Northern California LIDAR Data
A Tool for Mapping the San Andreas Fault and Pleistocene Marine Terraces in Heavily Vegetated Terrain
Area of Northern San Andreas Fault. LiDAR coverage is shown in gray. This area was chosen because it includes 70 km of the northern San Andreas fault that is heavily forested (see NSAF1a.jpeg) as well as the flight of uplifted marine terraces along the coast.
Recent acquisition of airborne LIDAR (also known as ALSM) data covering approximately 418 square kilometers of coastal northern California provides a powerful new tool for mapping geomorphic features related to the San Andreas Fault and coastal uplift. LIDAR data has been previously used in the Puget Lowland region of Washington to identify and map Holocene faults and uplifted shorelines concealed under dense vegetation (Haugerud et al., 2003; see the Puget Sound Lidar Consortium). Our effort represents the first use of LIDAR data for this purpose along the San Andreas Fault. This data set is the result of a collaborative effort between NASA Solid Earth and Natural Hazards Program, Goddard Space Flight Center, Stennis Space Center, USGS, and TerraPoint, LLC.
Resulting images
In each example, you will see a hillshade image constructed from the full feature LiDAR DEM showing the forest cover, and a hillshade image of the same area constructed from the bare earth LiDAR DEM showing the ground surface beneath the vegetation.
Download LIDAR data
You can download Northern California LIDAR data for free from NASA.
For more information, please contact Carol Prentice.
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