Background: The unraveling of the human-induced climate-change crisis has put to the forth the ability of humanbeings to impact the planet as a whole, but the discourse of politics has also emphasized the ability of the human race to adapt and counterweigh the environmental change, in turn increasing the public expectation that one should be able to control nature and its affects. Such cozy and reassured society consequently puts an increasing amount of pressure on hazards assessors, emergency and disaster managers "to get it right", and not only to save the majority, but to save all. To reach such level of competency, emergency relief teams and disaster managers have to work always faster with an increasing need of high quality, high-resolution geospatial data. This need is being partly resolved with the usage of UAV (Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles), both on the ground and airborne. Results: In this contribution, we present a review of this field of research that has increased exponentially in the last few years. The rapid democratization of the tool has lead to a significant price reduction and consequently a broad scientific usage that have resulted in thousands of scientific contributions over the last decade. The main usages of UAVs are the mapping of land features and their evolution over time, the mapping of hazards and disasters as they happen, the observation of human activity during an emergency or a disaster, the replacement of telecommunication structures impacted by a natural hazards and the transport of material to isolated groups. Conclusion: Those usages are mostly based on the use of single UAVs or UAVs as single agents eventually collaborating. The future is most certainly in the ability to accomplish complex tasks by leveraging the multiple platforms possibilities. As an example, we presented an experiment showing how multiple UAV platforms taking imagery together at the same time could provide true 4D (3D in time) of geo-processes such as river-bed evolution, or rockfalls, etc.

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Seasonal variations in ablation and surface velocity were investigated on the lower part of Fox Glacier, South Westland, New Zealand. A large variation between summer and winter ablation was recorded, with daily averages of 129 mm d 21 and 22 mm d 21 , respectively. Variations in measured climatic variables were found to account for ,90% of variation in ablation during both summer and winter seasons, with significant increases in ablation occurring in conjunction with heavy rainfall events. Surface velocity also showed seasonality, averaging 0.87 m d 21 during summer and 0.64 m d 21 in winter, a reduction of ,26%. It is thought that the general reduction in velocity during winter can be attributed to a decrease in the supply of surface meltwater to the subglacial zone. Short-term velocity peaks appeared to coincide with heavy rainfall events, with surface velocity responses typically occurring within 24 hours of each rainfall event. During winter, moderate rainfall events (#100 mm over 24 hours) created a surface velocity response up to 44% greater than the prevailing velocity. Though difficult to deconvolve, magnitudes of surface velocity response to rainfall inputs appear linked to time lags between rainfall events and subglacial drainage efficiency and water storage. The longer-term dynamics of Fox Glacier appear linked to fluctuations in the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), with positive mass balances of Southern Alps' glaciers appearing to mirror negative SOI (El Niñ o) conditions. Given the calculated response time of ,9.1 years for Fox Glacier, the current terminus advance may be linked to mass gains reported in the mid-1990s, with current mass balance gains perhaps leading to terminus advances ,9 years hence.