{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,5]],"date-time":"2026-03-05T16:03:10Z","timestamp":1772726590052,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2015,2,11]],"date-time":"2015-02-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1423612800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Terrestrial laser scanning can provide high-resolution, two-dimensional sampling of soil surface roughness. While previous studies demonstrated the usefulness of these roughness measurements in geophysical applications, questions about the number of required scans and their resolution were not investigated thoroughly. Here, we suggest a method to generate digital elevation models, while preserving the surface\u2019s stochastic properties at high frequencies and additionally providing an estimate of their spatial resolution. We also study the impact of the number and positions of scans on roughness indices\u2019 estimates. An experiment over a smooth and isotropic soil plot accompanies the analysis, where scanning results are compared to results from active triangulation. The roughness measurement conditions for ideal sampling are revisited and updated for diffraction-limited sampling valid for close-range laser scanning over smooth and isotropic soil roughness. Our results show that terrestrial laser scanning can be readily used for roughness assessment on scales larger than 5 cm, while for smaller scales, special processing is required to mitigate the effect of the laser beam footprint. Interestingly, classical roughness parametrization (correlation length, root mean square height (RMSh)) was not sensitive to these effects. Furthermore, comparing the classical roughness parametrization between one- and four-scan setups shows that the one-scan data can replace the four-scan setup with a relative loss of accuracy below 1% for ranges up to 3 m and incidence angles no larger than 50\u00b0, while two opposite scans can replace it over the whole plot. The incidence angle limit for the spectral slope is even stronger and is 40\u00b0. These findings are valid for scanning over smooth and isotropic soil roughness.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs70202007","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2015,2,11]],"date-time":"2015-02-11T09:52:16Z","timestamp":1423648336000},"page":"2007-2045","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":52,"title":["Applying Terrestrial Laser Scanning for Soil Surface Roughness Assessment"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"7","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3256-6669","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Milutin","family":"Milenkovi\u0107","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geodesy and Geoinformation (GEO), Vienna University of Technology, Gu\u00dfhausstra\u00dfe 27-29, Vienna 1040, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2348-7929","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Norbert","family":"Pfeifer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geodesy and Geoinformation (GEO), Vienna University of Technology, Gu\u00dfhausstra\u00dfe 27-29, Vienna 1040, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Philipp","family":"Glira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geodesy and Geoinformation (GEO), Vienna University of Technology, Gu\u00dfhausstra\u00dfe 27-29, Vienna 1040, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2015,2,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"141","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1477-9730.2006.00367.x","article-title":"Angular Resolution of Terrestrial Laser Scanners","volume":"21","author":"Lichti","year":"2006","journal-title":"Photogramm. Rec."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"144","DOI":"10.3390\/rs1030144","article-title":"Radiometric Calibration of Terrestrial Laser Scanners with External Reference Targets","volume":"1","author":"Kaasalainen","year":"2009","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4323","DOI":"10.3390\/rs6054323","article-title":"Tree Stem and Height Measurements Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning and the RANSAC Algorithm","volume":"6","author":"Olofsson","year":"2014","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.agrformet.2011.10.006","article-title":"Analyzing Forest Canopies with Ground-Based Laser Scanning: A Comparison with Hemispherical Photography","volume":"154\u2013155","author":"Seidel","year":"2012","journal-title":"Agric. For. Meteorol."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5424","DOI":"10.3390\/rs5115424","article-title":"A Practical Approach for Extracting Tree Models in Forest Environments Based on Equirectangular Projections of Terrestrial Laser Scans","volume":"5","author":"Eysn","year":"2013","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3906","DOI":"10.3390\/rs6053906","article-title":"Change Detection of Tree Biomass with Terrestrial Laser Scanning and Quantitative Structure Modelling","volume":"6","author":"Kaasalainen","year":"2014","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"954","DOI":"10.1002\/esp.1780","article-title":"In Situ Characterization of Grain-Scale Fluvial Morphology Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning","volume":"34","author":"Hodge","year":"2009","journal-title":"Earth Surf. Process. Landf."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1075","DOI":"10.1109\/LGRS.2011.2156758","article-title":"Mesoscale Terrestrial Laser Scanning of Fluvial Gravel Surfaces","volume":"8","author":"Wang","year":"2011","journal-title":"IEEE Geosci. Remote Sens. Lett."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Brasington, J., Vericat, D., and Rychkov, I (2012). Modeling River Bed Morphology, Roughness, and Surface Sedimentology Using High Resolution Terrestrial Laser Scanning. Water Resour. Res., 48.","DOI":"10.1029\/2012WR012223"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"411","DOI":"10.1002\/esp.2254","article-title":"Through-Water Terrestrial Laser Scanning of Gravel Beds at the Patch Scale","volume":"37","author":"Smith","year":"2012","journal-title":"Earth Surf. Process. Landf."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1657","DOI":"10.1002\/esp.1592","article-title":"Application of a 3D Laser Scanner in the Assessment of Erosion and Deposition Volumes and Channel Change in a Proglacial River","volume":"32","author":"Milan","year":"2007","journal-title":"Earth Surf. Process. Landf."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"167","DOI":"10.1002\/esp.3437","article-title":"Hyperscale Terrain Modelling of Braided Rivers: Fusing Mobile Terrestrial Laser Scanning and Optical Bathymetric Mapping","volume":"39","author":"Williams","year":"2014","journal-title":"Earth Surf. Process. Landf."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2720","DOI":"10.3390\/rs5062720","article-title":"Landslide Displacement Monitoring Using 3D Range Flow on Airborne and Terrestrial LiDAR Data","volume":"5","author":"Ghuffar","year":"2013","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"121","DOI":"10.1016\/j.isprsjprs.2012.01.006","article-title":"3D Terrestrial Lidar Data Classification of Complex Natural Scenes Using a Multi-Scale Dimensionality Criterion: Applications in Geomorphology","volume":"68","author":"Brodu","year":"2012","journal-title":"ISPRS J. Photogramm. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1739","DOI":"10.3390\/rs6021739","article-title":"GIS-Based Roughness Derivation for Flood Simulations: A Comparison of Orthophotos, LiDAR and Crowdsourced Geodata","volume":"6","author":"Dorn","year":"2014","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2016","DOI":"10.3390\/rs4072016","article-title":"Decomposing Dual Scale Soil Surface Roughness for Microwave Remote Sensing Applications","volume":"4","author":"Marzahn","year":"2012","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"125","DOI":"10.1016\/S0341-8162(01)00162-X","article-title":"Evolution of Soil Surface Roughness and Flowpath Connectivity in Overland Flow Experiments","volume":"46","author":"Darboux","year":"2002","journal-title":"CATENA"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"64","DOI":"10.1016\/j.still.2006.03.018","article-title":"Estimating Soil Roughness Indices on a Ridge-and-Furrow Surface Using Stereo Photogrammetry","volume":"93","author":"Taconet","year":"2007","journal-title":"Soil Tillage Res"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"23","DOI":"10.1016\/j.coldregions.2013.09.001","article-title":"Snow Surface Roughness from Mobile Laser Scanning Data","volume":"96","author":"Kukko","year":"2013","journal-title":"Cold Reg. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"161","DOI":"10.1016\/j.aeolia.2013.03.004","article-title":"Estimating Aerodynamic Roughness (z0) From Terrestrial Laser Scanning Point Cloud Data Over Un-Vegetated Surfaces","volume":"10","author":"Hugenholtz","year":"2013","journal-title":"Aeolian Res"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2235","DOI":"10.1029\/WR026i009p02235","article-title":"Depressional Storage for Markov-Gaussian Surfaces","volume":"26","author":"Huang","year":"1990","journal-title":"Water Resour. Res."},{"key":"ref_22","unstructured":"Ulaby, F., Moore, R., and Fung, A. (1982). Microwave Remote Sensing: Active and Passive, Artech House."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4213","DOI":"10.3390\/s8074213","article-title":"On the Soil Roughness Parameterization Problem in Soil Moisture Retrieval of Bare Surfaces from Synthetic Aperture Radar","volume":"8","author":"Verhoest","year":"2008","journal-title":"Sensors"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"503","DOI":"10.3390\/rs3030503","article-title":"Roughness Mapping on Various Vertical Scales Based on Full-Waveform Airborne Laser Scanning Data","volume":"3","author":"Hollaus","year":"2011","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1659","DOI":"10.1109\/TGRS.2003.813359","article-title":"A Comparison Between Soil Roughness Statistics Used in Surface Scattering Models Derived from Mechanical and Laser Profilers","volume":"41","author":"Mattia","year":"2003","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"174","DOI":"10.1016\/j.catena.2005.08.005","article-title":"Soil Surface Roughness Measurement-Methods, Applicability, and Surface Representation","volume":"64","author":"Jester","year":"2005","journal-title":"CATENA"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"630","DOI":"10.1109\/36.841993","article-title":"On the Characterization of Agricultural Soil Roughness for Radar Remote Sensing Studies","volume":"38","author":"Davidson","year":"2000","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"69","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1477-9730.2005.00305.x","article-title":"Digital Close Range Photogrammetry for Measurement of Soil Erosion","volume":"20","author":"Nearing","year":"2005","journal-title":"Photogramm. Rec."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4050","DOI":"10.1109\/TGRS.2008.2002769","article-title":"Characterizing Bidimensional Roughness of Agricultural Soil Surfaces for SAR Modeling","volume":"46","author":"Blaes","year":"2008","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2013.03.026","article-title":"An Advanced Photogrammetric Method to Measure Surface Roughness: Application to Volcanic Terrains in the Piton de la Fournaise, Reunion Island","volume":"135","author":"Bretar","year":"2013","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Perez-Gutierrez, C., \u00c1lvarez-Mozos, J., Marti\u00ednez-Fern\u00e1ndez, J., and Sanchez, N. (2010, January 25\u201330). Comparison of a Multilateral-Based Acquisition with Terrestrial Laser Scanner and Profilometer Technique for Soil Roughness Measurement, Honolulu, HI, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/IGARSS.2010.5649200"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"398","DOI":"10.1016\/j.catena.2011.07.009","article-title":"Suitability of Terrestrial Laser Scanning for Studying Surface Roughness Effects on Concentrated Flow Erosion Processes in Rangelands","volume":"87","author":"Eitel","year":"2011","journal-title":"CATENA"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"90","DOI":"10.1002\/esp.3344","article-title":"Assessment of Terrestrial Laser Scanning Technology for Obtaining High-Resolution DEMs of Soils","volume":"38","author":"Barneveld","year":"2013","journal-title":"Earth Surf. Process. Landf."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"12948","DOI":"10.1002\/2013JD020632","article-title":"Estimating Aerodynamic Roughness Over Complex Surface Terrain","volume":"118","author":"Nield","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"128","DOI":"10.1016\/j.catena.2009.06.005","article-title":"Spatiotemporal Variations of Soil Surface Roughness From In-Situ Laser Scanning","volume":"79","author":"Haubrock","year":"2009","journal-title":"CATENA"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"878","DOI":"10.1109\/TGRS.2005.860488","article-title":"Parameterization of Tillage-induced Single-scale Soil Roughness from 4-m Profiles","volume":"44","author":"Callens","year":"2006","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2397","DOI":"10.1109\/36.789638","article-title":"Quantitative Roughness Characterization of Geological Surfaces and Implications for Radar Signature Analysis","volume":"37","author":"Dierking","year":"1999","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1243","DOI":"10.1088\/0022-3727\/22\/9\/001","article-title":"Rough Surfaces: Gaussian or Exponential Statistics?","volume":"22","author":"Ogilvy","year":"1989","journal-title":"J. Phys. D Appl. Phys."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"691","DOI":"10.1109\/36.662751","article-title":"Condition for Precise Measurement of Soil Surface Roughness","volume":"36","author":"Oh","year":"1998","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1067","DOI":"10.3390\/s90201067","article-title":"Error in Radar-Derived Soil Moisture due to Roughness Parameterization: An Analysis Based on Synthetical Surface Profiles","volume":"9","author":"Lievens","year":"2009","journal-title":"Sensors"},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1651","DOI":"10.1109\/TGRS.2003.813361","article-title":"Joint Statistical Properties of RMS Height and Correlation Length Derived from Multisite 1-m Roughness Measurements","volume":"41","author":"Davidson","year":"2003","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_42","unstructured":"Available online: http:\/\/www.geodis.cz\/doc_product\/datasheet\/datenblatt_imager_5006i.pdf."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1075","DOI":"10.1177\/02783640022067986","article-title":"Imaging Ladar for 3-D Surveying and CAD Modeling of Real-World Environments","volume":"19","author":"Langer","year":"2000","journal-title":"Int. J. Robot. Res."},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"271","DOI":"10.1109\/36.992784","article-title":"A Generalized Power Law Spectrum and its Applications to the Backscattering of Soil Surfaces Based on the Integral Equation Model","volume":"40","author":"Li","year":"2002","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"119","DOI":"10.1029\/2000RS002327","article-title":"An Analytical, Numerical, and Experimental Study of Backscattering from Multiscale Soil Surfaces","volume":"36","author":"Mattia","year":"2001","journal-title":"Radio Sci"},{"key":"ref_46","unstructured":"Weichel, H. (1990). Laser Beam Propagation in the Atmosphere, SPIE Optical Engineering Press."},{"key":"ref_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"389","DOI":"10.1016\/j.isprsjprs.2011.01.005","article-title":"Scanning Geometry: Influencing Factor on the Quality of Terrestrial Laser Scanning Points","volume":"66","author":"Soudarissanane","year":"2011","journal-title":"ISPRS J. Photogramm. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_48","first-page":"459","article-title":"On the Weierstrass-Mandelbrot Fractal Function","volume":"370","author":"Berry","year":"1980","journal-title":"Proc. R. Soc. Lond. Ser. A Math. Phys. Sci."},{"key":"ref_49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1038","DOI":"10.3390\/ijgi2041038","article-title":"Georeferenced Point Clouds: A Survey of Features and Point Cloud Management","volume":"2","author":"Otepka","year":"2013","journal-title":"ISPRS Int. J. GeoInf."},{"key":"ref_50","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"125","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compenvurbsys.2013.11.002","article-title":"OPALS\u2014A Framework for Airborne Laser Scanning Data Analysis","volume":"45","author":"Pfeifer","year":"2014","journal-title":"Comput. Environ. Urban Syst"},{"key":"ref_51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100","DOI":"10.1016\/j.isprsjprs.2005.12.001","article-title":"Gaussian Decomposition and Calibration of a Novel Small-Footprint Full-Waveform Digitising Airborne Laser Scanner","volume":"60","author":"Wagner","year":"2006","journal-title":"ISPRS J. Photogramm. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_52","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kraus, K. (2007). Photogrammetry\u2014Geometry from Images and Laser Scans, De Gruyter. [2nd ed].","DOI":"10.1515\/9783110892871"}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/7\/2\/2007\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T20:42:34Z","timestamp":1760215354000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/7\/2\/2007"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2015,2,11]]},"references-count":52,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2015,2]]}},"alternative-id":["rs70202007"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs70202007","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-4292","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2015,2,11]]}}}