An Approach to Determining Turbidity and Correcting for Signal Attenuation in Airborne Lidar Bathymetry

Abstract

Airborne lidar bathymetry is an efficient technique for measuring the bottom of shallow water bodies. A characteristical feature of lidar bathymetry beam propagation is given by scattering and absorption effects in the water column, both leading to a loss of received signal intensity. This loss of signal intensity depends on the turbidity of the water body. Inversely, an analysis of the decay of the recorded waveform signal allows for deriving statements on the local degree of turbidity in the water. The paper shows a first approach on the determination of one turbidity measure per laser pulse by analysing the recorded waveform and fitting an exponential function, wherein the decay coefficient depicts an integral measure describing turbidity. The technique was applied to a shallow inland water, and the results were validated by conventional point-wise turbidity measurement techniques. An obvious consequence of attenuation and loss of signal intensity in lidar bathymetry is the fact that the bottom returns become rather weak. In many cases, conventional ground pulse echo detection techniques fail in detecting water bottom points, leading to a reduced number of water body bottom points and thus limiting the application range of the technique. To partly compensate for this effect, a differential backscatter cross section determination based signal attenuation correction method has been developed, which allows for a signal-derived re-amplification of the ground signal. Although the technique also amplifies noise, it could be shown that it is capable of delivering a higher number of additional ground points and thus extending the applicability of the technique.