The task order consists of topobathymetric lidar and imagery acquisition and processing, as well as shoreline mapping for nearly 230 square miles of southern Tampa Bay, Florida, including more than 580 linear miles of shoreline. Deliverables will include lidar point cloud data, topobathymetric digital elevation models, orthorectified imagery, geographic cell shoreline, and associated metadata. In 2020, Dewberry conducted a similar survey for NOAA to map 300 square miles of northern Tampa Bay.

Dewberry has deployed a water quality monitoring buoy in Tampa Bay that logs water quality data every 15 minutes and sends the data to a cloud server for instant access. This will allow the firm to monitor water conditions in the bay during lidar and imagery acquisition, making sure data are acquired in optimal water clarity conditions. Dewberry will also be on board a Cessna Caravan aircraft operating the Coastal Zone Mapping and Imaging Lidar (CZMIL) Nova lidar sensor during acquisition. A concurrent ground survey will be conducted to acquire control points and independent checkpoints used for vertical and horizontal accuracy. The lidar and imagery data will be used primarily for shoreline compilation and attribution to be ingested into navigation charts. Data acquisition is expected to be completed by the second half of 2021, with deliverables being presented throughout 2021.

“We have leased Teledyne Optech’s CZMIL Nova topobathymetric lidar sensor to acquire data for this project. The sensor has a unique deep channel feature that will allow for bathymetric bottom returns deeper than we would expect to achieve with topobathymetric lidar sensors available,” says Dewberry Associate and Project Manager Emily Klipp. “I am excited to be managing this important project to support NOAA and the entire coastal community with high resolution topo-bathymetric lidar and imagery.”