New spatial measures of terrain dynamics derived from time series of lidar data

We anticipate that multiyear lidar surveys, currently focused on vulnerable coastal areas, will soon become a common resource for monitoring and analysis of various aspects of regional terrain change. We propose raster based measures for mapping and quantification of discrete and continuous terrain changes by introducing novel concepts, such as core and envelope surfaces, contour evolution band, and evolution regression slope map that can provide insights into the spatial aspects of terrain dynamics and changes in structures. The methodology is applied to a section of North Carolina coast where multiyear time series of lidar data is already available. Dynamics of bare dune and beach systems, changes in structures and vegetation growth are mapped and quantified to evaluate the proposed approach.