Applications of Remotely Sensed TopoBathymetric Data

Presentations in the session will highlight acquisition, processing, and workflows for mapping of the coastal and nearshore environment with satellite derived bathymetry, aerial topobathymetric lidar, SAR, and other sensors.

11:00 – 11:15 AM – Quantifying Engineering Resilience of US Coasts Using Airborne Lidar Data and Regional Analysis Workflows
The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) National Coastal Mapping Program (NCMP) is producing a nationwide assessment of coastal engineering resilience using airborne coastal lidar data and custom regional data analysis tools. NCMP has collected regional, repetitive bathy-topo lidar and imagery surveys of the sandy shorelines of the conterminous US for the past 20 years to support regional sediment management and engineering US coasts for resilience to short- and long-term hazards. In addition to data collection operations, NCMP performs research and development to explore applications of data to coastal engineering practice and to develop data analysis tools. Two major tools just released are the volume change toolbox and the Coastal Engineering Resilience Index (CERI) toolbox. CERI quantifies the protective qualities of beach and dune systems by comparing geomorphic metrics like beach width and dune height to location specific water levels and storm conditions on a return interval basis. The CERI Toolbox is a set of python scripts implemented as a toolbox in ArcGIS Pro. CERI Toolbox guides a user through the steps necessary to systematically extract the required geomorphic metrics from lidar datasets and perform QA/QC, then pulls wave and storm surge data from online resources, computes the CERI metric, and outputs results in a geodatabase ready for delivery through RESTful web services. CERI was initially developed to provide situational awareness of beach and dune health to USACE senior leaders but has since been used to aid resilient beach and dune design, quantify performance of engineered beach and dune systems (CERI analyzed through time), and more recently will be integrated into a tool to help identify most resilient options for placement of dredged material. Applications of CERI are only expected to grow when it is rolled out nationally this year and for all repeat NCMP lidar datasets soon thereafter. This presentation will provide a brief background on CERI and CERI Toolbox development, on input NCMP lidar, wave, and water level datasets, give a tour of CERI values computed around the US coast, and share case studies showing how CERI is used by USACE engineers.
David White, US Army Corps of Engineers

11:15 – 11:30 AM – Challenges & Advancements in aerial bathymetric lidar – case studies from the Great Lakes
Although airborne topo-bathymetric lidar is not a new technology, its adoption in the geospatial community has been slow, to say the least. Many practitioners of bathymetric lidar are seasoned professionals in topographic lidar, and/or vessel based sonar. Their consensus on bathymetric lidar, is that it is complex and expensive.  This presentation aims to unpack these pain points, and contextualize them using various tests, and delivered projects in the Great Lakes. The presentation will spotlight advancements in coastline and lakebed mapping, challenges (turbidity, land/water classification, human resources), and a peak into the future of real-time processing.  Hear from the manufacturer, and leading engineering firms on how they overcame challenges and executed ambitious projects for the USGS, USACE and NOAA.
Malek Singer, Teledyne Geospatial

11:30 – 11:45 AM – Using Deep Learning to Extract Areas of Complex Hydrography Using only Airborne Topographic & Topobathymetric Lidar
The collection of edge-of-water breaklines can be a challenging and time-consuming task in areas with complex hydrographic features.  Whether the task is to meet the USGS base specifications for a 3DEP project or an enhanced requirement like those with the 3DHP program there is often a fair amount of manual effort in this type of feature extraction.  Over the last decade improvements have been made to automation using machine learning techniques that leverage intensity and other aspects of the lidar to perform this extraction. However, with lidar being an active system there are many difficulties in creating consistent layers for automated feature extraction.  This presentation will go over some of the experiences Dewberry has had over the last three years in developing, training, inferencing, and performing quality assurance of breaklines extracted using deep learning models.  We will focus on projects leveraging both topographic and topobathymetric lidar in the extremely complex areas of the Everglades and coastal Louisiana resulting in over 100,000 linear miles of bank line being extracted.
Joshua Novac, Dewberry

11:45 – 12:00 PM – Terrestrial Scanning of Inlet Shorelines Utilizing Kinematic Workflows with a Scanner Mounted on a Survey Vessel
This presentation will discuss the methodologies for utilizing kinematic processing with a static scanner mounted on a survey vessel for the rehabilitation of an inlet. The survey vessel also collects multi-beam sonar data to help create a seamless 3D surface model of the inlet.  A mixture of technology was used to capture below and above water details within the inlet. A kinematic workflow was used to detail the position of the scanner during acquisition while moving along the shorelines, tying its location relative to the boat’s trajectory. Acquisition of sonar data and lidar data were performed at different tide intervals to ensure overlaps within datasets.
Matt LaLuzerne, McKim & Creed

12:00 – 12:15 PM – Large-scale Bathymetry Lidar Mapping in Florida’s Gulf of Mexico Waters Using Multiple Deep-Channel Sensors
Dewberry was tasked by the  Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) as part of the Florida Seafloor Mapping Initiative (FSMI) to collect 34,000 km2 of bathymetric lidar data in the Gulf of Mexico within the Panhandle, Big Bend,  and Southwest Gulf Regions. These regions covered water depths from 0 meters to beyond the 20-meter isobath. The use of a deep-channel topobathy lidar system enabled the collection of these data in a variety of water environments ranging from the clearer waters in the southwest Gulf to the more turbid waters in the Big Bend area. To meet capacity needs, Dewberry deployed three Teledyne CZMIL SuperNova systems for data acquisition and approximately 3 petabytes of raw data. The combination of a large project area, data acquired using multiple waveform-resolving deep-channel sensors, and unusual Fall/Winter weather patterns presented several unique experiences and challenges. In this presentation, we will provide a concise overview of these projects, discussing both successes and challenges encountered along the way.
Emily Klipp, Dewberry

12:15 – 12:30 PM – Intertidal Zone Mapping with Synthetic Aperture Radar
Intertidal zones are one of the most challenging locations for surveying and mapping. These locations are difficult to access, geospatially extensive and highly dynamic; however, they are also crucial for coastal modeling, nautical charting and resource management. Current methods employ manned aircraft to collect multispectral imagery with flight schedules coordinated with high and low tide periods.  Operationally this proves to be a challenge to coordinate two collection flights with high and low tidal periods, as well as during daylight and favorable weather conditions. Advances in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites offer cost-effective and fit-for-purpose alternatives to conventional collection techniques. The ability for SAR to be collected during night, in inclement weather and with precise tasking from Capella Space systems coordinated with high and low tide periods enables a new approach to mapping the intertidal zones of the world. Through tidally-coordinated tasking of commercially-sourced SAR data, high water and low water lines can be extracted efficiently and effectively from <1m resolution SAR data, offering a scalable and cost effective alternative for surveying in coastal areas. Furthermore, SAR backscatter information can be utilized to classify the material nature of the intertidal zone, distinguishing between sand, rock and wet sediments, for example, providing coastal zone characteristics in addition to extent. As coastal areas bear the brunt of the effects of Sea Level Rise and changes to our shorelines, SAR technology offers a cost-effective, scalable, environmentally-friendly and safer alternative means of mapping and monitoring these locations.
Kyle Goodrich, TCarta