The Coastal and Marine Geospatial Laboratory at the Harte Research Institute along with researchers from the Conrad Blucher Institute at Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi and the Bureau of Economic Geology and Center for Space Research at The University of Texas at Austin are monitoring shoreline changes along the Texas Coast using Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) aerial surveys. The project's first lidar survey of the entire Texas Gulf shoreline was conducted during April. An airplane, operated by the Texas Department of Transportation, was outfitted with the lidar sensor. While flying, a laser beam scans the survey area at a rate of 25,000 shots per second. The results are detailed and accurate topographic images of the beaches and foredunes.

Depiction of LiDAR survey over Mustang Island

The Coastal and Marine Geospatial Sciences lab is conducting ground surveys as well as analyzing the lidar data for beach and dune morphodynamics and shoreline change. Additional aerial surveys are scheduled to occur in 2011 and 2012. We expect this information will give us a better understanding of how beaches and dunes respond to hurricane impacts and the pattern and duration of recovery. This research is sponsored by the Coastal Impacts Assistance Program of the Minerals Management Service in the U. S. Department of Interior and is administered by the Texas General Land Office.

LiDAR data taken in Port Aransas during 2010 SandFest