The Topographic Mapping Flash Lidar for micro-topography of river systems

The Topographic Mapping Flash Lidar (TMFL) instrument built by Ball Aerospace is a pushbroom lidar operating at 1064nm that provides the ability to map the topographic structure of river beds and surrounding terrain. The receiver is a pixilated array, allowing small-scale resolution of micro-topography that is critical to understanding river dynamics and the biodiversity of the area. The instrument uses no mechanical scanning, which is a key feature allowing the design to be applicable to space flight like the NASA Decadal Survey mission LIST. The TMFL instrument has been flown on a Twin Otter aircraft. This poster will exhibit examples of river topography over dry and wet riverbeds. Examples are given of imaging a river even when partially obscured under trees in an area of high canopy density.