Monitoring Alpine Glaciers From Close-Range to Satellite Sensors

Yordanov, V.; Fugazza, Davide; Azzoni, Roberto Sergio; Cernuschi, Massimo; Scaioni, Marco; Diolaiuti, Guglielmina

doi:10.5194/isprs-archives-xlii-2-w13-1803-2019

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…As the recent reactivations were during summer periods, the surveys were planned to be before and after potentially unstable periods, i.e., spring and autumn periods were most suitable. The current work follows and extends the scope of a previous one [43] in which the main principles of UAV survey planning and processing were explained in detail, to be easily adoptable and reusable in other research domains (e.g., archaeology and glaciology [44,45]). A brief summary of the setup and steps will be presented below.…”

Section: Period 2021-2022mentioning

confidence: 91%

Estimating Landslide Surface Displacement by Combining Low-Cost UAV Setup, Topographic Visualization and Computer Vision Techniques

Yordanov

Truong

Brovelli

2023

Drones

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Many techniques are available for estimating landslide surface displacements, whether from the ground, air- or spaceborne. In recent years, Unmanned Areal Vehicles have also been applied in the domain of landslide hazards, and have been able to provide high resolution and precise datasets for better understanding and predicting landslide movements and mitigating their impacts. In this study, we propose an approach for monitoring and detecting landslide surface movements using a low-cost lightweight consumer-grade UAV setup and a Red Relief Image Map (a topographic visualization technique) to normalize the input datasets and mitigate unfavourable illumination conditions that may affect the further implementation of Lucas–Kanade optical flow for the final displacement estimation. The effectiveness of the proposed approach in this study was demonstrated by applying it to the Ruinon landslide, Northern Italy, using the products of surveys carried out in the period 2019–2021. Our results show that the combination of different techniques can accurately and effectively estimate landslide movements over time and at different magnitudes, from a few centimetres to more than several tens of meters. The method applied is shown to be very computationally efficient while yielding precise outputs. At the same time, the use of only free and open-source software allows its straightforward adaptation and modification for other case studies. The approach can potentially be used for monitoring and studying landslide behaviour in areas where no permanent monitoring solutions are present.

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Section: Period 2021-2022mentioning

confidence: 91%

Estimating Landslide Surface Displacement by Combining Low-Cost UAV Setup, Topographic Visualization and Computer Vision Techniques

Yordanov

Truong

Brovelli

2023

Drones

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“…In such scenario, continuous monitoring of glaciers at local and regional levels is essential. On a global scale, numerous efforts are being made to observe and monitor glacier health using ground-based, aerial and spaceborne remote sensing platforms, e.g., [2,3,4,5,6,7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

UAV-Based Survey of Glaciers in Himalayas: Challenges and Recommendations

Ramsankaran

Navinkumar

Dashora

et al. 2021

J Indian Soc Remote Sens

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Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) based remote sensing (RS) studies in glaciology are mainly focusing on obtaining accurate high-resolution data from UAV images. Studies for identifying and minimising the challenges faced during the UAV-based RS data acquisition survey on inaccessible and harsh terrains of mountain glaciers is limited. This study aims to examine the practical challenges faced during UAV surveys of glaciers and derive strategies to minimize them. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that addresses such problems over the Himalayan region. Here, the UAV surveys were conducted using a fixed-wing commercialgrade off-the-shelf UAV (eBee plus, SenseFly) on three glacier sites (East Rathong, Hamtah and Panchinala-A) located in different zones and climate regimes lying within the Indian part of Himalayas. From UAV collected photos, the study was able to generate ultra-high-resolution ortho-mosaicked images and Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) at 0.1m GSD. UAV-derived DEMs was able to achieve vertical (horizontal) accuracy of 0.45 and 0.21 m (0.15 and 0.1 m) with 3 and 6 ground control points (GCPs) for an area of 0.75 km 2 and 1.38 km 2 . Accuracy assessment of UAV DEMs generated with and without GCPs indicate that GCPs are must to obtain decimetre level accurate DEM especially on glaciers with steep-valleyed terrains. The utility of the obtained ultra-high-resolution ortho-mosaicked images was demonstrated by generating glacier surface feature maps. Based on the challenges observed during UAV surveys, the study identifies and recommends best-suited locations on a glacier and its adjacent regions for conducting UAV surveys efficiently in the glaciated terrain of Himalayas and possibly beyond. Recommendations reported in this article shall minimise the challenges faced and involved risks for data acquisition and thus enable UAVs to cover more glaciated area successfully.

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“…On the other hand, to obtain accurate glacier topography, UAV based SfM methods rely on Ground Control Points (GCPs). Recent study by Gindraux et al [32] reported that on all seasons 17 (7) GCPs per km 2 are required to achieve Digital Surface Model (DSM) with vertical (horizontal) accuracy of range 0.1-0.25m (0.03-0.09m). Follwing this, other glacier studies have also used GCPs (varying between seven and seventeen) to generate DEMs between centimetre and decimetre level accuracies e.g., [15,27,31].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

UAV-based Survey of Glaciers in Himalayas: Opportunities and Challenges

Ramsankaran¹,

Navinkumar²,

Dashora³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) based remote sensing (RS) studies in glaciology are mainly focusing on obtaining accurate high-resolution data from UAV images. Studies for identifying and minimising the challenges faced during the UAV-based RS data acquisition survey on inaccessible and harsh terrains of mountain glaciers is limited. This study aims to examine the practical challenges faced during UAV surveys of glaciers and derive strategies to minimize them. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that addresses such problems over the Himalayan region. Here, the UAV surveys were conducted using a fixed-wing commercial-grade off-the-shelf UAV (eBee plus, SenseFly) on three glacier sites (East Rathong, Hamtah and Panchinala-A) located in different zones and climate regimes lying within the Indian part of Himalayas. From UAV collected photos, the study was able to generate ultra-high-resolution ortho-mosaicked images and Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) at 0.1m GSD. UAV-derived DEMs was able to achieve vertical (horizontal) accuracy of 0.45 and 0.21 m (0.15 and 0.1 m) with 3 and 6 ground control points (GCPs) for an area of 0.75 km2 and 1.38 km2. Accuracy assessment of UAV DEMs generated with and without GCPs indicate that GCPs are must to obtain decimetre level accurate DEM especially on glaciers with steep-valleyed terrains. The utility of the obtained ultra-high-resolution ortho-mosaicked images was demonstrated by generating glacier surface feature maps. Based on the challenges observed during UAV surveys, the study identifies and recommends best-suited locations on a glacier and its adjacent regions for conducting UAV surveys efficiently in the glaciated terrain of Himalayas and possibly beyond. Recommendations reported in this article shall minimise the challenges faced and involved risks for data acquisition and thus enable UAVs to cover more glaciated area successfully.

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Monitoring Alpine Glaciers From Close-Range to Satellite Sensors

Cited by 4 publications

References 27 publications

Estimating Landslide Surface Displacement by Combining Low-Cost UAV Setup, Topographic Visualization and Computer Vision Techniques

Estimating Landslide Surface Displacement by Combining Low-Cost UAV Setup, Topographic Visualization and Computer Vision Techniques

UAV-Based Survey of Glaciers in Himalayas: Challenges and Recommendations

UAV-based Survey of Glaciers in Himalayas: Opportunities and Challenges

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