2010 Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Lidar Point Clouds for Pearl and Hermes

Lidar-derived elevation data collected over low-lying areas of the Pearl and Hermes atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands during the summer of 2010. The U.S. Geological Survey and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration contracted Aerial Surveying, Inc. for data collection and processing, with validation surveys conducted in April 2011. Data is provided as classified point clouds in LAS 1.2 format.

Use Cases

• Modeling sea level rise impacts based on high-resolution digital elevation models.
• Conducting coastal habitat assessments based on classified ground and water elevation points.
• Simulating tsunami inundation scenarios based on terrain elevation data.

Strengths

• Data was validated in April 2011 using survey-grade GPS receivers for high accuracy points.
• Point clouds are classified to ASPRS standards (Class 1: Unclassified, Class 2: Ground, Class 9: Water).
• Collection used specific aircraft (Beechcraft Queen Air) and lidar systems (Riegl 140 and 240).

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Accuracy statements are based on open terrain; derived products may be less accurate in areas of extreme terrain and dense vegetation.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce.

Collection Method

Airborne lidar survey contracted to Aerial Surveying, Inc., with subsequent validation surveys.

Time Range

Primary collection in summer 2010, validation in April 2011.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:16:44.210650; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Pearl and Hermes atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.