2017 NOAA UAS Lidar: Grand Bay NERR Coastal Elevation

177 acres of high-density lidar data were collected over the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve using a drone-mounted Velodyne Puck VLP-16 system. Quantum Spatial and PrecisionHawk conducted flights from May 9-11, 2017, achieving an average first return density over 105 points per square meter. The deliverables include lidar point clouds in LAS/LAZ format with UTM zone 16 NAD83(2011) horizontal and NAVD88 vertical datums.

Use Cases

• Modeling coastal terrain and vegetation structure based on the high-density point cloud and return classifications.
• Assessing vertical accuracy for elevation models based on the specified 0.10 meter RMSE in non-vegetated areas.
• Analyzing UAS-based lidar collection methodologies based on the detailed flight and sensor specifications.
• Monitoring changes in estuarine research reserve landscapes based on the geospatially referenced point cloud data.

Strengths

• High point density with over 105 first returns and over 3 ground-classified points per square meter.
• Specified vertical accuracy of 0.10 meter RMSE in non-vegetated areas.
• Collection over a defined 177-acre area with detailed flight parameters (50m AGL, 300 kHz pulse rate).
• Data delivered in standard LAS/LAZ formats with documented horizontal and vertical datums.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Scale is limited to four specific test sites within the reserve, covering 177 acres.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale modeling.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Lidar collected by Quantum Spatial and PrecisionHawk using a fixed-wing UAS (Lancaster platform) with a Velodyne Puck VLP-16 sensor.

Time Range

May 9-11, 2017

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:16:46.487007; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Mississippi, North America (UTM zone 16)