Mobile and Airborne Lidar Scanning of Beach Elevation Change Due to Hurricane Harvey

This study utilized a mobile lidar system (MLS) for rapid post-storm damage assessment of the beach and foredune structure along a section of sandy beach on North Padre Island, Texas, located roughly 50 km south of San Jose Island where Hurricane Harvey first made landfall. Strong winds, storm surge levels, and flooding resulted in rapid change of the beach and foredune structures. MLS data were collected on September 5, 2017, only 11 days after Harvey made landfall. The system used is called a Velodyne HDL-32E (made by LidarUSA) and is a lower cost, shorter range scanner. Tests were conducted to ensure scanner accuracy and a “best practices” procedure for initialization of the positioning and orientation system was produced. Results concluded that more tests must be completed before using the scanner in dynamic driving patterns. However, post-Harvey scans aligned well with pre-Harvey airborne lidar data collected over the region, and these data were used to measure beach erosion stemming from the storm.