Collaborative Research: Center: CFS (Track III) Support for Operation of the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping (NCALM)

The National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping (NCALM), in operation since 2003, is a facility jointly operated by the University of Houston and the University of California Berkeley. NCALM provides airborne laser scanning surveys, high-resolution airborne digital images, and data processing expertise to the earth science community for the creation of high-quality three-dimensional (3D) data of Earth’s surface (topography), the built-environment, and vegetation.

These 3D data are used by scientists to study natural processes such as landslides, earthquakes, volcanoes, the modeling of flood behavior, and storage of atmospheric carbon in forests, among many applications. NCALM is focused on three primary goals: 1) train and educate graduate students to meet the needs of industry, government, and academia; 2) advance technology that allows for the creation of high-resolution and high-accuracy 3D data; and 3) provide research-quality 3D digital data to the scientific community.

Under the current award, NCALM will continue providing the research community with research-quality elevation data of Earth’s surface (topography, vegetation, and shallow water bathymetry) and digital aerial imaging. A key contribution of the facility has been the Seed project program for which graduate students from US institutions prepare proposals to request lidar data for their thesis or dissertation.

These requests are competitively evaluated by an independent committee based on intellectual merit and broader impacts. NCALM will pilot activities aimed at increasing participation in the Seed program by students from minority serving institutions (MSIs). These activities include a workshop to solicit input from MSI geoscience faculty, establishment of a short-term MSI faculty-in-residence program at NCALM, and encouraging Seed project applications from underrepresented minorities.

With the accelerating effects of climate change and the increase in natural hazards in the US, there is a need to rapidly acquire high-resolution topography data immediately after an extreme event. In response to this evolving need, NCALM will pilot an "NCALM NOW" service through which researchers can request surveys to quickly acquire perishable data immediately after events.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.