Lidar remote sensing of stone cultural heritage: detection of protective treatments

Treatments utilizing different chemical compositions are employed to preserve the surface of historical stone building. The uniform distribution of the protective treatment and the conservation of its integrity over the years are crucial factors for an efficient protection of monuments. A technique that enables a remote mapping of the treatment and its characteristics is therefore very attractive. We describe the first experiments devoted to the investigation of the potential of fluorescence lidar in monitoring protective treatments on stone surfaces. Dolomitic marble samples are treated with different protective substances, and are then analyzed by a laboratory setup that simulates a lidar measurement. Although further Investigations will be necessary, these laboratory results indicate an interesting potential for lidar in the nondestructive, remote monitoring of protective treatments. (C) 2001 society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.