IMPROVEMENTS IN LIDAR BATHYMETRY DATA ANALYSIS

Abstract

Airborne Lidar Bathymetry is a laser scanning technique to measure waterbody bottom topography in shallow waterbodies with limited turbidity. The topic has recently gained relevance due to the advent of new sensor technologies allowing for much higher spatial resolution in bathymetry data capture and due to guidelines demanding regular monitoring of waterbodies. In our contribution, we focus on three important aspects of lidar bathymetry: In the first part, systematic effects of wave patterns will be analysed in order to derive waterbody coordinate correction terms. In the second part, we will apply waveform-stacking techniques to enhance the detectability of water bottom points in lidar bathymetry full waveform signals. In the third part, a dedicated full wave-form analysis procedure is shown, which allows for deriving turbidity information from the decay of the signal intensity in the waterbody.