Development of a High-Altitude, High-Accuracy, Wide-Swath Imaging Laser Altimeter Capability for the Global Hawk UAV Aircraft

LVIS (pronounced “Elvis”) is a medium/high-altitude wide-swath laser altimeter that has, for over a decade, demonstrated state-of-the-art performance in measuring vegetation structure, and the topography of land, oceans, ice sheets, and sea ice. A new version of this instrument is currently under development that will be capable of an improved level of performance and modified for operations in a high-altitude, autonomous environment, specifically for use in the Global Hawk aircraft. This new design is based on the existing LVIS instrument, and utilizes several subsystems (i.e. the aircraft structure, the pressure enclosure, and the data system) that were recently developed for the Cloud Precipitation Lidar (CPL) recently integrated onto the Global Hawk. The new LVIS instrument will incorporate some of the latest in NASA- and commercially-developed lasers, detectors, digitizers, and imaging systems resulting in an autonomous, high-altitude, wide-swath, full-waveform laser altimeter. This high-altitude version of LVIS will provide high-quality large area data sets for Cryospheric, Solid Earth, and Ecosystem science, for cal/val and supplementing the upcoming ICESat-2 and DESDynI lidar missions, and regional data coverage in a cost-effective manner to enable new science applications. This high-accuracy, wide-swath mapping capability combined with the extraordinary range and endurance of the Global Hawk aircraft enables orders of magnitude more coverage and access to remote areas such Antarctica. Further, this advanced version of LVIS will serve as an operational prototype of the Lidar for Surface Topography (LIST) Decadal Survey Mission Lidar instrument and measurement capability, and potentially in support of the National Lidar Mapping Initiative.