Advancements and Applications of the SHOALS Laser Bathymetry System

Mark W. Brooks, Eddie Culpepper,Gary C. Guenther,Paul E. LaRocque

Abstract:	SHOALS is an operational airborne lidar bathymeter owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and employed with the support of John E. Chance & Associates, the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center, the NOAA Coast Survey Development Laboratory, and its creator, Optech Incorporated. Hundreds of projects have been successfully surveyed over four field seasons. The technology and techniques of airborne laser bathymetry are far from mature, and new understandings continue to be gained. The system was recently augmented, for example, with the capability to utilize kinematic GPS (KGPS) with on-the-fly (OTF) ambiguity resolution in order to permit the production of bottom elevations without concurrent tidal data. This also permits the system to be used more extensively over land, for beach profiling and topographic mapping, in addition to underwater bathymetry. The seamless integration of these capabilities permits continuous profiling through the land/water boundary. The ability to automatically detect possible hazards in the water has also been added. In our paper we will address the above capabilities and the associated algorithms and procedures. Future upgrades and modifications will also be discussed.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 11th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1998) September 15 - 18, 1998 Nashville, TN
Pages:	1203 - 1210
Cite this article:	Brooks, Mark W., Culpepper, Eddie, Guenther, Gary C., LaRocque, Paul E., "Advancements and Applications of the SHOALS Laser Bathymetry System," Proceedings of the 11th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1998), Nashville, TN, September 1998, pp. 1203-1210.
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