| Abstract: |
Airborne bathymetric LiDAR technology, which uses a blue-green laser in addition to the red laser common to topographic LiDAR systems, offers unique capability to map nearshore regions quickly and efficiently. The technology has been used for underwater mapping of benthic habitats, seafloor geology, and shoreline resources over large areas. This presentation will demonstrate its use in an on-going program for the California State Coastal Conservancy to map all the state’s waters and coastal zone. Combined with multibeam echosounder bathymetry data and sea bed acoustic imagery, the project will result in a high-resolution GIS base map for defining Marine Protected Areas, identifying geological hazards, and for managing ocean resources on a uniform state-wide basis. This program will result in a published map folio series covering all of California’s mainland and island coastlines out to the three-nautical-mile boundary. |