Laser Topography Mapping

NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center,and the University of Colorado are Using Lasers to Map Topography the Goal is to Completely Map the Entire Coast of the United States, so that Preparations Can be Made Before the Next Big Storm Hits

As Hurricane Sandy battered the coast of New Jersey two years ago today, it changed the lay of the land, sweeping sand inland that needed to be plowed from barrier island roads and dragging out parts of beach as the surge ebbed back to the Atlantic.

Now researchers from NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center, the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and the University of Colorado - Boulder's are using lasers to map the topography above and below the waterline left in Hurricane Sandy's wake.

"There was change to the topography of the seabed. It affects where the water goes in future storms," said Barry Eakins, a marine geophysicist at NOAA and its NGDC.

Maps, combined with real-time weather forecasting, could save lives, the experts said.

From airplanes, scientists have been using a technology called lidar - which stands for light detection and ranging - to produce detailed maps of the coastal land and the shallow waters, Eakins said. Sonar from boats has been used to map the deeper sea floor, he added.

Their goal is to find out what the inundation of the future is likely to look like, bylooking at what Sandy did, and seeing how the ocean moves along the New Jersey coast in extreme weather events.

"Hindcasting" - figuring out exactly how and why the water went where it did during Sandy and other storms - is one of the objectives, he said.

The goal eventually is to completely map the entire coast of the United States, so that preparations can be made before the next big stormhits, Eakins said. But New Jersey's coast is first in line.

Source: NJ

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