A new PML-led project, funded through the NERC: Natural Environment Research Council Net Zero Aerial Capability (NZArC) programme, aims to revolutionise how underwater environments are mapped, particularly shallow waters like river sections and coastal areas with low turbidity.

Titled ‘A remotely piloted aerial Green LiDAR for mapping bathymetry of shallow waters and elevation of boundary land (Green LiDAR)’, the project involves collaborations with British Geological Survey, National Oceanography Centre, Scottish Association For Marine Science and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), using state-of-the-art aerial equipment to provide underwater mapping (bathymetry) data where other sensors struggle or simply fail to provide solutions.

Aser Mata Torollo, Project Leader and Earth Observation Scientist at PML, commented:

“Mapping of shallow waters is especially vital for studying blue carbon habitats such as mangroves, seagrasses, and tidal marshes as these are some of the most efficient natural carbon sinks on Earth. These habitats store and sequester carbon at rates far exceeding tropical forests but mapping their underwater terrain and estimating carbon storage has been a major challenge”.

While bathymetry of the seabed or rivers can be obtained using other boat and instruments such as multibeam echosounders, these sensors cannot be deployed in very shallow waters. To help deliver mapping of ecologically and economically-important underwater environments that are hard-to-reach, the project has allowed for an innovative RIEGL UK Ltd VQ-840-GL Topo-Bathymetric LiDAR sensor to be obtained along with a dedicated third-party drone platform.