Performance Assessment of a Small LIDAR Altimeter Deployed on Unmanned Aircraft for Glacier and Sea Ice Surface Topography Profiling

The recently developed CU (University of Colorado, Boulder) LIDAR Profilometer and Imaging System (CULPIS) has been successfully integrated into multiple unmanned aircraft (UA) and deployed in the Arctic to provide glacier and sea ice imagery and surface elevation measurements. In July 2008, as part of the Arctic MUltiSensor Cryospheric Observation eXperiment (MUSCOX), the CULPIS was flown onboard the Advanced Ceramics Research, Inc. Manta UA to map a region of supraglacial melt lakes in the vicinity of Jakobshavn Glacier, Greenland. In July 2009, as part of the Characterization of Arctic Sea Ice Experiment (CASIE), the CULPIS was flown onboard NASA's SIERRA UA and collected surface topography data over more than 2500km of sea ice in Fram Strait. The CULPIS performance is assessed with respect to its ability to provide accurate surface elevation measurements and imagery suitable for cryospheric surface roughness and topography studies. Emphasis is placed on the system's capability of regenerating a known, ground-surveyed surface from data collected at altitude. Aircraft attitude and differential GPS corrections are examined to determine their effect on reducing surface elevation measurement error. A high-resolution digital elevation model for the Greenland study region is presented, and Fram Strait sea ice surface roughness and freeboard characteristics are discussed.