SERIC

South East Digital Elevation Model (DEM)

In May 2007, SERIC signed an agreement with AAMHatch to undertake a program of flights to capture data over the whole of the South East Natural Resources Management Board region and a section of South West Victoria. The object of the program is to utilize LiDAR technology to enable the production of a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the region at 2 and 10 metre grids.

LiDAR or to give the technology its full name, Light Detection and Ranging, operates in a similar manner to radar only light is utilized in pulses rather than sound. A laser pulses out light to the surface over which the aircraft is traveling, and reflections are captured as the aircraft moves along a predetermined flight path. It is possible to produce an accurate map of land elevation using this technology.

SERIC coordinated the $1.7 million project in collaboration with partners Geoscience Australia, DWLBC, DEH and Forestry SA. 

When combined with other data such as aerial imagery and property, transport and environmental information, the DEM has the potential to be a very important tool for natural resource managers in the South East.

The Digital Elevation Model has been used extensively by DWLBC in its Upper South East Drainage program and to analyse Regional Water Flows. In recent months the data has been used by DEH and associated researchers to analyse the impacts of reduced flows on the southern lakes of the Coorong. Earlier Depth to Water modeling, a critical element in the Landuse Change aspects of Water Allocation Planning by the SENRMB and DWLBC has been significantly enhanced through the incorporation of new surface elevations that the DEM project has provided. Forestry researchers at Forestry SA are utilizing the data to examine the potential for such technologies to accurately assess tree growth and timber volumes amongst other possibilities.