Salt River Bay Seafloor Reflectivity Lidar Survey from 2011

1.62 square kilometers of 5x5 meter resolution relative seafloor reflectivity data were collected for the mouth of Salt River Bay, St. Croix. The data was acquired in February 2011 by Fugro LADS in collaboration with NOAA, the University of New Hampshire, and the National Park Service using a LADS Mark II airborne laser system. It covers depths from 0 to 34 meters.

Use Cases

• Classify benthic habitats by analyzing relative seafloor reflectivity values across the 1.62 sq km area.
• Assess changes in coastal morphology by comparing this 2011 reflectivity surface with newer surveys.
• Model light penetration and water clarity effects by correlating reflectivity with recorded environmental factors like cloud cover and depth.
• Calibrate hyperspectral imagery from the concurrent Hyspex VNIR-1600 sensor using the co-located lidar reflectivity data.

Strengths

• High-resolution 5x5 meter spot spacing with 200% seabed coverage.
• Data collection covers a defined 1.62 square kilometer area with documented depth range (0-34m).
• Processing utilized specialized industry software (CARIS HIPS and SIPS, BASE Editor).

Limitations

• Single temporal snapshot from February 2011, limiting change detection analysis.
• Data acquisition was influenced daily by variable environmental factors like wind and water clarity.
• Specific accuracy metrics, error rates, or validation details are not provided in the description.

Provenance

Source

NOAA_NCEI, via NASA Earthdata platform.

Collection Method

Acquired via airborne LADS (Laser Airborne Depth Sounder) Mark II system using a 1064 nm laser, processed with LADS Ground System and CARIS software.

Time Range

2011-02-21 to 2011-02-22

Freshness

2011-02-22

Geography

Mouth of Salt River Bay (SARI), St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, in UTM zone 20N NAD83.