HR: 17:05h
AN: C42C-05    [PDF]
TI: Use of LIDAR for Measuring Snowpack Depth
AU: * Miller, S L
EM: stevem@jkanda.com
AF: Johnson, Kunkel & Associates, Inc., 1286 Chambers Ave, #200, Eagle, CO 81631 United States
AU: Elder, K
EM: kelder@fs.fed.us
AF: USDA Forest Service - RMRS, 240 West Prospect Rd, Fort Collins, CO 80526 United States
AU: Cline, D
EM: cline@nohrsc.nws.gov
AF: National Weather Service - NOHRSC, 1735 Lake Drive West, Chanhassen, MN 55317 United States
AU: Davis, R E
EM: bert@crrel.usace.army.mil
AF: U.S. Army - CRREL, 72 Lyme Road, Hanover, NH 03755 United States
AU: Ochs, E
EM: Elke.Ochs@crrel.usace.army.mil
AF: U.S. Army - CRREL, 72 Lyme Road, Hanover, NH 03755 United States
AB: Airborne LIDAR measurements were made near the date of peak snow accumulation in Colorado as part of the NASA Cold Land Processes Experiment (CLPX). LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) overflights were repeated in the late summer following the experiment to obtain a baseline on the terrain in the areas where wintertime LIDAR data were collected. These areas were also measured for many snowpack parameters, including snow depth, by field crews near the winter overflight date. The surfaces generated by differencing the two LIDAR images produced a high-resolution spatial map of snow depth. The results were compared to point measurements of snow depth collected by the field teams. Results were also compared to modeled continuous distributions of snow cover to obtain differences in volume of snow predicted over the study sites. Absolute accuracy of the LIDAR data was evaluated using portions of the LIDAR imagery that was snow free during both overflights. The CLPX field campaign made on-site measurements at nine 1-km square study sites. Site characteristics varied greatly from subalpine to alpine, from thick forest to grassland, and from complex to flat terrain. The observed snowpacks varied between the deepest found in Colorado to shallow, discontinuous snow cover.
DE: 1827 Glaciology (1863)
DE: 1833 Hydroclimatology
DE: 1884 Water supply
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting