L’objet de cette thèse est la conception d’un lidar dédié à la mesure du profil du contenu en eau liquide dans le brouillard. Actuellement, ce paramètre n’est mesuré que sur des volumes restreints, au sol ou à des altitudes données. Or sa connaissance devrait apporter une meilleure compréhension de l’évolution du brouillard et devrait aussi constituer une information intéressante pour le contrôle des modèles de prévision du phénomène. Elle est en théorie possible, car il a été montré à la fin des années 70 qu’il existe une relation empirique linéaire entre le contenu en eau liquide et le coefficient d’extinction optique pour une longueur d’onde de 11 μm. J’ai confirmé l’existence de cette relation sur la base d’observations récentes plus précises que celle des années 70, et ai déterminé ses limites de validité. Les brouillards se développent du sol jusqu’à quelques centaines de mètres, c’est donc sur cette gamme d’altitude que nous devons pouvoir faire la mesure. J’ai analysé les choix de conception offerts par les lidars afin de déterminer le système le plus performant pour notre application. Tout d’abord, j’ai analysé les capacités de mesure des lidars à détection directe et hétérodyne et j’ai mis en évidence que la détection hétérodyne est la plus appropriée. J’ai ensuite comparé les performances des configurations monostatique, bistatique et bistatique désaxé, et j’ai trouvé que la configuration monostatique est la plus appropriée. J’ai ensuite codé un simulateur instrumental et mis en évidence un biais de mesure lors de la restitution du coefficient d’extinction sur les premières centaines de mètres. J’ai proposé et validé une correction de ce biais. J’ai ensuite établi deux approximations analytiques pour le biais et l’écart-type de l’estimateur du coefficient d’extinction. Avec le simulateur, elles ont permis de se faire une idée de la portée et de la précision qui pourront être obtenues. / The objective of the present study is the design of a lidar for the measurement of vertical profiles of liquid water content in fogs. Presently, there is no system able to measure such profile. The liquid water content is measured at ground or at limited number of altitudes. Yet, the information would improve our understanding of fog processes and provide valuable data for controlling fog forecast models. Its feasibility is theoretically possible because it was shown in the late 70s that the liquid water content and the optical extinction at 11μm are empirically linked by a linear relationship. My first objective was to test this relationship with rencent observations more precise than in the late 70s. The relationship is confirmed within limits that I tried to determine. The vertical extension of fogs is several hundreds of meters. We thus need a lidar with a maximum range of several meters. I compared the range of a direct versus a heterodyne lidar and I found the heterodyne lidar is more appropriate. I have developed analytic approximations of the heterodyne efficiency for several transmitter configurations - monostatic, bistatic with parallel or non-parallel axes - and found the monostatic configuration gives the best results at short range. I coded a simulator for the lidar and showed the retrieval of the extinction coefficient from lidar signals with the usual signal processing technique produces biases at short range. I proposed and validated a correction scheme. I derived two analytic approximations for the bias and the standard deviation of the estimations of the extinction coefficient. They were used to estimate the practical range and accuracy a lidar can achieve for the measurement of the liquid water content in fogs.

Fires have become intense and more frequent in the United States. Improving the accuracy of mapping fuel models is essential for fuel management decisions and explicit fire behavior prediction for real-time support of suppression tactics and logistics decisions. This study has two main objectives. The first objective is to develop the use of LIght Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) remote sensing to assess fuel models in East Texas accurately and effectively. More specific goals include: (1) developing LIDAR derived products and the methodology to use them for assessing fuel models; (2) investigating the use of several techniques for data fusion of LIDAR and multispectral imagery for assessing fuel models; (3) investigating the gain in fuels mapping accuracy with LIDAR as opposed to QuickBird imagery alone; and, (4) producing spatially explicit digital fuel maps. The second objective is to model fire behavior using FARSITE (Fire Area Simulator) and to investigate differences in modeling outputs using fuel model maps, which differ in accuracy, in east Texas. Estimates of fuel models were compared with in situ data collected over 62 plots. Supervised image classification methods provided better accuracy (90.10%) with the fusion of airborne LIDAR data and QuickBird data than with QuickBird imagery alone (76.52%). These two fuel model maps obtained from the first objective were used to see the differences in fire growth with fuel model maps of different accuracies. According to our results, LIDAR derived data provides accurate estimates of surface fuel parameters efficiently and accurately over extensive areas of forests. This study demonstrates the importance of using accurate maps of fuel models derived using new LIDAR remote sensing techniques.

No description available.

Heidelberg, Universiẗat, Diss., 1997. / Dateien im PDF-Format. - Erscheinungsjahr an der Haupttitelstelle: 1996.

Thèse (M.Sc)--Université Laval, 2003. / Bibliogr. Publié aussi en version électronique.

The views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not relfect the offical policy or position of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government. / Previous modifications were made to the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Lidar System to enable comparison of lidar returns with radiosonde vertical profiles. Inaccuracies due to flexing of the lidar mounting structure limited observation of correlation between lidar and balloon data. Reconstruction with anew telescope and integral mounting now provides stable overlap of laser illumination and receiver field-of-view while maintaining eye safety. This revised system permits more measurement of profile correlation. Both day and night lidar measurement series have been compared with concurrent radiosonde launches in the Monterey Bay area. Maximum ranges from clouds greater than 3500 meters by day and greater than 5000 meters by night have been achieved. Within this range comparison can be made with moderate accuracy with the temperature and pressure profile boundary layer ceiling. Recommendations are made for future enhancement of sensitivity of correlation.

Cette thèse CIFRE a pour objet d'explorer, de développer et d'exploiter le potentiel des outils de représentation et de modélisation 3D dans l'étude géomorphologique du karst dont la structure géométrique est intrinséquement en trois dimensions. Ce travail a pour support d'étude les gorges de l'Ardèche dont l'évolution géomorphologique et paléogéographique, tant aux temps géologiques qu'aux temps des hommes, est extrêmement riche. Ce territoire propose en outre des défis scientifiques mais aussi sociétaux depuis la découverte de la désormais célèbre grotte Chauvet et la mise en place de l'ERGC (Espace de Restitution de la Grotte Chauvet). C'est dans ce cadre qu'une méthodologie de recherche appliqué au domaine souterrain a été élaborée et appliquée à l'étude de la grotte Chauvet et des cavités des gorges de l'Ardèche pour (i) l'étude de la spéléogenèse et de la karstogenèse, (ii) l'évolution géomorphologique d'une grotte ornée (grotte Chauvet) et (iii) la réalisation d'un projet culturel : l'ERGC. La première partie (chapitre 1, 2 et 3) présente les verrous actuels en géomorphologie karstique, la méthodologie de recherche développée et les apports de la connaissance géomorphologique de la grotte Chauvet et de l'utilisation de modèles 3D dans la construction d'un fac-similé de grande envergure. La deuxième partie (chapitre 4, 5 et 6) présente les problématiques et les résultats de l'étude géomorphologique 3D des gorges de l'Ardèche et des cavités environnantes. Les principaux apports se situent dans la connaissance des formes élémentaires du karst et la géométrie des réseaux karstiques. Ceci a permis d'élaborer un scénario global d'évolution paléogéographique de ce secteur depuis le Néogène jusqu'à l'Actuel. Enfin la troisième partie (chapitre 7, 8 et 9) aborde les problématiques d'étude et de recherches spécifiques des grottes ornées et de leur fermeture. La grotte Chauvet et sa zone d'entrée font l'objet d'une analyse détaillée permettant de répondre aux questionnements pluridisciplinaires (archéologie, préhistoire, conservation, valorisation …). L'approche géomorphologique 3D développée pour répondre aux différentes problématiques des sciences de la Nature et des Hommes est ici posée et discutée. / This doctoral thesis aims to explore, develop and exploit the potential of 3D visualization tools and 3D modelling for research on karst morphology and geometry, intrinsically three-dimensional landscape features. This work is based on research in the gorges of the Ardeche region where geomorphological formations and paleogeographic changes are rich and varied, over both geological and human time frames. Since Chauvet Cave's discovery and the establishment of the ERGC (‘Espace de Restitution de la Grotte Chauvet'), this region has presented scientific as well as societal challenges. It is in this context, and in accordance with specificities of the subterranean condition of this karst environment, that 3D visualization and mapping tools were developed and applied at Chauvet Cave and at several other nearby Ardèche canyon caves. The aims of this research were to: (i) Study the speleogenesis and karstogenesis of the cave systems. (ii) Study the geomorphological evolution of a decorated cave (Chauvet Cave). (iii) Advise construction of the facsimile of Chauvet Cave (ERGC project). The first part of this thesis (Chapters 1, 2 and 3) discusses the challenges associated with research on karst geomorphology; the methodology employed to address those challenges; and the contribution of geomorphological knowledge and the usefulness of 3D modelling towards the construction of a facsimile of Chauvet Cave. The second part (Chapters 4, 5 and 6) presents the results of the 3D geomorphological study of the cave systems in the vicinity of the Ardèche canyon. These major results bring new knowledge of karst morphologies and geometric networks that enable a new palaeo-geographic model of landscape evolution since the Neogene to the present. The third and final part of the thesis (Chapters 7, 8 and 9) focuses on research in the prehistoric cave of Chauvet (including its entrance area). This site has been the subject of detailed multidisciplinary investigations (incorporating archaeology, conservation and heritage assessment) on questions relating to the morphology of the palaeo-entrance and the age of the cave's closure through rock collapse.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 18-21, 2004 / Town & Country Resort, San Diego, California / A flexible system has been designed to accurately measure and average the outgoing laser energy of a micro-pulse LIDAR unit (MPL). This system incorporates specifically designed analog measurement circuitry interfaced with a microcontroller, allowing researchers to manage experiments from a personal computer. The final system produces a linearly proportional response between an incident laser energy input and the analog and digital circuitry’s output, accurate to within 0.1%. Custom designed algorithms allow the system to average the energy measured in a series of pulses. Each series can range on the order of tens of thousands of pulses.

The conversion of UK even-aged conifer plantations to continuous cover forestry (CCF), a form of forest management that maintains forest cover over time and avoids clear-cutting, requires more frequent and spatially explicit monitoring of forest structure than traditional systems. Key aims of CCF management are to increase the spatial heterogeneity of forest stands and to make increased use of natural regeneration, but judging success in meeting these objectives and allowing an adaptive approach to management requires information on spatial structure at a within-stand scale. Airborne remote sensing provides an alternative approach to field survey and has potential to meet these monitoring needs over large areas. An integral part of CCF is the creation of canopy gaps, allowing regeneration by increasing understorey light levels. This study examined the use of airborne lidar and passive optical data for the identification and characterisation of canopy gaps within UK Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) plantations. The potential for using the distribution of canopy and gaps within a stand to quantify spatial heterogeneity and allow the detection of changes in spatial structure, between stands and over time, was assessed. Detailed field surveys of six study plots, located in three UK spruce plantations, allowed assessment of the accuracy of gap delineation from remotely sensed data. Airborne data (multispectral, hyperspectral and lidar) were acquired for all sites. A novel approach to the delineation of gaps from lidar data was developed, delineating gaps directly from the lidar point cloud, avoiding the interpolation errors (and associated under-estimation of gap area) resulting from conversion to a canopy height model. This method resulted in improved accuracy of delineation compared to past techniques (overall accuracy of 78% compared to field gap delineations), especially when applied to lidar data collected at relatively low point densities. However, lidar data can be costly to acquire and provides little information about the presence of natural regeneration or other understorey vegetation within gaps. For these reasons, the potential of passive optical (and in particular, hyperspectral) data for gap delineation was also considered. The use of spectral indices, based on shortwave infrared reflectance or hyperspectral characteristics of the red- edge and chlorophyll absorption well, were shown to enhance the discrimination of canopy and gap and reduce the influence of illumination conditions. An average overall accuracy of 71% was obtained using hyperspectral characteristics for gap delineation, suggesting the use of optical data compares reasonably to results from lidar. Methods based on shortwave infrared (SWIR) reflectance were shown to be sensitive to within gap vegetation type, with SWIR reflectance being lower in the presence of natural regeneration. Potential for using optical data to classify within gap vegetation type was also demonstrated. Methods of quantifying spatial structure through the use of indices describing variations in gap size, shape and distribution were found to allow the detection of structural differences between stands and changes over time. Gap distribution based indices were also found to be strongly related to alternative methods based on relative tree positions, suggesting significant potential for consistent monitoring of structural changes during conversion of plantations to CCF. Remotely sensed delineations of canopy gap distribution may also allow spatially explicit modelling of understorey light conditions and potential for regeneration, providing further information to aid the effective management of CCF forests.

A methodology is presented, by which atmospheric aerosol retrievals from a standard, elastic-scatter, lidar can be constrained by using information from coincident measurements from a high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) or Raman lidar at a different wavelength. As high spectral resolution or inelastic-scattering lidars are now being incorporated coaxially into instruments with traditional, elastic-scatter channels at different wavelengths, a standard approach is needed to incorporate or fuse the diversity of spectral information so as to make maximal use of the aerosol measurements made from the elastic-scatter channel or channels. The approach is evaluated through simulation and with data from the NASA Langley Research Center Airborne HSRL instrument. The generality and extensibility of the method is also explored and discussed in the context of aerosol modeling. (C) The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.