EarthScope Airborne LiDAR Imagery Acquisitions and Short Course

Overview

March 14, 2008

Two GeoEarthScope airborne LiDAR imagery acquisition campaigns were successfully completed in April 2008: the Southern/Eastern California (SoCal) project and the Pacific Northwest (PNW) project. Fieldwork began on March 31, 2008 and concluded on April 27, 2008. More than 1200 km2 were imaged for SoCal. Primary SoCal targets included the Garlock, Elsinore, San Cayetano, Calico, Blackwater, Helendale, Lenwood, Panamint, Ash Hill, Hunter Mountain, Tin Mountain and Owens Valley fault systems. Nearly 300 km2 were imaged for PNW. The primary PNW target was the Yakima fold and thrust belt. Targets were identified by the GeoEarthScope LiDAR working group. Data processing has begun and imagery products will become available to the community in the coming months.

LiDAR data were collected and will be processed by the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping (NCALM). Supplementary geodetic control and data analysis will be performed by Ohio State University. When data products become available they will be distributed by Arizona State University and the San Diego Super Computer facility. All of the above groups are operating under subawards from UNAVCO funded by EarthScope.

In addition to these data acquisition campaigns, a EarthScope airborne LiDAR training course was also presented to the community in April 2008. This short course, entitled Processing and Analysis of GeoEarthScope and Other Community LiDAR Topography Datasets, was taught at Arizona State University by ASU faculty and organized by the UNAVCO Education & Outreach. This successful two-day course was attended by 27 participants. This was the second EarthScope LiDAR training course to be offered to the community, the first having been presented at UNAVCO during the 2007 GSA meeting and also taught by ASU faculty and UNAVCO staff.