Three engineering professors at the University of Florida will be turning their research up a notch thanks to a five-year, $4-million renewal grant from the National Science Foundation.

The grant, $1-million of which will be shared with engineers at the University of California at Berkeley, will advance research in Light Detection and Ranging, or LIDAR. The technology produces incredibly detailed three-dimensional images of terrain using laser pulses beamed earthward from an airplane. The technology has been applied both to environmental remote sensing and to military reconnaissance.

UF was the first university in the nation to purchase and operate a survey-grade airborne LIDAR system in 1998. In 2007, UF purchased a new LIDAR unit that can map areas covered with dense foliage, exposing details on the earth’s surface that might never have been studied otherwise.

According to UF engineering professor Clint Slatton, measurements of earthquake faults, levees, glaciers and erosive beaches obtained through LIDAR data can help federal and state policy makers mitigate natural disasters.

Donna Winchester, higher education reporter