Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Services by Fugro Pelagos, Inc.

PROJECT EXAMPLE: NOAA - HYDROGRAPHIC CHARTING - PRIBILOF ISLANDS, ALASKA

Fugro Pelagos, Inc., under contract to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Hydrographic Services Division, used Airborne Lidar Hydrography to survey the nearshore waters and offshore reefs surrounding St. Paul and St. George Islands of the Pribilof Islands in Alaska. The Pribilof Islands are remote islands in the Bering Sea. The survey extended from the shoreline to 20 meters and was conducted for nautical charting purposes. Fugro Pelagos utilized the SHOALS-400 system, owned by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and operated by Fugro Chance.

The Airborne Lidar Bathymetry approach required flying the SHOALS-400 system aboard a Twin-Otter aircraft, with DGPS and inertial motion control. Processing was completed using the SHOALS processor for acquired data and tide data were collected in accordance with NOAA standards. Final data processing and reporting were completed using CARIS HIPS, after CARIS was contracted by Fugro to develop SHOALS-400 support within CARIS HIPS.

Project Examples:
NOAA - Hydrographic Charting
USACE - Port and Harbor Survey
USACE - Various Applications
Various - Coastal Zone Management

Performance of the SHOALS system was measured and verified during a test survey at the NOAA calibration site at Shilshole Bay, Washington on April 15-16, 2002. The results of this survey were supported with a hard target calibration on March 28, 2002, completed in Calgary, Canada. System accuracy was proven with plotting of flat-water surface and consistency of Lidar and MBES sounding data.