Stefanidis, AnthonyDavis, Donald2017-12-072017-12-07https://hdl.handle.net/1920/10826Oil spills happen all over the globe and the oil that is lost poses a hazard to the environment wherever it drifts. The ability to detect the location of vegetation that has become contaminated with oil from a spill would be useful in mitigating the effects to the environment. Terrestrial lidar instruments are being used as survey instruments for topographic and engineering surveys and mobile terrestrial lidar instruments are routinely mounted on land based vehicles and watercraft. These instruments are used to survey coastal areas during large oil spills. The data collected by a terrestrial lidar instrument are the coordinates (X, Y, Z) and intensity for each laser return. The location of oil contaminated vegetation would be identified if there is a measurable difference in the intensity return of oil contaminated vegetation vs. uncontaminated vegetation. This thesis investigates this possibility.enOil spill detectionRemote sensingTerrestrial lidarSpartina alternifloraSmooth cordgrassLIDARThesis