Rio Grande Lidar Bank Erosion Monitoring: Preliminary 2007-2008 Results and Survey Design Considerations

摘要

Bank stability is an important issue along the Albuquerque reach of the Middle Rio Grande. On one hand, stability and property protection is desirable along the urban corridor. However, stability may not be beneficial to the endemic species that inhabit the river and evolved in a much more dynamic system. To better understand the factors controlling banks stability and erosion along the Middle Rio Grande, we seek to apply high-resolution chronotopographic analysis using terrestrial lidar and erosion pin measurements coupled with in situ measurements of soil erosion parameters. The terrestrial lidar campaign along the densely vegetated Middle Rio Grande has required the development of new workflows and highlighted some of the limitations of terrestrial lidar in this environment. Nonetheless, the data collected during this study should provide useful information on seasonal to interannual changes at spatial resolutions that could not be achieved using other techniques.