RIEGL USA is proud to announce that NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has recently deployed their RIEGL LMS-Q1560 airborne laser scanner system!
NASA JPL is utilizing their RIEGL LMS-Q1560 to more completely and accurately measure snowpack depth of major mountain watersheds. This will be accomplished through the use of innovative airborne LiDAR from RIEGL. NASA JPL’s use of the RIEGL LMS-Q1560 will allow them to better gauge the volume of water that travels down rivers and streams as runoff from snowpack. The data is then made accessible to state officials, water districts, power plant managers, and farmers to alert them to the possibility of flooding and water allocation.
“How fast does it melt, where does it melt, how is it accumulated? Until this project, we really have not had spatially complete information. We have had very patchy information.” said Tom Painter, NASA’s lead investigator for this mission.
The RIEGL LMS-Q1560 is a high performance, fully integrated long-range airborne LiDAR system. It is a unique tool for a variety of airborne surveying missions. The dual laser channels dramatically increase the data captured. Multiple-Time-Around (MTA) capability enhances mission safety and speeds processing, innovative forward/backward looking capability and waveform analysis capture complex urban and mountainous terrain. The system is capable of low altitude flights, as well as flight altitudes of up to 15,500 feet AGL.
See the integration and the flight of the RIEGL LMS-Q1560 onboard the NASA JPL Twin Otter plane on our YouTube channel: RIEGL LMS-Q1560 supporting NASA mission!
An additional media article from the Associated Press can be found here!
