The Caraga State University (CSU) Phil LiDAR-1 research team, using various equipment, takes the profile of Cabadbaran River in Agusan del Norte. One equipment used here is the Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler, the gadget that looks like a small boat carried by a research team member (left photo), which measures how fast water is moving across an entire water column. Anchored to the seafloor, it can measure current speed not just at the bottom but also at equal intervals all the way up to the surface. The information gathered by this profiler are beamed by a bluetooth antenna to a laptop that records the data. According to Engr. Meriam M. Santillan, project leader based at the CSU, profiling a river enables the creation of 3D flood hazard maps that can help prepare communities during imminent weather disturbances that may trigger floods. CSU Phil LiDAR-1 of the Nationwide Phil LiDAR 1 Program is a component of the Department of Science and Technology’s Project NOAH. The program involves partner universities tasked to conduct researches using LiDAR technology to come up with flood hazard maps in their assigned project areas. For Phil LiDAR-1, Engr. Santillan said that her team has developed flood models that are used to generate flood hazard maps of the river basins and watersheds of the Caraga Region. (Photo and text by Framelia V. Anonas, S&T Media Service, DOST-STII)
