Evaluating IFSAR and LIDAR Technologies Using ArcInfo: Red River Pilot Study

The 1997 Red River flood resulted in catastrophic damage to residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, and public properties in large portions of the Red River Valley in Minnesota and North Dakota, and in the Province of Manitoba, Canada. In the aftermath of the flood, the U.S. and Canadian governments asked the International Joint Commission (IJC) to analyze the cause and effects and to recommend ways to reduce the impact of future floods. In support of the IJC study, the U.S. Army Engineer District, Saint Paul, requested assistance from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Topographic Engineering Center (TEC) to evaluate emerging airborne remote-sensing technologies for application to crisis management support. A pilot study was conducted using both Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (IFSAR) and LIght Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) collection systems to determine the correct mix of technologies required. The major objectives of the study were to develop and implement a data fusion technique to merge IFSAR and LIDAR DEMs and to test the hydrological flow of water over each respective DEM. The results of this study will provide the Red River task force with a cost comparison for each of the technologies tested during this project and a list of recommendations for performing the remainder of the basin collection. The original document contains color images.