Quantifying erosion and deposition patterns using airborne LiDAR following the 2012 High Park Fire and 2013 Colorado Flood

Abstract:

Quantifying and predicting geomorphic change over large spatial scales is increasingly feasible and of growing interest as repeat high resolution topography becomes available. We began detailed field studies of channel geomorphic change using RTK-GPS in two 15 km² watersheds following the 2012 High Park Fire; the watersheds were then subjected to a several-hundred year flood in September 2013. During this time a series of airborne LiDAR datasets were collected, and the objectives of this study were to: 1) determine and compare the spatial variability in channel and valley erosion and deposition over time from the LiDAR; and 2) determine if the observed changes can be predicted from channel and valley bottom characteristics. Data quality issues in the initial LiDAR required us to rotate and translate flight lines in order to co-register ground-classified point clouds between successive datasets; uncertainty was then estimated using our RTK-GPS field measurements. Topographic changes were calculated using the Multiscale Model to Model Cloud Comparison (M3C2) algorithm. Results indicate that the 2013 flood mobilized much more sediment than was mobilized due to the fire alone; unfortunately the uncertainty in differencing is still frequently greater than the observed changes, especially within transfer reaches. Valley expansion and constriction are major controls on spatial patterns of erosion and deposition, suggesting that topographic metrics such as longitudinal distributions of channel slope and valley confinement may provide quasi-physically based estimates of sediment deposition and delivery potential.