LiDAR laser sensors provide an excellent [[0]] for studying the impact of coastal storms

Overview

A team led by Dr. Ryan Mieras at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) is conducting in-depth research on coastal storm events using the Blickfeld Cube 1 LiDAR sensor . Their goal is to develop a measurement system that can be quickly installed on beaches to remotely measure water levels, waves, and beach profile evolution during storm events .

Rising sea levels and more frequent, intense storms threaten coastal areas worldwide, causing flooding and eroding coastlines. Researching and understanding these storm events enables prediction of their impact on barrier islands and coastal communities, allowing for appropriate protective and mitigation measures to safeguard coastal communities from storm damage.

As part of DUNEX (DUring Nearshore EXperiment), a collaborative community of multi-institutional, academic, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Dr. Mieras utilized the Blickfeld Cube 1 LiDAR sensor to collect data on beach profile changes, waves, and water levels at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Coastal Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL) in Duck, North Carolina, USA, and the Field Research Facility (FRF). This led to the development of an affordable and scalable remote sensing platform to measure the impact of storm surges on coastal areas. LiDAR data provides an excellent Solution for supporting the analysis of wave profiles and shoreline changes.

This platform must meet the following requirements:

(1) Sensors must record coastal changes occurring over long time periods and across large spatial dimensions.

(II) Wave profiles that require rapid and continuous data acquisition within a narrower spatial range.

Blickfeld LiDAR's configurable scanning modes meet these requirements, and the sensor also provides the stability needed for reliable capture of coastal 3D data. Compared to cameras, LiDAR data offers an additional dimension and is unaffected by lighting conditions or illumination. Therefore, they are valuable products for coastal remote sensing systems.

Dr. Ryan Mieras (Assistant Professor of Coastal Engineering at University of North Carolina Wilmington) "Our goal is to develop affordable and scalable remote sensing platforms to measure the impact of storm surges on coastal areas. The great flexibility in scan mode configuration and Blickfeld sensor installation is a huge advantage in achieving this goal. "

In the future, in addition to DUNEX, Mieras will continue to collaborate with researchers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Mieras stated that their next steps include "analyzing data collected during the August 2021 pilot event, then developing algorithms to filter the data and detect the propagation distance of each wave on the beach, as well as changes in beach elevation over time."