Does atmospheric turbulence affect long-range terrestrial laser scanner observations? A case study in alpine region

Gaël Kermarrec, Daniel Czerwonka-Schröder, Christoph Holst

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Optical or microwave measurements from numerous geodetic devices are affected by their path through the atmosphere. Deterministic changes in the atmospheric refractivity index can be modelled and, to some extent, corrected. On the other hand, random fluctuations coming from atmospheric turbulence correlates the observations thus reducing the effective number of available observations. They have to be accounted for to get a realistic description of the measurement error but also to increase the reliability of early warning system within the context of risk management with light detection and ranging (lidar) sensors. We have developed a novel method to investigate the impact of turbulence on long-range laser scanner observations by searching prisms within repetitive scans at different times of the day, during consecutive days in a mountainous region in Austria. The empirical analysis of the power spectral density of the measurements combined with information from meteorological sensors (pressure, temperature, wind velocity) help gaining a better understanding of how and when turbulence affects the range measurements. Our method gives an averaged description of turbulence across the atmospheric layers travelled by the laser light, and paves the way for the development of an improved stochastic model for such observations without using additional equipment such as scintillometers.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationEnvironmental Effects on Light Propagation and Adaptive Systems VI
EditorsKarin Stein, Szymon Gladysz
PublisherSPIE
ISBN (Electronic)9781510666917
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023
EventEnvironmental Effects on Light Propagation and Adaptive Systems VI 2023 - Amsterdam, Netherlands
Duration: 5 Sep 20236 Sep 2023

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume12731
ISSN (Print)0277-786X
ISSN (Electronic)1996-756X

Conference

ConferenceEnvironmental Effects on Light Propagation and Adaptive Systems VI 2023
Country/TerritoryNetherlands
CityAmsterdam
Period5/09/236/09/23

Keywords

  • Alpine terrain
  • Error Budget
  • Multi-temporal 3D Point Cloud Analysis
  • Permanent Laser Scanning
  • Turbulence theory
  • atmospheric turbulence
  • scale length of turbulence

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