The impact of lidar elevation uncertainty on mapping intertidal habitats on barrier islands

Publication Date

2017-12-12

Start Date

2014-01-12

End Date

2015-12-16

Enwright, N.M., Wang, L., Borchert, S.M., Day, R.H., Feher, L.C., and Osland, M.J., 2017, The impact of lidar elevation uncertainty on mapping intertidal habitats on barrier islands: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F7125RVT.

Type: Related Primary Publication

Barrier islands are dynamic ecosystems due to their position at the land-sea interface. Storms, waves, tides, currents, and relative sea-level rise are powerful forces that shape barrier island morphology and regulate habitats (e.g., beach, dune, marsh, tidal flat, and forest). High-resolution digital elevation models generated from airborne lidar are often used for assessing island morphology, extracting shorelines, and mapping habitats. While airborne lidar data have revolutionized the spatial scale for which elevations can be realized, data limitations are often magnified in coastal settings. Researchers have found airborne lidar can have a vertical error as high as 60 centimeters in densely vegetated marsh. The uncertainty of digital elevation models is often left unaddressed; however, in low-relief environments centimeters can make a difference in the exposure to physically demanding abiotic conditions (e.g., inundation, salt spray, wave energy). Thus, there is a need to develop straightforward techniques that address this uncertainty in digital elevation models used for coastal ecosystem monitoring and research. Monte Carlo simulations have been used by researchers as an efficient approach to delineating the land-sea interface while also incorporating vertical uncertainty. This dataset builds on these efforts through a comparative study of the delineation of low-lying lands and intertidal lands for three different error treatments in addition to showing how minor adjustments to error or bias values can affect results.

• USGS Data Release Products
• USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center