Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2010
College/Unit
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Department/Program/Center
Geology and Geography
Abstract
Topography and land cover characteristics can have significant effects on infiltration, runoff, and erosion processes on watersheds. The ability to model the timing and routing of surface water and erosion is affected by the resolution of the digital elevation model (DEM). High resolution ground-based Light Detecting and Ranging (LiDAR) technology can be used to collect detailed topographic and land cover characteristic data. In this study, a method was developed to remove vegetation from ground-based LiDAR data to create high resolution DEMs. Research was conducted on intensively studied rainfall–runoff plots on the USDA-ARS Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed in Southeast Arizona. LiDAR data were used to generate 1 cm resolution digital surface models (DSM) for 5 plots. DSMs created directly from LiDAR data contain non-surface objects such as vegetation cover. A vegetation removal method was developed which used a slope threshold and a focal mean filter method to remove vegetation and create bare earth DEMs. The method was validated on a synthetic plot, where rocks and vegetation were added incrementally. Results of the validation showed a vertical error of ±7.5 mm in the final DEM.
Digital Commons Citation
Sharma, Maneesh; Paige, Ginger B.; and Miller, Scott N., "DEM Development from Ground-Based LiDAR Data: A Method to Remove Non-Surface Objects" (2010). Faculty & Staff Scholarship. 2774.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/faculty_publications/2774
Source Citation
Sharma, M., Paige, G. B., & Miller, S. N. (2010). DEM Development from Ground-Based LiDAR Data: A Method to Remove Non-Surface Objects. Remote Sensing, 2(11), 2629–2642. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs2112629
Comments
© 2010 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).