Permanent Laser Scanner and Synthetic Aperture Radar Data: Correlation Characterisation at a Sandy Beach

Area of Science:

• Earth and Marine Sciences
• Remote Sensing Technology
• Coastal Geomorphology

Background:

• Coastal environments benefit from remotely sensed data.
• Combining Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) offers complementary data.
• Understanding sensor interaction is crucial for data fusion.

Purpose of the Study:

• To co-analyze TLS and SAR data for coastal environments.
• To investigate the combined use of Permanent Terrestrial Laser Scanning (PLS) and Sentinel-1 SAR data.
• To establish the relationship between SAR data and beach characteristics.

Main Methods:

• Comparison of Permanent Terrestrial Laser Scanning (PLS) data with simultaneous Sentinel-1 SAR images.
• Analysis of meteorological conditions and surface roughness.
• Evaluation of the correlation between PLS and SAR data.

Main Results:

• A generally positive linear correlation (up to 0.5) was observed between PLS and SAR data.
• Correlation is significant under low- or moderate-wind-speed conditions.
• No significant correlation was found under high wind intensity; wind direction dependence was detected.

Conclusions:

• Combined TLS and SAR data can be effectively used for coastal environment monitoring.
• The relationship between SAR data and beach characteristics is influenced by wind speed and direction.
• Freely available Sentinel-1 SAR data can be correlated with detailed beach data.