Published 2007

EAARL Topography—George Washington Birthplace National Monument

John C. Brock,¹ C. Wayne Wright,² Matt Patterson,³ Amar Nayegandhi,⁴ and Judd Patterson³

¹USGS, FISC St. Petersburg, FL
²NASA,Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, VA
³NPS, South Florida/Caribbean Network Inventory and Monitoring Program, Miami, FL
⁴ETI Professionals, USGS, St. Petersburg, FL

Project Description

This Web site contains Lidar-derived topography (first return and bare earth) maps and GIS files for George Washington Birthplace National Monument in Virginia.

These lidar-derived topography maps were produced as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program, FISC St. Petersburg, the National Park Service (NPS), Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network, Inventory and Monitoring Program, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Wallops Flight Facility. One objective of this research is to create techniques to survey coral reefs and barrier islands for the purposes of geomorphic change studies, habitat mapping, ecological monitoring, change detection, and event assessment. As part of this project, data from an innovative instrument under development at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, the NASA Experimental Airborne Advanced Research Lidar (EAARL) are being used. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in this realm for measuring subaerial and submarine topography wthin cross-environment surveys. High spectral resolution, water-column correction, and low costs were found to be key factors in providing accurate and affordable imagery to coastal resource managers.

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