Importance of High-Resolution LiDAR Data in Modeling Runoff Levels Over Impervious Surfaces

Directly connected impervious areas collect and deliver unfiltered runoff to modified and impacted waterways. Modeling water flow over the landscape is an effective method of observing drainage patterns and predicting pollutant and sediment loadings. Improved models applying high-resolution elevation data can identify key areas with high pollutant output. This is a crucial issue in the Lake Tahoe Basin where lakeshore urban development has increased and lake clarity has been declining for years. This study aims to evaluate an integrated LiDAR and GIS-based modeling approach that uses a fine-scaled ground surface and impervious surface connectivity to predict the pollutant load in the Lake Tahoe Basin This study produced a fine-scaled surface model of nine subset catchments in the South Tahoe basin, including areas of low (below 20%), medium (30% to 50%) and high (above 50%) impervious surface cover. Our method integrated LiDAR, multispectral imagery, and GIS data to develop accurate terrain models, hydrologic routing, and directly connected impervious area layers for the Lake Tahoe basin. The high-density ground and object elevation data collected using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) creates an accurate picture of water flow over the land, and obstacles to the flow such as buildings. High-resolution LiDAR data was obtained from the Round 10 Lake Tahoe Southern Nevada Public Land Management capital program from the year 2010. This data was processed to create a digital elevation model of the ground surface. Land use classification used object height information from the LiDAR cloud, NAIP 4-band images with 1-meter resolution and a normalized difference vegetation index image derived from the NAIP imagery. The US Army Core of Engineers hydrologic modeling system (HEC-HMS) will be used to model runoff. Based on long-term simulations the effect of directly connected impervious area on rainfall-runoff characteristics for the South Lake Tahoe catchments will be evaluated. Similar scenarios will be run on data derived from 10-meter resolution USGS elevation models. Regression analyses will be used to compare the simulation results derived using LiDAR data inputs to the results obtained using lower-resolution USGS elevation models and to observed monitoring data.