Published 2007

EAARL Topography - Gateway National Recreation Area

John C. Brock¹, C. Wayne Wright², Matt Patterson³, Amar Nayegandhi^4, and Judd Patterson³

¹USGS FISC, St. Petersburg, FL,
²NASA, Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, VA,
³NPS, South Florida/Caribbean Network Inventory and Monitoring Program, Miami, FL,
⁴ETI Professionals, USGS, St. Petersburg, FL,

Project Description

This Web site contains Lidar-derived topography (bare earth) maps and GIS files for the Sandy Hook Unit within Gateway National Recreation Area in New Jersey.

These Lidar-derived topography maps were produced as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program, FISC St. Petersburg, the National Park Service (NPS) South Florida/Caribbean Network Inventory and Monitoring Program, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Wallops Flight Facility. One objective of this research is to create techniques to survey coral reefs and barrier islands for the purposes of geomorphic change studies, habitat mapping, ecological monitoring, change detection, and event assessment. As part of this project, data from an innovative instrument under development at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, the NASA Experimental Airborne Advanced Research Lidar (EAARL) are being used. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in this realm for measuring subaerial and submarine topography wthin cross-environment surveys. High spectral resolution, water-column correction, and low costs were found to be key factors in providing accurate and affordable imagery to costal resource managers.

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