Our Study Area is the Clarksburg Maryland Special Protection Area (SPA): Use of LIDAR to Monitor Stream Morphology Changes Due to Urbanization of a Suburban Watershed S. Taylor Jarnagin and David B. Jennings, e-mail: jarnagin.taylor@epa.gov US Environmental Protection Agency, ORD/NERL/ESD Landscape Ecology Branch Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center (EPIC), Reston VA 20192-0002 The Problem: Urban Effects on Streams Montgomery County, Maryland Department of Environmental Protection Division of Watershed Management Our Research Partners: University of Maryland, Baltimore County UMBC Department of Geography and Environmental Systems The Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE) Our Emerging Technology Tool: LIDAR LASER-SCANNING Above: Satellite classification of urban land cover 1970s - 2000. The Clarksburg SPA (yellow outline above) is at the edge of the current development extent of the Washington DC metropolitan area. i 1970'» NALC wtoan 1902 NLCD urban « 2000 NLCD urban Clarksburg Special Protection Area Map Source: Montgomery Co. MO Department of Environmental Protection m \ OTP' Image Sflurea: Sponear B, Oroaa Inc . Portland 0« LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology uses laser pulses to measure the distance from an aircraft to environmental surfaces. GPS (Global Positioning System) receivers and on- board inertia! systems are used to accurately determine the position of the aircraft and the surface sensed with LIDAR. The final result is a very accurate and high-resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the environmental surfaces remotely sensed with LIDAR. Changes in stream structure will be mapped from LIDAR and compared to changes in watershed development over time. Emerging Te Our Research Plan: Our research will combine remotely sensed imagery, GIS (Geographic Information Systems), and LIDAR to map and monitor development of the Clarksburg SPA and the streams' responses. We hope to learn what BMPs (Best Management Practices) work best in mitigating the effects of urban development on streams. Monitoring will include biological and physical water quality, streamflow, precipitation, and topography. Shaded Relief from National Elevation Data (NED, 30 m DEM) 0.5 I Miles 1 'Partnering to Protect Human Health and the iLn/lromnent ------- |