 and 1548 nm to separate woody returns from those of foliage at a range of up to 100m range. The UMass Boston CBL has been deployed in rangelands (San Joaquin Experimental Range, CA), high altitude conifers (Sierra National Forest, CA), mixed forests (Harvard Forest LTER MA), tropical forests (La Selva and Sirena Biological Stations, Costa Rica), eucalypts (Karawatha, Brisbane TERN, Australia), and woodlands (Alice Holt Forest, UK), frequently along-side the DWEL, as well as in more challenging environments such as mangrove forests (Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica) and Massachusetts salt marshes and eroding bluffs (Plum Island LTER, and UMass Boston

Peculiar velocity effects in high-resolution microwave background experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Challinor, Anthony; Leeuwen, Floor van

2002-01-01

We investigate the impact of peculiar velocity effects due to the motion of the solar system relative to the cosmic microwave background (CMB) on high resolution CMB experiments. It is well known that on the largest angular scales the combined effects of Doppler shifts and aberration are important; the lowest Legendre multipoles of total intensity receive power from the large CMB monopole in transforming from the CMB frame. On small angular scales aberration dominates and is shown here to lead to significant distortions of the total intensity and polarization multipoles in transforming from the rest frame of the CMB to the frame of the solar system. We provide convenient analytic results for the distortions as series expansions in the relative velocity of the two frames, but at the highest resolutions a numerical quadrature is required. Although many of the high resolution multipoles themselves are severely distorted by the frame transformations, we show that their statistical properties distort by only an insignificant amount. Therefore, the cosmological parameter estimation is insensitive to the transformation from the CMB frame (where theoretical predictions are calculated) to the rest frame of the experiment

Atmospheric Boundary Layer temperature and humidity from new-generation Raman lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Froidevaux, Martin; Higgins, Chad; Simeonov, Valentin; Pardyjak, Eric R.; Parlange, Marc B.

2010-05-01

Mixing ratio and temperature data, obtained with EPFL Raman lidar during the TABLE-08 experiment are presented. The processing methods will be discussed along with fundamental physics. An independent calibration is performed at different distances along the laser beam, demonstrating that the multi-telescopes design of the lidar system is reliable for field application. The maximum achievable distance as a function of time and/or space averaging will also be discussed. During the TABLE-08 experiment, different type of lidar measurements have been obtained including: horizontal and vertical time series, as well as boundary layer "cuts", during day and night. The high resolution data, 1s in time and 1.25 m in space, are used to understand the response of the atmosphere to variations in surface variability.

Estimation of Evapotraspiration of Tamarisk using Energy Balance Models with High Resolution Airborne Imagery and LIDAR Data

Science.gov (United States)

Geli, H. M.; Taghvaeian, S.; Neale, C. M.; Pack, R.; Watts, D. R.; Osterberg, J.

2010-12-01

The wide uncontrolled spread of the invasive species of Tamarisk (Salt Cedar) in the riparian areas of the southwest of the United States has become a source of concern to the water resource management community. This tree which was imported for ornamental purposes and to control bank erosion during the 1800’s later became problematic and unwanted due to its biophysical properties: Its vigorous growth out-competes native species for moisture, lowering water tables, increasing the soil salinity and hence becomes the dominant riparian vegetation especially over arid to semi-arid floodplain environments. Most importantly they consume large amounts of water leading to reduction of river flows and lowering the groundwater table. We implemented this study in an effort to provide reliable estimates of the amount of water consumed or “lost” by such species through evapotranspiration (ET) as well as to a better understand of the related land surface and near atmosphere interactions. The recent advances in remote sensing techniques and the related data quality made it possible to provide spatio-temporal estimates of ET at a considerably higher resolution and reliable accuracy over a wide range of surface heterogeneity. We tested two different soil-vegetation atmosphere transfer models (SVAT) that are based on thermal remote sensing namely: the two source model (TSM) of Norman et al. (1995) with its recent modifications and the Surface Energy balance algorithm (SEBAL) of Bastiaanssen et al. (1998) to estimate the different surface energy balance components and the evapotranspiration (ET) spatially. We used high resolution (1.0 meter pixel size) shortwave reflectance and longwave thermal airborne imagery acquired by the research aircraft at the Remote Sensing Services Lab at Utah State University (USU) and land use map classified from these images as well as a detailed vegetation height image acquired by the LASSI Lidar also developed at USU. We also compared estimates

2012 Oregon Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Lidar: Panther Creek Study Area

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Oregon Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) contracted with Watershed Sciences, Inc. to collect high resolution topographic LiDAR data for...

High resolution critical habitat mapping and classification of tidal freshwater wetlands in the ACE Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Strickland, Melissa Anne

In collaboration with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources ACE Basin National Estuarine Research Reserve (ACE Basin NERR), the tidal freshwater ecosystems along the South Edisto River in the ACE Basin are being accurately mapped and classified using a LIDAR-Remote Sensing Fusion technique that integrates LAS LIDAR data into texture images and then merges the elevation textures and multispectral imagery for very high resolution mapping. This project discusses the development and refinement of an ArcGIS Toolbox capable of automating protocols and procedures for marsh delineation and microhabitat identification. The result is a high resolution habitat and land use map used for the identification of threatened habitat. Tidal freshwater wetlands are also a critical habitat for colonial wading birds and an accurate assessment of community diversity and acreage of this habitat type in the ACE Basin will support SCDNR's conservation and protection efforts. The maps developed by this study will be used to better monitor the freshwater/saltwater interface and establish a baseline for an ACE NERR monitoring program to track the rates and extent of alterations due to projected environmental stressors. Preliminary ground-truthing in the field will provide information about the accuracy of the mapping tool.

ISAR imaging using the instantaneous range instantaneous Doppler method

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Wazna, TM

2015-10-01

Full Text Available In Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) imaging, the Range Instantaneous Doppler (RID) method is used to compensate for the nonuniform rotational motion of the target that degrades the Doppler resolution of the ISAR image. The Instantaneous Range...

Wind observations above an urban river using a new lidar technique, scintillometry and anemometry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wood, C.R. [Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, RG6 6BB (United Kingdom); Finnish Meteorological Institute, Erik Palmenin aukio 1, Helsinki, 00101 (Finland); Pauscher, L. [King' s College London, Department of Geography, London, WC2R 2LS (United Kingdom); Ward, H.C. [King' s College London, Department of Geography, London, WC2R 2LS (United Kingdom); Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, OX10 8BB (United Kingdom); Kotthaus, S. [King' s College London, Department of Geography, London, WC2R 2LS (United Kingdom); Barlow, J.F., E-mail: j.f.barlow@reading.ac.uk [Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, RG6 6BB (United Kingdom); Gouvea, M. [King' s College London, Department of Geography, London, WC2R 2LS (United Kingdom); Lane, S.E. [Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, RG6 6BB (United Kingdom); Grimmond, C.S.B. [King' s College London, Department of Geography, London, WC2R 2LS (United Kingdom)

2013-01-01

Airflow along rivers might provide a key mechanism for ventilation in cities: important for air quality and thermal comfort. Airflow varies in space and time in the vicinity of rivers. Consequently, there is limited utility in point measurements. Ground-based remote sensing offers the opportunity to study 3D airflow in locations which are difficult to observe with conventional approaches. For three months in the winter and spring of 2011, the airflow above the River Thames in central London was observed using a scanning Doppler lidar, a scintillometer and sonic anemometers. First, an inter-comparison showed that lidar-derived mean wind-speed estimates compare almost as well to sonic anemometers (root-mean-square error (rmse) 0.65-0.68 m s{sup -1}) as comparisons between sonic anemometers (0.35-0.73 m s{sup -1}). Second, the lidar duo-beam operating strategy provided horizontal transects of wind vectors (comparison with scintillometer rmse 1.12-1.63 m s{sup -1}) which revealed mean and turbulent airflow across the river and surrounds; in particular, channelled airflow along the river and changes in turbulence quantities consistent with the roughness changes between built and river environments. The results have important consequences for air quality and dispersion around urban rivers, especially given that many cities have high traffic rates on roads located on riverbanks. -- Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer An inter-comparison was made between lidar-derived winds and regular anemometry. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A new lidar operating technique was developed. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Airflow features above an urban river included channelling of wind.

Wind observations above an urban river using a new lidar technique, scintillometry and anemometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wood, C.R.; Pauscher, L.; Ward, H.C.; Kotthaus, S.; Barlow, J.F.; Gouvea, M.; Lane, S.E.; Grimmond, C.S.B.

2013-01-01

Airflow along rivers might provide a key mechanism for ventilation in cities: important for air quality and thermal comfort. Airflow varies in space and time in the vicinity of rivers. Consequently, there is limited utility in point measurements. Ground-based remote sensing offers the opportunity to study 3D airflow in locations which are difficult to observe with conventional approaches. For three months in the winter and spring of 2011, the airflow above the River Thames in central London was observed using a scanning Doppler lidar, a scintillometer and sonic anemometers. First, an inter-comparison showed that lidar-derived mean wind-speed estimates compare almost as well to sonic anemometers (root-mean-square error (rmse) 0.65–0.68 m s −1 ) as comparisons between sonic anemometers (0.35–0.73 m s −1 ). Second, the lidar duo-beam operating strategy provided horizontal transects of wind vectors (comparison with scintillometer rmse 1.12–1.63 m s −1 ) which revealed mean and turbulent airflow across the river and surrounds; in particular, channelled airflow along the river and changes in turbulence quantities consistent with the roughness changes between built and river environments. The results have important consequences for air quality and dispersion around urban rivers, especially given that many cities have high traffic rates on roads located on riverbanks. -- Highlights: ► An inter-comparison was made between lidar-derived winds and regular anemometry. ► A new lidar operating technique was developed. ► Airflow features above an urban river included channelling of wind.

High-resolution spectroscopy of jet-cooled CH{sub 5}{sup +}: Progress

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Savage, C.; Dong, F.; Nesbitt, D. J. [JILA, University of Colorado and National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0440 (United States)

2015-01-22

Protonated methane (CH{sub 5}{sup +}) is thought to be a highly abundant molecular ion in interstellar medium, as well as a potentially bright μwave- mm wave emitter that could serve as a tracer for methane. This paper describes progress and first successful efforts to obtain a high resolution, supersonically cooled spectrum of CH{sub 5}{sup +} in the 2900-3100 cm{sup −1} region, formed in a slit supersonic discharge at low jet temperatures and with sub-Doppler resolution. Short term precision in frequency measurement (< 5 MHz on an hour time scale) is obtained from a thermally controlled optical transfer cavity servoloop locked onto a frequency stabilized HeNe laser. Long term precision (< 20 MHz day-to-day) due to pressure, temperature and humidity dependent index of refraction effects in the optical transfer cavity is also present and discussed.

An All-Fiber, Modular, Compact Wind Lidar for Wind Sensing and Wake Vortex Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Prasad, Narasimha S.; Sibell, Russ; Vetorino, Steve; Higgins, Richard; Tracy, Allen

2015-01-01

This paper discusses an innovative, compact and eyesafe coherent lidar system developed for wind and wake vortex sensing applications. With an innovative all-fiber and modular transceiver architecture, the wind lidar system has reduced size, weight and power requirements, and provides enhanced performance along with operational elegance. This all-fiber architecture is developed around fiber seed laser coupled to uniquely configured fiber amplifier modules. The innovative features of this lidar system, besides its all fiber architecture, include pulsewidth agility and user programmable 3D hemispherical scanner unit. Operating at a wavelength of 1.5457 microns and with a PRF of up to 20 KHz, the lidar transmitter system is designed as a Class 1 system with dimensions of 30"(W) x 46"(L) x 60"(H). With an operational range exceeding 10 km, the wind lidar is configured to measure wind velocities of greater than 120 m/s with an accuracy of +/- 0.2 m/s and allow range resolution of less than 15 m. The dynamical configuration capability of transmitted pulsewidths from 50 ns to 400 ns allows high resolution wake vortex measurements. The scanner uses innovative liquid metal slip ring and is built using 3D printer technology with light weight nylon. As such, it provides continuous 360 degree azimuth and 180 degree elevation scan angles with an incremental motion of 0.001 degree. The lidar system is air cooled and requires 110 V for its operation. This compact and modular lidar system is anticipated to provide mobility, reliability, and ease of field deployment for wind and wake vortex measurements. Currently, this wind lidar is undergoing validation tests under various atmospheric conditions. Preliminary results of these field measurements of wind characteristics that were recently carried out in Colorado are discussed.

An error reduction algorithm to improve lidar turbulence estimates for wind energy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. F. Newman

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Remote-sensing devices such as lidars are currently being investigated as alternatives to cup anemometers on meteorological towers for the measurement of wind speed and direction. Although lidars can measure mean wind speeds at heights spanning an entire turbine rotor disk and can be easily moved from one location to another, they measure different values of turbulence than an instrument on a tower. Current methods for improving lidar turbulence estimates include the use of analytical turbulence models and expensive scanning lidars. While these methods provide accurate results in a research setting, they cannot be easily applied to smaller, vertically profiling lidars in locations where high-resolution sonic anemometer data are not available. Thus, there is clearly a need for a turbulence error reduction model that is simpler and more easily applicable to lidars that are used in the wind energy industry. In this work, a new turbulence error reduction algorithm for lidars is described. The Lidar Turbulence Error Reduction Algorithm, L-TERRA, can be applied using only data from a stand-alone vertically profiling lidar and requires minimal training with meteorological tower data. The basis of L-TERRA is a series of physics-based corrections that are applied to the lidar data to mitigate errors from instrument noise, volume averaging, and variance contamination. These corrections are applied in conjunction with a trained machine-learning model to improve turbulence estimates from a vertically profiling WINDCUBE v2 lidar. The lessons learned from creating the L-TERRA model for a WINDCUBE v2 lidar can also be applied to other lidar devices. L-TERRA was tested on data from two sites in the Southern Plains region of the United States. The physics-based corrections in L-TERRA brought regression line slopes much closer to 1 at both sites and significantly reduced the sensitivity of lidar turbulence errors to atmospheric stability. The accuracy of machine

Typical disturbances of the daytime equatorial F region observed with a high-resolution HF radar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Blanc

1998-06-01

Full Text Available HF radar measurements were performed near the magnetic equator in Africa (Korhogo 9°24'63''N–5°37'38''W during the International Equatorial Electrojet Year (1993–1994. The HF radar is a high-resolution zenithal radar. It gives ionograms, Doppler spectra and echo parameters at several frequencies simultaneously. This paper presents a comparative study of the daytime ionospheric structures observed during 3 days selected as representative of different magnetic conditions, given by magnetometer measurements. Broad Doppler spectra, large echo width, and amplitude fluctuations revealed small-scale instability processes up to the F-region peak. The height variations measured at different altitudes showed gravity waves and larger-scale disturbances related to solar daytime influence and equatorial electric fields. The possibility of retrieving the ionospheric electric fields from these Doppler or height variation measurements in the presence of the other possible equatorial ionospheric disturbances is discussed.

In-Field High-Throughput Phenotyping of Cotton Plant Height Using LiDAR

OpenAIRE

Shangpeng Sun; Changying Li; Andrew H. Paterson

2017-01-01

A LiDAR-based high-throughput phenotyping (HTP) system was developed for cotton plant phenotyping in the field. The HTP system consists of a 2D LiDAR and an RTK-GPS mounted on a high clearance tractor. The LiDAR scanned three rows of cotton plots simultaneously from the top and the RTK-GPS was used to provide the spatial coordinates of the point cloud during data collection. Configuration parameters of the system were optimized to ensure the best data quality. A height profile for each plot w...

Strategies for lidar characterization of particulates from point and area sources

Science.gov (United States)

Wojcik, Michael D.; Moore, Kori D.; Martin, Randal S.; Hatfield, Jerry

2010-10-01

Use of ground based remote sensing technologies such as scanning lidar systems (light detection and ranging) has gained traction in characterizing ambient aerosols due to some key advantages such as wide area of regard (10 km2), fast response time, high spatial resolution (University, in conjunction with the USDA-ARS, has developed a three-wavelength scanning lidar system called Aglite that has been successfully deployed to characterize particle motion, concentration, and size distribution at both point and diffuse area sources in agricultural and industrial settings. A suite of massbased and size distribution point sensors are used to locally calibrate the lidar. Generating meaningful particle size distribution, mass concentration, and emission rate results based on lidar data is dependent on strategic onsite deployment of these point sensors with successful local meteorological measurements. Deployment strategies learned from field use of this entire measurement system over five years include the characterization of local meteorology and its predictability prior to deployment, the placement of point sensors to prevent contamination and overloading, the positioning of the lidar and beam plane to avoid hard target interferences, and the usefulness of photographic and written observational data.

High-contrast sub-Doppler absorption spikes in a hot atomic vapor cell exposed to a dual-frequency laser field

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdel Hafiz, Moustafa; Coget, Grégoire; Boudot, Rodolphe; Brazhnikov, Denis; Taichenachev, Alexei; Yudin, Valeriy; De Clercq, Emeric

2017-01-01

The saturated absorption technique is an elegant method widely used in atomic and molecular physics for high-resolution spectroscopy, laser frequency standards and metrology purposes. We have recently discovered that a saturated absorption scheme with a dual-frequency laser can lead to a significant sign reversal of the usual Doppler-free dip, yielding a deep enhanced-absorption spike. In this paper, we report detailed experimental investigations of this phenomenon, together with a full in-depth theoretical description. It is shown that several physical effects can support or oppose the formation of the high-contrast central spike in the absorption profile. The physical conditions for which all these effects act constructively and result in very bright Doppler-free resonances are revealed. Apart from their theoretical interest, results obtained in this manuscript are of great interest for laser spectroscopy and laser frequency stabilization purposes, with applications in laser cooling, matter-wave sensors, atomic clocks or quantum optics. (paper)

Airborne direct-detection and coherent wind lidar measurements over the North Atlantic in 2015 supporting ESA's aeolus mission

Science.gov (United States)

Marksteiner, Uwe; Reitebuch, Oliver; Lemmerz, Christian; Lux, Oliver; Rahm, Stephan; Witschas, Benjamin; Schäfler, Andreas; Emmitt, Dave; Greco, Steve; Kavaya, Michael J.; Gentry, Bruce; Neely, Ryan R.; Kendall, Emma; Schüttemeyer, Dirk

2018-04-01

The launch of the Aeolus mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) is planned for 2018. The satellite will carry the first wind lidar in space, ALADIN (Atmospheric Laser Doppler INstrument). Its prototype instrument, the ALADIN Airborne Demonstrator (A2D), was deployed during several airborne campaigns aiming at the validation of the measurement principle and optimization of algorithms. In 2015, flights of two aircraft from DLR & NASA provided the chance to compare parallel wind measurements from four airborne wind lidars for the first time.

VT Data - Lidar 1ft Contours

Data.gov (United States)

Vermont Center for Geographic Information — (Link to Metadata) This metadata applies to contours derived from Quality Level 2 (QL2) Lidar 'collections' with a resolution (RESCLASS) of 0.7m. For an overview of...

Carotid near-occlusion frequently has high peak systolic velocity on Doppler ultrasound

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Khangure, Simon R.; Machnowska, Matylda; Fox, Allan J.; Hojjat, Seyed-Parsa; Aviv, Richard I. [Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Department of Medical Imaging, Neuroradiology Division, Toronto, ON (Canada); University of Toronto, Department of Medical Imaging, Division of Neuroimaging, Toronto (Canada); Benhabib, Hadas [Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Department of Medical Imaging, Neuroradiology Division, Toronto, ON (Canada); Groenlund, Christer [Umeaa University, Department of Radiation Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, Umeaa (Sweden); Herod, Wendy [Department of Surgery, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto (Canada); Maggisano, Robert [Department of Surgery, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto (Canada); University of Toronto, Division of Vascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Toronto (Canada); Sjoeberg, Anders [Umeaa University, Department of Radiation Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, Umeaa (Sweden); Umeaa University, Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Neuroscience, Umeaa (Sweden); Wester, Per [Umeaa University, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeaa (Sweden); Karolinska Institutet Danderyds Hospital, Department of Clinical Sciences, Stockholm (Sweden); Hopyan, Julia [University of Toronto, Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, Toronto (Canada); Johansson, Elias [Umeaa University, Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Neuroscience, Umeaa (Sweden); Umeaa University, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeaa (Sweden)

2018-01-15

Carotid near-occlusion is a tight atherosclerotic stenosis of the internal carotid artery (ICA) resulting in decrease in diameter of the vessel lumen distal to the stenosis. Near-occlusions can be classified as with or without full collapse, and may have high peak systolic velocity (PSV) across the stenosis, mimicking conventional > 50% carotid artery stenosis. We aimed to determine how frequently near-occlusions have high PSV in the stenosis and determine how accurately carotid Doppler ultrasound can distinguish high-velocity near-occlusion from conventional stenosis. Included patients had near-occlusion or conventional stenosis with carotid ultrasound and CT angiogram (CTA) performed within 30 days of each other. CTA examinations were analyzed by two blinded expert readers. Velocities in the internal and common carotid arteries were recorded. Mean velocity, pulsatility index, and ratios were calculated, giving 12 Doppler parameters for analysis. Of 136 patients, 82 had conventional stenosis and 54 had near-occlusion on CTA. Of near-occlusions, 40 (74%) had high PSV (≥ 125 cm/s) across the stenosis. Ten Doppler parameters significantly differed between conventional stenosis and high-velocity near-occlusion groups. However, no parameter was highly sensitive and specific to separate the groups. Near-occlusions frequently have high PSV across the stenosis, particularly those without full collapse. Carotid Doppler ultrasound does not seem able to distinguish conventional stenosis from high-velocity near-occlusion. These findings question the use of ultrasound alone for preoperative imaging evaluation. (orig.)

Measurement of Spray Drift with a Specifically Designed Lidar System.

Science.gov (United States)

Gregorio, Eduard; Torrent, Xavier; Planas de Martí, Santiago; Solanelles, Francesc; Sanz, Ricardo; Rocadenbosch, Francesc; Masip, Joan; Ribes-Dasi, Manel; Rosell-Polo, Joan R

2016-04-08

Field measurements of spray drift are usually carried out by passive collectors and tracers. However, these methods are labour- and time-intensive and only provide point- and time-integrated measurements. Unlike these methods, the light detection and ranging (lidar) technique allows real-time measurements, obtaining information with temporal and spatial resolution. Recently, the authors have developed the first eye-safe lidar system specifically designed for spray drift monitoring. This prototype is based on a 1534 nm erbium-doped glass laser and an 80 mm diameter telescope, has scanning capability, and is easily transportable. This paper presents the results of the first experimental campaign carried out with this instrument. High coefficients of determination (R² > 0.85) were observed by comparing lidar measurements of the spray drift with those obtained by horizontal collectors. Furthermore, the lidar system allowed an assessment of the drift reduction potential (DRP) when comparing low-drift nozzles with standard ones, resulting in a DRP of 57% (preliminary result) for the tested nozzles. The lidar system was also used for monitoring the evolution of the spray flux over the canopy and to generate 2-D images of these plumes. The developed instrument is an advantageous alternative to passive collectors and opens the possibility of new methods for field measurement of spray drift.

High Power, Thermally Optimized Blue Laser for Lidar, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — To enable widespread and rapid airborne bathymetric lidar to adequate depths in many ocean regions a low-cost, rugged, and high energy pulsed laser source must be...

High Power, Thermally Optimized Blue Laser for Lidar, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — To enable widespread and rapid airborne bathymetric lidar to adequate depths in many ocean regions a low-cost, rugged, and high energy pulsed laser source must be...

High-resolution 3D laser imaging based on tunable fiber array link

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Sisi; Ruan, Ningjuan; Yang, Song

2017-10-01

Airborne photoelectric reconnaissance system with the bore sight down to the ground is an important battlefield situational awareness system, which can be used for reconnaissance and surveillance of complex ground scene. Airborne 3D imaging Lidar system is recognized as the most potential candidates for target detection under the complex background, and is progressing in the directions of high resolution, long distance detection, high sensitivity, low power consumption, high reliability, eye safe and multi-functional. However, the traditional 3D laser imaging system has the disadvantages of lower imaging resolutions because of the small size of the existing detector, and large volume. This paper proposes a high resolution laser 3D imaging technology based on the tunable optical fiber array link. The echo signal is modulated by a tunable optical fiber array link and then transmitted to the focal plane detector. The detector converts the optical signal into electrical signals which is given to the computer. Then, the computer accomplishes the signal calculation and image restoration based on modulation information, and then reconstructs the target image. This paper establishes the mathematical model of tunable optical fiber array signal receiving link, and proposes the simulation and analysis of the affect factors on high density multidimensional point cloud reconstruction.

Employing lidar to detail vegetation canopy architecture for prediction of aeolian transport

Science.gov (United States)

Sankey, Joel B.; Law, Darin J.; Breshears, David D.; Munson, Seth M.; Webb, Robert H.

2013-01-01

The diverse and fundamental effects that aeolian processes have on the biosphere and geosphere are commonly generated by horizontal sediment transport at the land surface. However, predicting horizontal sediment transport depends on vegetation architecture, which is difficult to quantify in a rapid but accurate manner. We demonstrate an approach to measure vegetation canopy architecture at high resolution using lidar along a gradient of dryland sites ranging from 2% to 73% woody plant canopy cover. Lidar-derived canopy height, distance (gaps) between vegetation elements (e.g., trunks, limbs, leaves), and the distribution of gaps scaled by vegetation height were correlated with canopy cover and highlight potentially improved horizontal dust flux estimation than with cover alone. Employing lidar to estimate detailed vegetation canopy architecture offers promise for improved predictions of horizontal sediment transport across heterogeneous plant assemblages.

Statistical-uncertainty-based adaptive filtering of lidar signals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fuehrer, P. L.; Friehe, C. A.; Hristov, T. S.; Cooper, D. I.; Eichinger, W. E.

2000-01-01

An adaptive filter signal processing technique is developed to overcome the problem of Raman lidar water-vapor mixing ratio (the ratio of the water-vapor density to the dry-air density) with a highly variable statistical uncertainty that increases with decreasing photomultiplier-tube signal strength and masks the true desired water-vapor structure. The technique, applied to horizontal scans, assumes only statistical horizontal homogeneity. The result is a variable spatial resolution water-vapor signal with a constant variance out to a range limit set by a specified signal-to-noise ratio. The technique was applied to Raman water-vapor lidar data obtained at a coastal pier site together with in situ instruments located 320 m from the lidar. The micrometerological humidity data were used to calibrate the ratio of the lidar gains of the H 2 O and the N 2 photomultiplier tubes and set the water-vapor mixing ratio variance for the adaptive filter. For the coastal experiment the effective limit of the lidar range was found to be approximately 200 m for a maximum noise-to-signal variance ratio of 0.1 with the implemented data-reduction procedure. The technique can be adapted to off-horizontal scans with a small reduction in the constraints and is also applicable to other remote-sensing devices that exhibit the same inherent range-dependent signal-to-noise ratio problem. (c) 2000 Optical Society of America

Aerodynamic roughness length estimation from very high-resolution imaging LIDAR observations over the Heihe basin in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Colin

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Roughness length of land surfaces is an essential variable for the parameterisation of momentum and heat exchanges. The growing interest in the estimation of the surface turbulent flux parameterisation from passive remote sensing leads to an increasing development of models, and the common use of simple semi-empirical formulations to estimate surface roughness. Over complex surface land cover, these approaches would benefit from the combined use of passive remote sensing and land surface structure measurements from Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR techniques. Following early studies based on LIDAR profile data, this paper explores the use of imaging LIDAR measurements for the estimation of the aerodynamic roughness length over a heterogeneous landscape of the Heihe river basin, a typical inland river basin in the northwest of China. The point cloud obtained from multiple flight passes over an irrigated farmland area were used to separate the land surface topography and the vegetation canopy into a Digital Elevation Model (DEM and a Digital Surface Model (DSM respectively. These two models were then incorporated in two approaches: (i a strictly geometrical approach based on the calculation of the plan surface density and the frontal surface density to derive a geometrical surface roughness; (ii a more aerodynamic approach where both the DEM and DSM are introduced in a Computational Fluid Dynamics model (CFD. The inversion of the resulting 3-D wind field leads to a fine representation of the aerodynamic surface roughness. Examples of the use of these three approaches are presented for various wind directions together with a cross-comparison of results on heterogeneous land cover and complex roughness element structures.

Current Research in Lidar Technology Used for the Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Aerosols

Science.gov (United States)

Comerón, Adolfo; Muñoz-Porcar, Constantino; Rocadenbosch, Francesc; Rodríguez-Gómez, Alejandro; Sicard, Michaël

2017-01-01

Lidars are active optical remote sensing instruments with unique capabilities for atmospheric sounding. A manifold of atmospheric variables can be profiled using different types of lidar: concentration of species, wind speed, temperature, etc. Among them, measurement of the properties of aerosol particles, whose influence in many atmospheric processes is important but is still poorly stated, stands as one of the main fields of application of current lidar systems. This paper presents a review on fundamentals, technology, methodologies and state-of-the art of the lidar systems used to obtain aerosol information. Retrieval of structural (aerosol layers profiling), optical (backscatter and extinction coefficients) and microphysical (size, shape and type) properties requires however different levels of instrumental complexity; this general outlook is structured following a classification that attends these criteria. Thus, elastic systems (detection only of emitted frequencies), Raman systems (detection also of Raman frequency-shifted spectral lines), high spectral resolution lidars, systems with depolarization measurement capabilities and multi-wavelength instruments are described, and the fundamentals in which the retrieval of aerosol parameters is based is in each case detailed. PMID:28632170

Optimizing Lidars for Wind Turbine Control Applications—Results from the IEA Wind Task 32 Workshop

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eric Simley

2018-06-01

Full Text Available IEA Wind Task 32 serves as an international platform for the research community and industry to identify and mitigate barriers to the use of lidars in wind energy applications. The workshop “Optimizing Lidar Design for Wind Energy Applications” was held in July 2016 to identify lidar system properties that are desirable for wind turbine control applications and help foster the widespread application of lidar-assisted control (LAC. One of the main barriers this workshop aimed to address is the multidisciplinary nature of LAC. Since lidar suppliers, wind turbine manufacturers, and researchers typically focus on their own areas of expertise, it is possible that current lidar systems are not optimal for control purposes. This paper summarizes the results of the workshop, addressing both practical and theoretical aspects, beginning with a review of the literature on lidar optimization for control applications. Next, barriers to the use of lidar for wind turbine control are identified, such as availability and reliability concerns, followed by practical suggestions for mitigating those barriers. From a theoretical perspective, the optimization of lidar scan patterns by minimizing the error between the measurements and the rotor effective wind speed of interest is discussed. Frequency domain methods for directly calculating measurement error using a stochastic wind field model are reviewed and applied to the optimization of several continuous wave and pulsed Doppler lidar scan patterns based on commercially-available systems. An overview of the design process for a lidar-assisted pitch controller for rotor speed regulation highlights design choices that can impact the usefulness of lidar measurements beyond scan pattern optimization. Finally, using measurements from an optimized scan pattern, it is shown that the rotor speed regulation achieved after optimizing the lidar-assisted control scenario via time domain simulations matches the performance

2011 Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) Lidar: US Forest Service (FS) Newberry Study Area

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Oregon Department of Geology & Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) contracted with Watershed Sciences, Inc. to collect high resolution topographic LiDAR data for...

2011 Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) Lidar: Cascade Volcano Observatory (CVO) Newberry Study Area

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Oregon Department of Geology & Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) contracted with Watershed Sciences, Inc. to collect high resolution topographic LiDAR data for...

High Resolution Spectroscopy of the Pulsating White Dwarf G29-38

OpenAIRE

Thompson, Susan E.; Clemens, J. C.; van Kerkwijk, M. H.; Koester, D.

2003-01-01

We present the analysis of time-resolved, high resolution spectra of the cool white dwarf pulsator, G29-38. From measuring the Doppler shifts of the H-alpha core, we detect velocity changes as large as 16.5 km/s and conclude that they are due to the horizontal motions associated with the g-mode pulsations on the star. We detect seven pulsation modes from the velocity time-series and identify the same modes in the flux variations. We discuss the properties of these modes and use the advantage ...

Lidar to lidar calibration phase 1

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yordanova, Ginka; Courtney, Michael

This report presents a feasibility study of a lidar to lidar (L2L) calibration procedure. Phase one of the project was conducted at Høvsøre, Denmark. Two windcubes were placed next to the 116m met mast and different methods were applied to obtain the sensing height error of the lidars. The purpose...... is to find the most consistent method and use it in a potential lidar to lidar calibration procedure....

UAV lidar and hyperspectral fusion for forest monitoring in the southwestern USA

Science.gov (United States)

Sankey, Temuulen T.; Donager, Jonathon; McVay, Jason L.; Sankey, Joel B.

2017-01-01

Forest vegetation classification and structure measurements are fundamental steps for planning, monitoring, and evaluating large-scale forest changes including restoration treatments. High spatial and spectral resolution remote sensing data are critically needed to classify vegetation and measure their 3-dimensional (3D) canopy structure at the level of individual species. Here we test high-resolution lidar, hyperspectral, and multispectral data collected from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and demonstrate a lidar-hyperspectral image fusion method in treated and control forests with varying tree density and canopy cover as well as in an ecotone environment to represent a gradient of vegetation and topography in northern Arizona, U.S.A. The fusion performs better (88% overall accuracy) than either data type alone, particularly for species with similar spectral signatures, but different canopy sizes. The lidar data provides estimates of individual tree height (R2 = 0.90; RMSE = 2.3 m) and crown diameter (R2 = 0.72; RMSE = 0.71 m) as well as total tree canopy cover (R2 = 0.87; RMSE = 9.5%) and tree density (R2 = 0.77; RMSE = 0.69 trees/cell) in 10 m cells across thin only, burn only, thin-and-burn, and control treatments, where tree cover and density ranged between 22 and 50% and 1–3.5 trees/cell, respectively. The lidar data also produces highly accurate digital elevation model (DEM) (R2 = 0.92; RMSE = 0.75 m). In comparison, 3D data derived from the multispectral data via structure-from-motion produced lower correlations with field-measured variables, especially in dense and structurally complex forests. The lidar, hyperspectral, and multispectral sensors, and the methods demonstrated here can be widely applied across a gradient of vegetation and topography for monitoring landscapes undergoing large-scale changes such as the forests in the southwestern U.S.A.

Airborne Lidar: Advances in Discrete Return Technology for 3D Vegetation Mapping

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valerie Ussyshkin

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Conventional discrete return airborne lidar systems, used in the commercial sector for efficient generation of high quality spatial data, have been considered for the past decade to be an ideal choice for various mapping applications. Unlike two-dimensional aerial imagery, the elevation component of airborne lidar data provides the ability to represent vertical structure details with very high precision, which is an advantage for many lidar applications focusing on the analysis of elevated features such as 3D vegetation mapping. However, the use of conventional airborne discrete return lidar systems for some of these applications has often been limited, mostly due to relatively coarse vertical resolution and insufficient number of multiple measurements in vertical domain. For this reason, full waveform airborne sensors providing more detailed representation of target vertical structure have often been considered as a preferable choice in some areas of 3D vegetation mapping application, such as forestry research. This paper presents an overview of the specific features of airborne lidar technology concerning 3D mapping applications, particularly vegetation mapping. Certain key performance characteristics of lidar sensors important for the quality of vegetation mapping are discussed and illustrated by the advanced capabilities of the ALTM-Orion, a new discrete return sensor manufactured by Optech Incorporated. It is demonstrated that advanced discrete return sensors with enhanced 3D mapping capabilities can produce data of enhanced quality, which can represent complex structures of vegetation targets at the level of details equivalent in some aspects to the content of full waveform data. It is also shown that recent advances in conventional airborne lidar technology bear the potential to create a new application niche, where high quality dense point clouds, enhanced by fully recorded intensity for multiple returns, may provide sufficient

High-resolution color Doppler ultrasonographic characteritics of lymphatic malformations%淋巴管畸形的高频超声与彩色多普勒特点

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

张梅; 谷凌云; 李宪坤; 许雅琴; 郝岩

2012-01-01

目的 研究淋巴管畸形的高频超声及彩色多普勒超声表现特点并进行分析、总结.方法 应用高频超声及彩色多普勒超声对23例淋巴管畸形的二维灰阶超声声像图及彩色血流信号进行回顾性研究.超声扫查内容包括:病变大小、边界、内部回声、彩色血流信号及用脉冲多普勒测量血流速度.结果 17例淋巴管畸形(74%,17/23)位于颈部、颌下或腋下,6例位于其他部位;21例位于皮下组织内,其中3例同时累及真皮及肌层.13例大囊型淋巴管畸型,均显示为较大的无回声区,有分隔,壁光滑,其中2例大囊型合并感染,无回声区内有稀疏低回声;5例混合型淋巴管畸形,为淋巴管畸形和血管畸形混合存在,超声显示为大小不等的无回声区有分隔,合并局部微小无回声区或不规则的小的实性低回声区,其中3例侵及肌层;5例微囊型淋巴管畸形,超声显示以无回声区为主,内有少量的低回声区,形成囊实混合性病变.所有病例无回声区内彩色多普勒扫查均无彩色血流信号.8例大囊型及3例混合型淋巴管畸形周边扫查到彩色血流信号,2例微囊型内部实性低回声内显示有彩色血流信号.脉冲多普勒检查最大血流速度18～73 cm/s,阻力指数0.55～0.72.结论 淋巴管畸形的高频超声及彩色超声多普勒成像有显著的特点,以较大的无回声区为主,多发可有分隔,无回声区内无血流信号,大部分位于皮下组织内,基于以上特点,可确诊大部分病例,因而高频超声及彩色多普勒是诊断淋巴管畸形的较好方法.%Objective To analyse the characteristics and diagnostic value of high resolution grayscale and color Doppler ultrasound in lymphatic malformations . Methods Twenty-three lymphatic malformations were evaluated by 7-12 MHz high-resolution grayscale and color Doppler ultrasound . All the cases were comfirmed by histopathologic diagnosis . The size, location, margin, echo

Lidar to lidar calibration phase 2

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yordanova, Ginka; Courtney, Michael

This report presents the results from phase 2 of a lidar to lidar (L2L) calibration procedure. Phase two of the project included two measurement campaigns conducted at given sites. The purpose was to find out if the lidar-to-lidar calibration procedure can be conducted with similar results...

Atmospheric aerosol and gas sensing using Scheimpflug lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Mei, Liang; Brydegaard, Mikkel

2015-04-01

This work presents a new lidar technique for atmospheric remote sensing based on Scheimpflug principle, which describes the relationship between nonparallel image- and object-planes[1]. When a laser beam is transmitted into the atmosphere, the implication is that the backscattering echo of the entire illuminated probe volume can be in focus simultaneously without diminishing the aperture. The range-resolved backscattering echo can be retrieved by using a tilted line scan or two-dimensional CCD/CMOS camera. Rather than employing nanosecond-pulsed lasers, cascade detectors, and MHz signal sampling, all of high cost and complexity, we have developed a robust and inexpensive atmospheric lidar system based on compact laser diodes and array detectors. We present initial applications of the Scheimpflug lidar for atmospheric aerosol monitoring in bright sunlight, with a 3 W, 808 nm CW laser diode. Kilohertz sampling rates are also achieved with applications for wind speed and entomology [2]. Further, a proof-of-principle demonstration of differential absorption lidar (DIAL) based on the Scheimpflug lidar technique is presented [3]. By utilizing a 30 mW narrow band CW laser diode emitting at around 760 nm, the detailed shape of an oxygen absorption line can be resolved remotely with an integration time of 6 s and measurement cycle of 1 minute during night time. The promising results demonstrated in this work show potential for the Scheimpflug lidar technique for remote atmospheric aerosol and gas sensing, and renews hope for robust and realistic instrumentation for atmospheric lidar sensing. [1] F. Blais, "Review of 20 years of range sensor development," Journal of Electronic Imaging, vol. 13, pp. 231-243, Jan 2004. [2] M. Brydegaard, A. Gebru, and S. Svanberg, "Super resolution laser radar with blinking atmospheric particles - application to interacting flying insects " Progress In Electromagnetics Research, vol. 147, pp. 141-151, 2014. [3] L. Mei and M. Brydegaard

High pressure Moessbauer spectrometer for the high-resolution 93.3 keV resonance in 67Zn

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adlassnig, W.; Potzel, W.; Moser, J.; Schaefer, C.; Steiner, M.; Kalvius, G.M.

1989-01-01

A high pressure, low temperature Moessbauer spectrometer for the high-resolution 93.3 keV resonance in 67 Zn is described. The pressure is generated by applying the opposed anvil technique. Using B 4 C anvils and a sandwich gasket quasihydrostatic pressures up to 6 GPa were obtained for the required large samples of 7 mm diameter and 2 mm thickness. The piezoelectric Doppler drive is mounted on top of the pressure clamp. The whole system can be cooled to liquid He temperatures. The spectrometer was used to investigate at 4.2 K the pressure dependence of the Moessbauer parameters of Zn metal. (orig.)

INDIVIDUAL TREE OF URBAN FOREST EXTRACTION FROM VERY HIGH DENSITY LIDAR DATA

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A. Moradi

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Airborne LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging data have a high potential to provide 3D information from trees. Most proposed methods to extract individual trees detect points of tree top or bottom firstly and then using them as starting points in a segmentation algorithm. Hence, in these methods, the number and the locations of detected peak points heavily effect on the process of detecting individual trees. In this study, a new method is presented to extract individual tree segments using LiDAR points with 10cm point density. In this method, a two-step strategy is performed for the extraction of individual tree LiDAR points: finding deterministic segments of individual trees points and allocation of other LiDAR points based on these segments. This research is performed on two study areas in Zeebrugge, Bruges, Belgium (51.33° N, 3.20° E. The accuracy assessment of this method showed that it could correctly classified 74.51% of trees with 21.57% and 3.92% under- and over-segmentation errors respectively.

High-Resolution Spectroscopy of the Lunar Sodium Exosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Mierkiewicz, E. J.; Oliversen, R. J.; Roesler, F. L.; Lupie, O. L.

2014-01-01

We have applied high-resolution Fabry-Perot spectroscopy to the study of the lunar sodium exosphere for the study of exospheric effective temperature and velocity variations. Observing from the National Solar Observatory McMath-Pierce Telescope, we used a dual-etalon Fabry-Perot spectrometer with a resolving power of 180,000 to measure line widths and Doppler shifts of the sodium D2 (5889.95 Å) emission line. Our field of view was 360 km, and measurements were made in equatorial and polar regions from 500 km to 3500 km off the limb. Data were obtained from full moon to 3 days following full moon (waning phase) in March 2009. Measured Doppler line widths within 1100 km of the sunlit east and south lunar limbs for observations between 5 and 40 deg lunar phase imply effective temperatures ranging between 3260 +/- 190 and 1000 +/- 135 K. Preliminary line center analysis indicates velocity displacements between different locations off the lunar limb ranging between 100 and 600 m/s from the lunar rest velocity with a precision of +/-20 to +/-50 m/s depending on brightness. Based on the success of these exploratory observations, an extensive program has been initiated that is expected to constrain lunar atmospheric and surface-process modeling and help quantify source and escape mechanisms.

Aerosol Retrievals from Proposed Satellite Bistatic Lidar Observations: Algorithm and Information Content

Science.gov (United States)

Alexandrov, M. D.; Mishchenko, M. I.

2017-12-01

Accurate aerosol retrievals from space remain quite challenging and typically involve solving a severely ill-posed inverse scattering problem. We suggested to address this ill-posedness by flying a bistatic lidar system. Such a system would consist of formation flying constellation of a primary satellite equipped with a conventional monostatic (backscattering) lidar and an additional platform hosting a receiver of the scattered laser light. If successfully implemented, this concept would combine the measurement capabilities of a passive multi-angle multi-spectral polarimeter with the vertical profiling capability of a lidar. Thus, bistatic lidar observations will be free of deficiencies affecting both monostatic lidar measurements (caused by the highly limited information content) and passive photopolarimetric measurements (caused by vertical integration and surface reflection).We present a preliminary aerosol retrieval algorithm for a bistatic lidar system consisting of a high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) and an additional receiver flown in formation with it at a scattering angle of 165 degrees. This algorithm was applied to synthetic data generated using Mie-theory computations. The model/retrieval parameters in our tests were the effective radius and variance of the aerosol size distribution, complex refractive index of the particles, and their number concentration. Both mono- and bimodal aerosol mixtures were considered. Our algorithm allowed for definitive evaluation of error propagation from measurements to retrievals using a Monte Carlo technique, which involves random distortion of the observations and statistical characterization of the resulting retrieval errors. Our tests demonstrated that supplementing a conventional monostatic HSRL with an additional receiver dramatically increases the information content of the measurements and allows for a sufficiently accurate characterization of tropospheric aerosols.

3D turbulence measurements in inhomogeneous boundary layers with three wind LiDARs

Science.gov (United States)

Carbajo Fuertes, Fernando; Valerio Iungo, Giacomo; Porté-Agel, Fernando

2014-05-01

One of the most challenging tasks in atmospheric anemometry is obtaining reliable turbulence measurements of inhomogeneous boundary layers at heights or in locations where is not possible or convenient to install tower-based measurement systems, e.g. mountainous terrain, cities, wind farms, etc. Wind LiDARs are being extensively used for the measurement of averaged vertical wind profiles, but they can only successfully accomplish this task under the limiting conditions of flat terrain and horizontally homogeneous flow. Moreover, it has been shown that common scanning strategies introduce large systematic errors in turbulence measurements, regardless of the characteristics of the flow addressed. From the point of view of research, there exist a variety of techniques and scanning strategies to estimate different turbulence quantities but most of them rely in the combination of raw measurements with atmospheric models. Most of those models are only valid under the assumption of horizontal homogeneity. The limitations stated above can be overcome by a new triple LiDAR technique which uses simultaneous measurements from three intersecting Doppler wind LiDARs. It allows for the reconstruction of the three-dimensional velocity vector in time as well as local velocity gradients without the need of any turbulence model and with minimal assumptions [EGU2013-9670]. The triple LiDAR technique has been applied to the study of the flow over the campus of EPFL in Lausanne (Switzerland). The results show the potential of the technique for the measurement of turbulence in highly complex boundary layer flows. The technique is particularly useful for micrometeorology and wind engineering studies.

ASSESSMENT OF BOTTOM-OF-ATMOSPHERE REFLECTANCE IN LIDAR DATA AS REFERENCE FOR HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGERY

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A. Roncat

2017-09-01

Full Text Available While airborne lidar has confirmed its leading role in delivering high-resolution 3D topographic information during the last decade, its radiometric potential has not yet been fully exploited. However, with the increasing availability of commercial lidar systems which (a make use of full-waveform information and (b operate at several wavelengths simultaneously, this potential is increasing as well. Radiometric calibration of the full-waveform information mentioned before allows for the derivation of physical target surface parameters such as the backscatter coefficient and a diffuse reflectance value at bottom of atmosphere (BOA, i.e. the target surface. With lidar being an active remote sensing technique, these parameters can be derived from lidar data itself, accompanied by the measurement or estimation of reference data for diffuse reflectance. In contrast to this, such a radiometric calibration for passive hyperspectral imagery (HSI requires the knowledge and/or estimation of much more unknowns. However, in case of corresponding wavelength(s radiometrically calibrated lidar datasets can deliver an areawide reference for BOA reflectance. This paper presents criteria to check where the assumption of diffuse BOA reflectance behaviour is fulfilled and how these criteria are assessed in lidar data; the assessment is illustrated by an extended lidar dataset. Moreover, for this lidar dataset and an HSI dataset recorded over the same area, the corresponding reflectance values are compared for different surface types.

Parallel Landscape Driven Data Reduction & Spatial Interpolation Algorithm for Big LiDAR Data

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Rahil Sharma

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR topographic data provide highly accurate digital terrain information, which is used widely in applications like creating flood insurance rate maps, forest and tree studies, coastal change mapping, soil and landscape classification, 3D urban modeling, river bank management, agricultural crop studies, etc. In this paper, we focus mainly on the use of LiDAR data in terrain modeling/Digital Elevation Model (DEM generation. Technological advancements in building LiDAR sensors have enabled highly accurate and highly dense LiDAR point clouds, which have made possible high resolution modeling of terrain surfaces. However, high density data result in massive data volumes, which pose computing issues. Computational time required for dissemination, processing and storage of these data is directly proportional to the volume of the data. We describe a novel technique based on the slope map of the terrain, which addresses the challenging problem in the area of spatial data analysis, of reducing this dense LiDAR data without sacrificing its accuracy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first ever landscape-driven data reduction algorithm. We also perform an empirical study, which shows that there is no significant loss in accuracy for the DEM generated from a 52% reduced LiDAR dataset generated by our algorithm, compared to the DEM generated from an original, complete LiDAR dataset. For the accuracy of our statistical analysis, we perform Root Mean Square Error (RMSE comparing all of the grid points of the original DEM to the DEM generated by reduced data, instead of comparing a few random control points. Besides, our multi-core data reduction algorithm is highly scalable. We also describe a modified parallel Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW spatial interpolation method and show that the DEMs it generates are time-efficient and have better accuracy than the one’s generated by the traditional IDW method.

Lidar for Wind and Optical Turbulence Profiling

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Fastig Shlomo

2018-01-01

Full Text Available A field campaign for the comparison investigation of systems to measure wind and optical turbulence profiles was conducted in northern Germany. The experimental effort was to compare the performance of the LIDAR, SODAR-RASS and ultrasonic anemometers for the measurement of the above mentioned atmospheric parameters. Soreq's LIDAR is a fiber laser based system demonstrator for the vertical profiling of the wind and turbulence, based on the correlation of aerosol density variations. It provides measurements up to 350m with 20m resolution.

Mapping of High Value Crops Through AN Object-Based Svm Model Using LIDAR Data and Orthophoto in Agusan del Norte Philippines

Science.gov (United States)

Candare, Rudolph Joshua; Japitana, Michelle; Cubillas, James Earl; Ramirez, Cherry Bryan

2016-06-01

This research describes the methods involved in the mapping of different high value crops in Agusan del Norte Philippines using LiDAR. This project is part of the Phil-LiDAR 2 Program which aims to conduct a nationwide resource assessment using LiDAR. Because of the high resolution data involved, the methodology described here utilizes object-based image analysis and the use of optimal features from LiDAR data and Orthophoto. Object-based classification was primarily done by developing rule-sets in eCognition. Several features from the LiDAR data and Orthophotos were used in the development of rule-sets for classification. Generally, classes of objects can't be separated by simple thresholds from different features making it difficult to develop a rule-set. To resolve this problem, the image-objects were subjected to Support Vector Machine learning. SVMs have gained popularity because of their ability to generalize well given a limited number of training samples. However, SVMs also suffer from parameter assignment issues that can significantly affect the classification results. More specifically, the regularization parameter C in linear SVM has to be optimized through cross validation to increase the overall accuracy. After performing the segmentation in eCognition, the optimization procedure as well as the extraction of the equations of the hyper-planes was done in Matlab. The learned hyper-planes separating one class from another in the multi-dimensional feature-space can be thought of as super-features which were then used in developing the classifier rule set in eCognition. In this study, we report an overall classification accuracy of greater than 90% in different areas.

Modeling of a sensitive time-of-flight flash LiDAR system

Science.gov (United States)

Fathipour, V.; Wheaton, S.; Johnson, W. E.; Mohseni, H.

2016-09-01

used for monitoring and profiling structures, range, velocity, vibration, and air turbulence. Remote sensing in the IR region has several advantages over the visible region, including higher transmitter energy while maintaining eye-safety requirements. Electron-injection detectors are a new class of detectors with high internal avalanche-free amplification together with an excess-noise-factor of unity. They have a cutoff wavelength of 1700 nm. Furthermore, they have an extremely low jitter. The detector operates in linear-mode and requires only bias voltage of a few volts. This together with the feedback stabilized gain mechanism, makes formation of large-format high pixel density electron-injection FPAs less challenging compared to other detector technologies such as avalanche photodetectors. These characteristics make electron-injection detectors an ideal choice for flash LiDAR application with mm scale resolution at longer ranges. Based on our experimentally measured device characteristics, a detailed theoretical LiDAR model was developed. In this model we compare the performance of the electron-injection detector with commercially available linear-mode InGaAs APD from (Hamamatsu G8931-20) as well as a p-i-n diode (Hamamatsu 11193 p-i-n). Flash LiDAR images obtained by our model, show the electron-injection detector array (of 100 x 100 element) achieves better resolution with higher signal-to-noise compared with both the InGaAs APD and the p-i-n array (of 100 x 100 element).

Combined High Spectral Resolution Lidar and Millimeter Wavelength Radar Measurement of Ice Crystal Precipitation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eloranta, Edwin [Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)

2016-10-28

The goal of this research has been to improve measurements of snowfall using a combination of millimeter-wavelength radar and High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) Observations. Snowflakes are large compared to the 532nm HSRL wavelength and small compared to the 3.2 and 8.6 mm wavelength radars used in this study. This places the particles in the optical scattering regime of the HSRL, where extinction cross-section is proportional to the projected area of the particles, and in the Rayleigh regime for the radar, where the backscatter cross-section is proportional to the mass-squared of the particles. Forming a ratio of the radar measured cross-section to the HSRL measured cross section eliminates any dependence on the number of scattering particles, yielding a quantity proportional to the average mass-squared of the snowflakes over the average area of the flakes. Using simultaneous radar measurements of particle fall velocities, which are dependent particle mass and cross-sectional area it is possible to derive the average mass of the snow flakes, and with the radar measured fall velocities compute the snowfall rate. Since this retrieval requires the optical extinction cross-section we began by considering errors this quantity. The HSRL is particularly good at measuring the backscatter cross-section. In previous studies of snowfall in the high Arctic were able to estimate the extinction cross-section directly as a fixed ratio to the backscatter cross-section. Measurements acquired in the STORMVEX experiment in Colorado showed that this approach was not valid in mid-latitude snowfalls and that direct measurement of the extinction cross-section is required. Attempts to measure the extinction directly uncovered shortcomings in thermal regulation and mechanical stability of the newly deployed DOE HSRL systems. These problems were largely mitigated by modifications installed in both of the DOE systems. We also investigated other sources of error in the HSRL direct

Evaluating UAV and LiDAR Retrieval of Snow Depth in a Coniferous Forest in Arizona

Science.gov (United States)

Van Leeuwen, W. J. D.; Broxton, P.; Biederman, J. A.

2017-12-01

Remote sensing of snow depth and cover in forested environments is challenging. Trees interfere with the remote sensing of snowpack below the canopy and cause large variations in the spatial distribution of the snowpack itself (e.g. between below canopy environments to shaded gaps to open clearings). The distribution of trees and topographic variation make it challenging to monitor the snowpack with in-situ observations. Airborne LiDAR has improved our ability to monitor snowpack over large areas in montane and forested environments because of its high sampling rate and ability to penetrate the canopy. However, these LiDAR flights can be too expensive and time-consuming to process, making it hard to use them for real-time snow monitoring. In this research, we evaluate Structure from Motion (SfM) as an alternative to Airborne LiDAR to generate high-resolution snow depth data in forested environments. This past winter, we conducted a snow field campaign over Arizona's Mogollon Rim where we acquired aerial LiDAR, multi-angle aerial photography from a UAV, and extensive field observations of snow depth at two sites. LiDAR and SFM derived snow depth maps were generated by comparing "snow-on" and "snow-off" LiDAR and SfM data. The SfM- and LiDAR-generated snow depth maps were similar at a site with fewer trees, though there were more discrepancies at a site with more trees. Both compared reasonably well with the field observations at the sparser forested site, with poorer agreement at the denser forested site. Finally, although the SfM produced point clouds with much higher point densities than the aerial LiDAR, the SfM was not able to produce meaningful snow depth estimates directly underneath trees and had trouble in areas with deep shadows. Based on these findings, we are optimizing our UAV data acquisition strategies for this upcoming field season. We are using these data, along with high-resolution hydrological modeling, to gain a better understanding of how

Repeated 1-cm Resolution Topographic and 2.5-mm Resolution Photomosiac Surveys of Benthic Communities and Fine Scale Bedforms in Monterey Canyon

Science.gov (United States)

Caress, D. W.; Hobson, B.; Thomas, H. J.; Henthorn, R.; Martin, E. J.; Bird, L.; Risi, M.; Troni, G.; Paull, C. K.; Rock, S.; Padial, J. A.; Hammond, M. M.

2014-12-01

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute has developed a low altitude, ROV-based seafloor mapping system that combines lidar laser ranging, multibeam sonar, and stereo photographic imagery. When operated at a 3-m altitude, this system maps seafloor topography with a 1-cm lateral resolution and simultaneously collects 2.5-mm resolution color photography. We have twice mapped an 80-m by 80-m area of a chemosynthetic clam community located at 2850-m depth in the Monterey Canyon axis. Both the topography and the photomosaics resolve changes in the clam community over a six-month interval. Many individual animals have moved, and tracks of those animals are visible in the lidar topography. No other changes in the seafloor at this site can be discerned. We have also performed single surveys of bedforms and scours at both 1850-m and 2850-m depths in Monterey Canyon. The highest resolution bathymetry data are collected using a 3DatDepth SL1 lidar laser scanner. This system has a 30° field of view and ranges continuously, achieving a 1 cm sounding spacing at a 3 m altitude and 0.3 m/s speed. Bathymetry data are also collected using a 400-kHz Reson 7125 multibeam sonar. This configuration produces 512 beams across a 135° wide swath; each beam has a 0.5° acrosstrack by 1.0° alongtrack angular width. At a 3-m altitude, the nadir beams have a 2.5 cm acrosstrack and 5 cm alongtrack footprint. Dual Prosilica GX1920 2.4 Mpixel color cameras provide color stereo photography of the seafloor. Illumination is provided by dual xenon strobes. The camera housings have been fitted with corrective optics achieving a 90° field of view with less than 1% distortion. At a 3-m altitude the raw image pixels have a 2.5 mm resolution. Position and attitude data are provided by a Kearfott SeaDevil Inertial Navigation System (INS) integrated with a 300 kHz Teledyne RD Instruments Doppler velocity log (DVL). A separate Paroscientific pressure sensor is mounted adjacent to the INS. The INS

Topobathymetric LiDAR point cloud processing and landform classification in a tidal environment

Science.gov (United States)

Skovgaard Andersen, Mikkel; Al-Hamdani, Zyad; Steinbacher, Frank; Rolighed Larsen, Laurids; Brandbyge Ernstsen, Verner

2017-04-01

Historically it has been difficult to create high resolution Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) in land-water transition zones due to shallow water depth and often challenging environmental conditions. This gap of information has been reflected as a "white ribbon" with no data in the land-water transition zone. In recent years, the technology of airborne topobathymetric Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) has proven capable of filling out the gap by simultaneously capturing topographic and bathymetric elevation information, using only a single green laser. We collected green LiDAR point cloud data in the Knudedyb tidal inlet system in the Danish Wadden Sea in spring 2014. Creating a DEM from a point cloud requires the general processing steps of data filtering, water surface detection and refraction correction. However, there is no transparent and reproducible method for processing green LiDAR data into a DEM, specifically regarding the procedure of water surface detection and modelling. We developed a step-by-step procedure for creating a DEM from raw green LiDAR point cloud data, including a procedure for making a Digital Water Surface Model (DWSM) (see Andersen et al., 2017). Two different classification analyses were applied to the high resolution DEM: A geomorphometric and a morphological classification, respectively. The classification methods were originally developed for a small test area; but in this work, we have used the classification methods to classify the complete Knudedyb tidal inlet system. References Andersen MS, Gergely Á, Al-Hamdani Z, Steinbacher F, Larsen LR, Ernstsen VB (2017). Processing and performance of topobathymetric lidar data for geomorphometric and morphological classification in a high-energy tidal environment. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21: 43-63, doi:10.5194/hess-21-43-2017. Acknowledgements This work was funded by the Danish Council for Independent Research | Natural Sciences through the project "Process-based understanding and

The study on the lidar's detection limit for Iodine Gas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Dong-lyul; Baik, Seung-Hoon; Park, Seung-Kyu; Park, Nak-Gyu; Ahn, Yong-Jin [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2015-05-15

A powerful and reliable tool for range-resolved remote sensing of gas concentrations that has proven its capabilities in a variety of studies is the differential absorption lidar (DIAL). Differential absorption lidar (DIAL) is frequently used for atmospheric gas monitoring to detect impurities such as nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, iodine, and ozone. DIAL can measure air pollutant concentrations with a high spatial resolution by adopting two laser systems with different degrees of absorption between the two different wavelengths. The absorption of the reference wavelength is very weak, while the absorption of the other wavelength is very strong. In this paper, we measured the limit of detection capability of our designed DIAL system. The DIAL measurements were performed using a target iodine cell in the laboratory. We confirmed that the concentration of iodine gas ratio increased after the laser passed through the iodine cell. The system of DIAL(Differential Absorption Lidar) was effective to detect the iodine gas. We obtained the signals from the iodine target cell and the lidar signal from the iodine target cell was proportional to frequency locking ratios.

A generalized adaptive mathematical morphological filter for LIDAR data

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Zheng

Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) technology has become the primary method to derive high-resolution Digital Terrain Models (DTMs), which are essential for studying Earth's surface processes, such as flooding and landslides. The critical step in generating a DTM is to separate ground and non-ground measurements in a voluminous point LIDAR dataset, using a filter, because the DTM is created by interpolating ground points. As one of widely used filtering methods, the progressive morphological (PM) filter has the advantages of classifying the LIDAR data at the point level, a linear computational complexity, and preserving the geometric shapes of terrain features. The filter works well in an urban setting with a gentle slope and a mixture of vegetation and buildings. However, the PM filter often removes ground measurements incorrectly at the topographic high area, along with large sizes of non-ground objects, because it uses a constant threshold slope, resulting in "cut-off" errors. A novel cluster analysis method was developed in this study and incorporated into the PM filter to prevent the removal of the ground measurements at topographic highs. Furthermore, to obtain the optimal filtering results for an area with undulating terrain, a trend analysis method was developed to adaptively estimate the slope-related thresholds of the PM filter based on changes of topographic slopes and the characteristics of non-terrain objects. The comparison of the PM and generalized adaptive PM (GAPM) filters for selected study areas indicates that the GAPM filter preserves the most "cut-off" points removed incorrectly by the PM filter. The application of the GAPM filter to seven ISPRS benchmark datasets shows that the GAPM filter reduces the filtering error by 20% on average, compared with the method used by the popular commercial software TerraScan. The combination of the cluster method, adaptive trend analysis, and the PM filter allows users without much experience in

Characterizing the Vertical Distribution of Aerosols using Ground-based Multiwavelength Lidar Data

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrare, R. A.; Thorsen, T. J.; Clayton, M.; Mueller, D.; Chemyakin, E.; Burton, S. P.; Goldsmith, J.; Holz, R.; Kuehn, R.; Eloranta, E. W.; Marais, W.; Newsom, R. K.; Liu, X.; Sawamura, P.; Holben, B. N.; Hostetler, C. A.

2016-12-01

Observations of aerosol optical and microphysical properties are critical for developing and evaluating aerosol transport model parameterizations and assessing global aerosol-radiation impacts on climate. During the Combined HSRL And Raman lidar Measurement Study (CHARMS), we investigated the synergistic use of ground-based Raman lidar and High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) measurements to retrieve aerosol properties aloft. Continuous (24/7) operation of these co-located lidars during the ten-week CHARMS mission (mid-July through September 2015) allowed the acquisition of a unique, multiwavelength ground-based lidar dataset for studying aerosol properties above the Southern Great Plains (SGP) site. The ARM Raman lidar measured profiles of aerosol backscatter, extinction and depolarization at 355 nm as well as profiles of water vapor mixing ratio and temperature. The University of Wisconsin HSRL simultaneously measured profiles of aerosol backscatter, extinction and depolarization at 532 nm and aerosol backscatter at 1064 nm. Recent advances in both lidar retrieval theory and algorithm development demonstrate that vertically-resolved retrievals using such multiwavelength lidar measurements of aerosol backscatter and extinction can help constrain both the aerosol optical (e.g. complex refractive index, scattering, etc.) and microphysical properties (e.g. effective radius, concentrations) as well as provide qualitative aerosol classification. Based on this work, the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) HSRL group developed automated algorithms for classifying and retrieving aerosol optical and microphysical properties, demonstrated these retrievals using data from the unique NASA/LaRC airborne multiwavelength HSRL-2 system, and validated the results using coincident airborne in situ data. We apply these algorithms to the CHARMS multiwavelength (Raman+HSRL) lidar dataset to retrieve aerosol properties above the SGP site. We present some profiles of aerosol effective

Fusion of NASA Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO Lidar Time Series over Mountain Forest Landscapes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

António Ferraz

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Mountain ecosystems are among the most fragile environments on Earth. The availability of timely updated information on forest 3D structure would improve our understanding of the dynamic and impact of recent disturbance and regeneration events including fire, insect damage, and drought. Airborne lidar is a critical tool for monitoring forest change at high resolution but it has been little used for this purpose due to the scarcity of long-term time-series of measurements over a common region. Here, we investigate the reliability of on-going, multi-year lidar observations from the NASA-JPL Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO to characterize forest 3D structure at a fine spatial scale. In this study, weekly ASO measurements collected at ~1 pt/m2, primarily acquired to quantify snow volume and dynamics, are coherently merged to produce high-resolution point clouds ( ~ 12 pt/m2 that better describe forest structure. The merging methodology addresses the spatial bias in multi-temporal data due to uncertainties in platform trajectory and motion by collecting tie objects from isolated tree crown apexes in the lidar data. The tie objects locations are assigned to the centroid of multi-temporal lidar points to fuse and optimize the location of multiple measurements without the need for ancillary data or GPS control points. We apply the methodology to ASO lidar acquisitions over the Tuolumne River Basin in the Sierra Nevada, California, during the 2014 snow monitoring campaign and provide assessment of the fidelity of the fused point clouds for forest mountain ecosystem studies. The availability of ASO measurements that currently span 2013–2017 enable annual forest monitoring of important vegetated ecosystems that currently face ecological threads of great significance such as the Sierra Nevada (California and Olympic National Forest (Washington.

Coherent dual-frequency lidar system design for distance and speed measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Xingyuan; Zhao, Changming; Zhang, Haiyang; Zheng, Zheng; Yang, Hongzhi

2018-01-01