LIDAR MAPPING OF TIDAL MARSHES FOR ECOGEOMORPHOLOGICAL MODELLING IN THE TIDE PROJECT*

摘要

The European research project TIDE (Tidal Inlets Dynamics and Environment) is developing and validating coupled models describing the morphological, biological and ecological evolution of tidal environments. The interactions between the physical and biological processes occurring in these regions requires that the system be studied as a whole rather than as separate parts. Extensive use of remote sensing including LiDAR is being made to provide validation data for the modelling. This paper describes the different uses of LiDAR within the project and their relevance to the TIDE science objectives. LiDAR elevation accuracy at each site has been evaluated using ground reference data acquired with differential GPS. Estimation of the heights of the short and sparse vegetation on marshes is being investigated by analysis of the statistical distribution of the measured LiDAR heights. A semi-automatic technique has been developed to extract tidal channel networks from LiDAR data either used alone or fused with aerial photography.