Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Pacific Northwest CESU

archived

The US Geological Survey, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center (NOROCK), is offering a funding opportunity for the USGS Benchmark Glacier program, which is long-term studies focused on four glaciers: Wolverine and Gulkana in Alaska, South Cascade in Washington, and Sperry in Montana. A newer part of the program also incorporates inventories and estimates of change for all glaciers in the western United States. With a relatively new development in availability and cost of LiDAR, opportunities for substantial improvements in monitoring and studying glaciers of the American West now exist. To that end, this effort will include the acquisition of recent (last several years) LiDAR data, including metadata, for 9-10 glaciers in the northern Rocky Mountains within Glacier National Park. The data will require analysis and production of Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) for these glaciers, with QA/QC completed for these DEMs using available information from field surveys and GIS data. DEMs will need to be compared to existing DEMs derived from stereo modeling from satellite data and/or USGS NED DEMs. An assessment of LiDAR data value and utility for glacier monitoring compared to other monitoring methods will be a key component to this effort.

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