2019 NOAA OCM Unmanned Aerial System Lidar DEM: Great Bay NERR

In April 2019, Quantum Spatial (QSI) was contracted by The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office for Coastal Management (OCM) in partnership with the Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (GBNERR) to collect high resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data in the spring of 2019 for four research sites within the GBNERR in New Hampshire. These four sites are “Sentinel Sites” within the GBNERR where vegetation and elevation parameters have previously been continuously monitored and surveyed using traditional methods that require extensive person hours and manual labor.

The bare earth digital elevation model (DEM) represents the earth's surface with all vegetation and anthropogenic features removed. It is derived from NIR LiDAR data using TIN processing of the ground point returns. Some elevation values have been interpolated across areas in the ground model where there is no elevation data (e.g. over water, under dense vegetation). Air Shark collected the NOAA Great Bay UAS LiDAR data, on behalf of Quantum Spatial, for the NOAA Office for Coastal Management between 05/01/2019 and 05/09/2019.

In addition to these bare earth Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data, the lidar point data that these DEM data were created from, are also available. A link to the lidar point data metadata record is provided in the Related Items section of this metadata record.