Lidar measurement of snow depth: a review

Abstract Laser altimetry (lidar) is a remote-sensing technology that holds tremendous promise for mapping snow depth in snow hydrology and avalanche applications. Recently lidar has seen a dramatic widening of applications in the natural sciences, resulting in technological improvements and an increase in the availability of both airborne and ground-based sensors. Modern sensors allow mapping of vegetation heights and snow or ground surface elevations below forest canopies. Typical vertical accuracies for airborne datasets are decimeter-scale with order 1 m point spacings. Ground-based systems typically provide millimeter-scale range accuracy and sub-meter point spacing over 1 m to several kilometers. Many…

• NA
  National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• CI
  California Institute of Technology
• CI
  Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences
• NO
  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• JP
  Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• UA
  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
• CR
  Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory