High resolution topographic mapping is a core component of many geoscience lidar applications. Although airborne lidar can cover larger areas, the level of detail recorded by ground-based lidar is unparalleled. If you want to measure the volume of your field crew’s boot prints in the mud we can do it. Although that level of fidelity is unnecessary for many applications it does highlight the many possibilities. In addition, since you’re no longer limited to collecting data from an aerial perspective it is ideal for use in lithologic and structural characterization. Visit the Earth Surface Case Study for more information on possible applications.

Lidar Guys has a strong research background in the geosciences and we have completed academic and industry projects at locations around the world. Whether you’re seeking a well defined standard deliverable like high resolution DEMs or all you have is half of a project idea, we would love to talk to you. We’re always looking for new challenges and coming up with answers to questions no one has thought of yet is the best challenge there is.

Selected Papers

Day, S. S., Gran, K. B., Belmont, P., and Wawrzyniec, T., 2013, Measuring bluff erosion part 1: Terrestrial laser scanning methods for change detection, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, v. 38, p. 1055-1067.

Day, S. S., Gran, K. B., Belmont, P., and Wawrzyniec, T., 2013, Measuring bluff erosion part 2: Pairing aerial photographs and terrestrial laser scanning to create a watershed scale sediment budget, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, v. 38, p. 1068-1082.

Jones, L. K., Kyle, P. R., Oppenheimer, C., Frechette, J. D., and Okal, M. H., 2015, Terrestrial laser scanning observations of geomorphic changes and varying lava lake levels at Erebus volcano, Antarctica, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, v. 295, 43-54.

Klise, K. A., Weissmann, G. S., McKenna, S. A., Nichols, E. M., Frechette, J. D., Wawrzyniec, T. F., and Tidwell, V. C., 2009, Exploring solute transport and streamline connectivity using lidar-based outcrop images and geostatistical representations of heterogeneity, Water Resources Research, v. 45.

Nichols, E. M., Weissmann, G. S., Wawrzyniec, T. F., Frechette, J. D., and Klise, K. A., 2011, Processing of outcrop-based lidar imagery to characterize heterogeneity for groundwater models, in Outcrops Revitalized: Tools, Techniques and Applications: SEPM concepts in Sedimentology and Paleontology, no. 10, p. 239-247.

Pickel, A., Frechette, J. D., Comunian, A., and Weissmann, G., 2015, Building a training image with Digital Outcrop Models, Journal of Hydrology.

Rust, G. L., Weissmann, G. S., Werban, U., Frechette, J. D., and Wawrzyniec, T. F., 2011, Outcrop-based GPR tomography through braided-stream deposits, in Outcrops Revitalized: Tools, Techniques and Applications: SEPM concepts in Sedimentology and Paleontology, no. 10, p. 227-238.

Slatt, R. M., Buckner, N., Abousleiman, Y., Sierra, R., Philp, P. R., Miceli-Romero, A., Portas, R., O’Brien, N., Tran, M., Davis, R., and Wawrzyniec, T. F., 2012, Outcrop-behind Outcrop (Quarry): Multiscale Characterization of the Woodford Gas Shale, Oklahoma, in Shale Reservoirs—Giant Resources for the 21st Century, AAPG Memoir 97, p. 382-402.

Wawrzyniec, T. F., McFadden, L. D., Ellwein, A., Meyer, G., Scuderi, L., McAuliffe, J., and Fawcett, P., 2007, Chronotopographic analysis directly from point-cloud data: A method for detecting small, seasonal hillslope change, Black Mesa Escarpment, NE Arizona, Geosphere, v. 3, p. 550-567.

Weissmann, G., Pickel, A., McNamara, K., Frechette, J. Kalinovich, I., Allen-King, R., and Jankovic, I., 2015, Characterization and quantification of aquifer heterogeneity using outcrop analogs at the Canadian Forces Base Borden, Ontario, Canada, Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 127, p. 1021-1035.