Complete coastal mapping with airborne lidar

Eight years of SHOALS (Scanning Hydrographic Operational Airborne Lidar Survey) operations have proven that airborne lidar is an ideal tool for rapidly measuring shallow water depths and nearshore land elevations. SHOALS has produced high-density measurements of the coastal zone, enabling coastal engineers and scientists to quantify volumes of navigation channel shoaling, track movement of sand placed for beach nourishment, aid in coral reef mapping, and provide depths and navigation hazard locations for nautical charting. SHOALS success in producing valuable data for an ever-widening range of coastal applications has culminated in the development of the next-generation of airborne lidar sensors. SHOALS-1000 will be an integrated system including a bathymetric lidar component, a topographic lidar component, and a digital imagery capability. The bathymetric component will operate at a rate of 1,000 Hz, while the topographic component will operate at 10,000 Hz. SHOALS-1000 will collect data exceeding IHO Order 1 requirements and will easily mobilize in most photogrammetric aircraft of opportunity. Current SHOALS data processing schemes are automated for the system based on the expertise gained through eight years of evaluating lidar returns from the SHOALS system.