Abstract
Laser measurements have been used in a fluvial context since 1984, but the change detection possibilities of mobile laser scanning (MLS) for riverine topography have been lacking. This paper demonstrates the capability of MLS in erosion change mapping on a test site located in a 58 km-long tributary of the River Tenojoki (Tana) in the sub-arctic. We used point bars and river banks as example cases, which were measured with the mobile laser scanner ROAMER mounted on a boat and on a cart. Static terrestrial laser scanner data were used as reference and we exploited a difference elevation model technique for describing erosion and deposition areas. The measurements were based on data acquisitions during the late summer in 2008 and 2009. The coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.93 and a standard deviation of error 3.4 cm were obtained as metrics for change mapping based on MLS. The root mean square error (RMSE) of MLS‑based digital elevation models (DEM) for non-vegetated point bars ranged between 2.3 and 7.6 cm after correction of the systematic error. For densely vegetated bank areas, the ground point determination was more difficult resulting in an RMSE between 15.7 and 28.4 cm.
Highlights
Laser ranging was applied for the first time in a fluvial environment in 1984, when Krabill et al [1]studied the applicability of airborne non-scanning lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) for mapping the cross-section of a floodplain
We studied the feasibility of using mobile laser scanning (MLS) to map changes in riverine topography
We used a boat-based and cart-mounted mobile laser scanner to record the topography of point bars and river banks before and after the effect of erosion or deposition within one year
Summary
Laser ranging was applied for the first time in a fluvial environment in 1984, when Krabill et al [1]studied the applicability of airborne non-scanning lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) for mapping the cross-section of a floodplain. After the integration of a scanning mechanism with lidar and an inertial measurements unit with GPS in the early 1990s, it has been possible to use first airborne laser scanning (ALS), MLS data, in addition to static based terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), to improve the measurement and modeling of fluvial environments (e.g., [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]). High-resolution ALS provides detailed information on topographical features of fluvial environments that influence the river hydraulics, giving, the potential to improve existing hydraulic models (e.g., [13,14,15,16,17]). 6 km of riverine topography was surveyed by the boat-mounted mobile laser scanner within 85 min, whereas TLS measurements of the point bars of the same area took over 8 hours
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