The use of airborne LiDAR data for the analysis of debris flow events in Switzerland

A methodology of magnitude estimates for debris flow events is described using airborne LiDAR data. Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) is a widely used technology to generate digital elevation information. LiDAR data in alpine regions can be obtained by several commercial companies where the automated filtering process is proprietary and varies from companies to companies. This study describes the analysis of geomorphologic changes using digital terrain models derived from commercial LiDAR data. The estimation of the deposition volumes is based on two digital terrain models covering the same area but differing in their time of survey. In this study two surveyed deposition areas of debris flows, located in the canton of Berne, Switzerland, were chosen as test cases. We discuss different grid interpolating techniques, other preliminary work and the accuracy of the used LiDAR data and volume estimates.