EAARL Coastal Topography--Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, Post-Hurricane Katrina, 2005: First Surface

ASCII XYZ point cloud data were produced from remotely sensed, geographically referenced elevation measurements acquired by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Elevation measurements were collected over the Chandeleur Islands, post-Hurricane Katrina (August 2005 hurricane), using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL), a pulsed laser ranging system mounted onboard an aircraft to measure ground elevation, vegetation canopy, and coastal topography. The system uses high-frequency laser beams directed at the Earth's surface through an opening in the bottom of the aircraft's fuselage. The laser system records the time difference between emission of the laser beam and the reception of the reflected laser signal in the aircraft. The plane travels over the target area at approximately 60 meters per second at an elevation of approximately 300 meters, resulting in a laser swath of approximately 240 meters with an average point spacing of 2-3 meters. The EAARL, developed originally by NASA at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, measures ground elevation with a vertical resolution of 3 centimeters. A sampling rate of 3 kilohertz or higher results in an extremely dense spatial elevation dataset. Over 100 kilometers of coastline can be surveyed easily within a 3- to 4-hour mission. When resultant elevation maps for an area are analyzed, they provide a useful tool to make management decisions regarding land development.

ASCII XYZ点云数据由美国地质调查局（U.S. Geological Survey, USGS）获取的遥感地理参考高程测量数据生成。此次高程测量作业于2005年8月卡特里娜飓风过后，在尚德勒尔群岛开展，所用设备为美国国家航空航天局（National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA）实验型先进机载研究激光雷达（Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar, EAARL）——这是一款搭载于机载平台的脉冲激光测距系统，可测量地面高程、植被冠层与海岸地形。
该系统通过飞机机身底部的开口将高频激光束投射至地表，记录激光束发射时刻与机载接收端接收反射激光信号之间的时间差。作业时，飞机以约60米/秒的速度飞越目标区域，飞行高度约300米，由此形成宽度约240米的激光扫描条带，平均点间距为2至3米。
EAARL最初由NASA位于弗吉尼亚州的沃洛普斯飞行设施研发，其地面高程测量的垂直分辨率可达3厘米。当采用3千赫兹或更高的采样率时，可生成密度极高的空间高程数据集。单次3至4小时的飞行任务即可轻松完成超过100公里海岸线的测绘工作。对目标区域的最终高程图进行分析后，可作为土地开发管理决策的实用辅助工具。