Environmental Sciences Commons^™

Lidar Investigations Of Snow Distribution In Mountainous Terrain, Alden Taylor Shallcross

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

An algorithm is constructed to use snow-depth estimates, derived from repeat airborne LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), to identify the sampling strategy that requires the fewest total measurements to estimate the total snow volume in the Dry Creek Experimental Watershed (DCEW) Idaho. LiDAR is used to map snow cover by differencing the digital elevation models (DEMs) obtained from a snow-covered overflight and a snow-free overflight. Sixteen independent variables known to influence snow distribution are derived from a LiDAR digital elevation dataset, obtained during snow-free conditions, and used to predict snow distribution via binary regression trees. Variable ranges leading to the …