| NSF Org: |
EAR Division Of Earth Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 1, 2013 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 13, 2018 |
| Award Number: | 1339015 |
| Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Russell Kelz
EAR Division Of Earth Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | August 1, 2013 |
| End Date: | January 31, 2019 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $2,756,606.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $4,152,186.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2014 = $1,255,546.00 FY 2015 = $513,398.00 FY 2016 = $613,199.00 FY 2017 = $708,170.00 FY 2018 = $338,231.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
4300 MARTIN LUTHER KING BLVD HOUSTON TX US 77204-3067 (713)743-5773 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
TX US 77204-2015 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
Hurricane Harvey 2017, Archaeology, Tectonics, Hydrologic Sciences, Instrumentation & Facilities, ANT Integrated System Science, EAR-Earth Sciences Research, Geobiology & Low-Temp Geochem, Geomorphology & Land-use Dynam, SURFACE EARTH PROCESS SECTION, CZO-Critical Zone Obsrvatories, SEES Hazards |
| Primary Program Source: |
01001415DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001516DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001617DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001718DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001819DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 0100XXXXDB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
1339015
Shrestha
This grant provides five years of operational support for the National Center for Airborne Laser Swath Mapping (NCALM). NCALM is a collaborative Facility with two nodes. The acquisition node and initial flight line trajectory calculations and ALSM data calibration functions are now located and performed at the University of Houston (UH) and the data processing, archival and distribution node is at the University of California at Berkeley (UC-B). Also known as airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), ALSM allows for the measurement of surface topographic features with decimeter-level accuracies and meter to sub-meter spatial resolution. High resolution, georeferenced, digital elevation models (DEMs) processed from raw ALSM data (point clouds) offer unprecedented observations of a multitude of geomorphic features at the scales at which fundamental shaping processes operate. Examples include, fault scarps, hill slopes, river channels, barrier beaches and sand dunes, mountain and continental glaciers, volcanic edifices and vegetative canopy structure. DEMs developed from ALSM can be used to model and advance understanding of the dynamics of surface landforms and the underlying processes responsible. The technique also has a wide range of applications in civil engineering and hazards assessments and for archaeological investigations of past civilizations modification of landscapes, especially in tropical environs where such structures are invisible via airborne photogrammetry. ALSM systems fire laser pulses (typically Nd:YAG at milliJoule powers) at high frequency from an aircraft whose position and orientation are accounted for via on board and ground GPS control and an aircraft IMU. The ALSM system measures the round trip travel time for individual pulses to reflect off encountered surfaces and return to a detector. The intensity of returns is also recorded on the UH GEMINI system. Raw ALSM travel time data is combined with ground Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver phase data and aircraft GPS and IMU data to generate xyz georeferenced coordinates of each laser return from the surface or ?point clouds.? The GEMINI system?s high frequency laser postings allows for penetration of dense vegetative canopies and, with developed post processing routines, can yield maps of both the upper surface of vegetative canopy and the bare Earth surface that is obstructed from a bird?s eye view. NCALM is dedicated to meeting three goals: 1) providing research-quality LiDAR data to the scientific community, 2) advancing the state of the art in airborne laser mapping, and 3) training and educating graduate students to meet the rapidly growing needs of academia, government, and the private sector.
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
BACKGROUND
In 2003, the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping (NCALM), was founded by NSF through a collaborative effort by the University of Florida (UF) and the University of California – Berkeley (UCB) to provide research quality airborne laser swath mapping (ALSM, a.k.a. LiDAR: Light Detection And Ranging) observations to the national research community, to advance the technology, and to provide education and training for students to meet the rapidly growing needs of industry, government agencies, and academia.
With NSF support, NCALM relocated its operational center from the UF to the University of Houston (UH) as a part of a new initiative at the Cullen College of Engineering in January 2010. The facilities, instruments, staff and research associated with NCALM provide UH a unique opportunity to develop a Geosensing Systems Engineering (GSE) graduate research program second to none in the world, and to lead the development and application of remote sensing technology with potentially major impacts nationwide on environmental studies, homeland security, response to natural disasters, oil and gas exploration, and to advance several branches of geosciences.
RESEARCH AREA OVERVIEW
Technological advances in geosensing and remote sensing now make it possible to delineate the physical features of the surface of the Earth on spatial scales as fine as a few decimeters horizontally and a few centimeters vertically. As a result, long standing scientific questions about such surficial processes as erosion, faulting, volcanism, and plate motion are placed within the reach of earth scientists and engineers. Information on surface relief, drainage patterns and vegetation, critical to understanding the evolution of ecologically sensitive areas, can be collected over hundreds of square kilometers in periods of days. Information collected by such technology can also be used to address a wide variety of engineering issues such as developing and managing natural resources, mitigating the impacts of such natural disasters as floods, hurricanes, tornados, landslides and sinkholes, and building and maintaining transportation infrastructures. The attendant order of magnitude drop in operating costs for the first time allows academic researchers access to these powerful technologies, setting off a remarkable growth in studies of Earth’s topography, bridging such traditional specialties as geodesy, geophysics, hydrology, biology, archaeology and engineering.
Since its establishment in 2003, NCALM has either collected and processed or in a process of collecting and processing research quality airborne LiDAR data for 85 researchers, at 61 institutions and agencies, in 24 states and 8 foreign nations, totaling more than 35,000 square kilometers for a total of over 150 funded projects.
Additionally NCALM has collected and processed SEED projects for 121 graduate students and 7 University Professors in 22 States including Hawaii. A total of 100 Advisors from 71 Universities are involved in the SEED research projects. Data has been collected in a total of 28 States for NSF PIs and graduate students.
GSE GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMSWhen NCALM relocated from the University of Florida to the University of Houston in 2010, and important component of this relocation was the establishment of graduate degree programs in Geosensing Systems Engineering and Sciences (GSES) Graduate Research program with cross- disciplinary areas of study to provide education and training to meet the needs of varied applications of Lidar technology in academia, State and Federal governments and private industry. The GSES graduate program contains education plans leading to both a MS and PhD in GSES. The MS program was approved by the State of Texas Education Board in Nov. 2012 and it became effective January 1, 2013. The PhD plan was approved in April of 2015 and was effective as of September 1, 2015. The GSES graduate program started with zero graduate students when NCALM relocated to UH in 2010. Since then 20 new graduate students (12 PhD, 8 MS) have been recruited and admitted by the GSE faculty members, and the program has already graduated 8 PhD and 3 MS students.
During the next five years, UH will continue graduate education through its Geosensing Engineering Program. We anticipate enrolling 3-5 students annually with ~2–4 students graduating per year. Based on previous placements, many of these students are expected to enter into the job market in government or industry actively engaged in lidar- based projects. To date, all of our graduates have obtained employment immediately upon completing their degrees.
In addition, we have developed a minor in Geomatics in the Civil Engineering undergraduate program, with broad support from the Texas Society of Professional Surveying (TSPS) and, strongly supported by the surveying community in the greater Houston area. The community has provided funds to hire non-tenure track teaching faculty for the initial five years of the program as needed. The Minor was approved by the State of Texas in May 2017.
Last Modified: 04/01/2019
Modified by: Ramesh Shrestha
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