Measuring and analysing of flood waves in Rhine river; an application of laser altimetry

The Survey Department of Rijkswaterstaat in The Netherlands makes intensive use of laser altimetry for topographic measurements. A new application is to measure the water level, during flood waves in rivers. As the laser signal reflects differently on water compared to land, a high point density was used. This large data set gives spatial detailed information about the flood wave, the along — and across — track slope of the river and information to derive the water resistance on different vegetation areas.