Software for analyzing and visualizing laser remote sensing (LIDAR) data

Abstract

This paper describes an IDL (Interface Description Language) script for analyzing and presenting laser remote sensing (LIDAR) data, which will enable scientists to monitor and visualize atmospheric phenomena like aerosol load, natural and pollutant gases concentration, and wind speed. The currently available versions of the script produce displays and analyses of the following types: (i) reading the LIDAR data in text and Microsoft Excel formats; (ii) visualizing available data, finding the backgrounds, and averaging the signals with different methods; (iii) applying different wise smoothing methods (like Savitzky-Golay smoothing filter) for ensure that reasonable information would not be lost; (iv) applying different mathematical method to extract the molecule concentration of gases like H2O, NO, NO2, CO2, and SO2. The output of this code helps scientists to interpret and visualize the natural (like volcanic plume) or human made (like industrial pollutant) aerosols and gases. The presented script is also capable of analyzing extinction coefficients, wind speed, and elevation data - like DEMs (Digital Elevation Models - by bridging with ENVI (a software application currently marketed by ITT for Visual Information Solutions, used to process and analyze geospatial imagery) for presenting the 3D view (topography) of the study area.