Airborne Laser Swath Mapping: Achieving the resolution and accuracy required for geosurficial research

Modern Airborne Laser Swath Mapping (ALSM) instrumentation, with laser pulse rates in excess of 100,000 Hz, has made it possible to map topography over hundreds of square kilometers per day, with sufficient resolution to answer long standing questions and test new theories pertaining to land surface processes. But sensor technology is changing rapidly, and its operation is sufficiently complex that data collection and processing methods must continue to evolve to take advantage of sensor advances. In 2003, the National Science Foundation established the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping (NCALM) to collect and process ALSM data. As a result, more research-quality ALSM observations have become available to the earth science community. But as the amount of available ALSM data rapidly increases, it becomes imperative to identify and describe the parameters that control data quality, so that data sets may be evaluated as to whether they are adequate for particular applications.