Wa-LiD: A new LiDAR simulator for waters

H. Abdallah (1) , N. Baghdadi (1) , Jean-Stéphane Bailly (1) , Y. Pastol (2) , F. Fabre (3)

1 UMR TETIS - Territoires, Environnement, Télédétection et Information Spatiale
2 SHOM - Service Hydrographique et Océanographique de la Marine
3 Astrium [Toulouse]

A simulator (Wa-LiD) was developed to simulate the reflection of LiDAR waveforms from water across visible wavelengths. The specific features of the simulator include (i) a geometrical representation of the water surface properties, (ii) the use of laws of radiative transfer in water adjusted for wavelength and the water’s physical properties, and (iii) modelling of detection noise and signal level due to solar radiation. A set of simulated waveforms was compared with observed LiDAR waveforms acquired by the HawkEye airborne and GLAS satellite systems in the near-infra red or green wavelengths and across inland or coastal waters. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) distributions for the water surface and bottom waveform peaks are compared with simulated and observed waveforms. For both systems (GLAS and HawkEye), Wa-LiD simulated SNR conform to the observed SNR distributions.

Mots clés: LIDAR; VAGUE; ALTIMETRIE; BATHYMETRIE; WAVEFORM MODEL; ALTIMETRY; BATHYMETRY; SNR; GLAS; ICESAT; HAWKEYE

Domaines: Sciences de l'environnement

H. Abdallah, N. Baghdadi, Jean-Stéphane Bailly, Y. Pastol, F. Fabre. Wa-LiD: A new LiDAR simulator for waters. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, 2012, 9 (4), p. 744 - p. 748. ⟨10.1109/LGRS.2011.2180506⟩. ⟨hal-00736576⟩