Applications of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) surveys and Structure from Motion photogrammetry in glacial and periglacial geomorphology

Śledź, Szymon; Ewertowski, Marek; Piekarczyk, J.

doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2021.107620

Cited by 84 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 81 publications

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“…Westoby et al, 2012;Jiménez-Jiménez et al, 2021). Workflows for registration/georegistration of multi-temporal UAV-based image data avoiding GCPs and supporting surface change detection have already been proposed by different authors (Dall'Asta et al, 2017;Feurer and Vinatier, 2018;Chudley et al, 2019;Cook and Dietze, 2019;de Haas et al, 2021;Śledź et al, 2021;Vivero et al, 2021).…”

Section: Georeferencing Of the Aerial Imagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conventional and UAV-Based Aerial Surveys for Long-Term Monitoring (1954–2020) of a Highly Active Rock Glacier in Austria

Kaufmann¹,

Kellerer‐Pirklbauer²,

Seier³

2021

Front. Remote Sens.

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Rock glaciers are creep phenomena of mountain permafrost. Speed-up has been observed on several rock glaciers in recent years and attributed to climate change. Although rare, related long-term studies are nevertheless essential to bring a climate perspective to creep velocity changes. In the present study, we focused on changes both in the surface creep velocity and volume of the Leibnitzkopf rock glacier (Hohe Tauern Range, Austria) in the period 1954–2020. We applied 3D change detection using aerial images of both conventional (12 epochs between 1954 and 2018) and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based aerial surveys (2 epochs, 2019 and 2020), and combined this with ground and air temperature data. Photogrammetric processing (structure-from-motion, multi-view stereo) of the multi-temporal dataset resulted in high-resolution digital orthophotos/DOPs (5–50 cm spatial resolution) and digital elevation models/DEMs (10–50 cm grid spacing). Georeferencing was supported by five externally triangulated images from 2018, bi-temporal aerial triangulation of the image data relying on stable ground around the rock glacier, measured ground control points (2019 and 2020), and measured camera locations (PPK-GNSS) of the UAV flight in 2020. 2D displacement vectors based on the multi-temporal DOPs and/or DEMs were computed. Accuracy analyses were conducted based on geodetic measurements (2010–2020) and airborne laser scanning data (2009). Our analyses show high multi-annual and inter-annual creep velocity variabilities with maxima between 12 (1974–1981) and 576 cm/year (2019–2020), always detected in the same area of the rock glacier where surface disintegration was first observed in 2018. Our volume change analyses of the entire landform for the period 1954–2018 do not indicate any significant changes. This suggests little permafrost ice melt and/or general low ice content of the rock glacier. Analyses of the temperature data reveal a close relationship between higher temperatures and rock glacier acceleration despite the high probability of low ice content. This suggests that hydrogeological changes play an important role in the rock glacier system. The paper concludes with a summary of technical improvements and recommendations useful for rock glacier monitoring and a general view on the kinematic state of the Leibnitzkopf rock glacier.

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Section: Georeferencing Of the Aerial Imagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conventional and UAV-Based Aerial Surveys for Long-Term Monitoring (1954–2020) of a Highly Active Rock Glacier in Austria

Kaufmann¹,

Kellerer‐Pirklbauer²,

Seier³

2021

Front. Remote Sens.

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“…When individual glaciers are considered, also GNSS measurements of the glacier surface elevation [11] and LiDAR data [3,12,13] are used; however, the acquisition of LiDAR data can be time-consuming, logistically challenging, and requires expensive equipment with related transportation costs to the areas of high altitude. In the recent decade, an increase in glacier surface DEMs obtained via photogrammetric processing of aerial photographs obtained by UAVs can be observed [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

UAV and GPR Data Integration in Glacier Geometry Reconstruction: A Case Study from Irenebreen, Svalbard

et al. 2022

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Although measurements of thickness and internal structure of glaciers are substantial for the understanding of their evolution and response to climate change, detailed data about polythermal glaciers, are scarce. Here, we present the first ground-penetrating radar (GPR) measurement data of Irenebreen, and high-resolution DEM and orthomosaic, obtained from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry. A combination of GPR and UAV data allowed for the reconstruction of the glacier geometry including thermal structure. We compare different methods of GPR signal propagation speed determination and argue that a common midpoint method (CMP) should be used if possible. Our observations reveal that Irenebreen is a polythermal glacier with a basal temperate ice layer, the volume of which volume reaches only 12% of the total glacier volume. We also observe the intense GPR signal scattering in two small zones in the ablation area and suggest that intense water percolation occurs in these places creating local areas of temperate ice. This finding emphasizes the possible formation of localised temperate ice zones in polythermal glaciers due to the coincidence of several factors. Our study demonstrates that a combination of UAV photogrammetry and GPR can be successfully applied and should be used for the high-resolution reconstruction of 3D geometries of small glaciers.

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“…TLS and UAVs have higher precision than satellite images, implying that useful glacier changes can be derived in detail from images acquired over only a few days, even for a small glacier with a slow rate of change. This is a significant advantage because changes in the glacier surface over short time periods have been difficult to obtain [22,23]. Monthly fluctuations in glacier changes can now be observed from time series of UAV images, something that was previously only possible using radar images and only for fast-flowing in large glaciers [24,25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At present, UAVs are being used by an increasing number of studies in natural science fields [23,26,27]. They are economically and technically well suited for surveying glaciers and have been proven to be a very useful glaciology tool [17,[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-Resolution Monitoring of Glacier Mass Balance and Dynamics with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles on the Ningchan No. 1 Glacier in the Qilian Mountains, China

Cao

Guan

et al. 2021

Remote Sensing

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Glaciers located in the Qilian Mountains are rapidly retreating and thinning due to climate change. The current understanding of small glacier mass balance changes under a changing climate is limited by the scarcity of in situ measurements in both time and space as well as the resolution of remote sensing products. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide an unparalleled opportunity to track the spatiotemporal variations in glacier extent at a high resolution and the changing glacier morphological features related to glacial dynamics. Five measurements were performed on the Ningchan No. 1 (NC01) glacier in the Qilian Mountains between 18 August 2017 and 13 August 2020. The glacier changes displayed in the digital orthophoto maps (DOMs) and digital surface models (DSMs) show a 7.4 ± 0.1 m a−1 retreat of the terminus of NC01, a mass balance of −1.22 ± 0.1 m w.e. a−1 from 2017 to 2020, and a maximum surface velocity of 3.2 ± 0.47 m from 18 August 2017 to 26 August 2018, which clearly show consistency with stake measurements. The surface elevation change was influenced by the combined effects of air temperature, altitude, slope, and surface velocity. This research demonstrates that UAV photogrammetry can greatly improve the temporal and spatial resolution of glaciological research.

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Applications of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) surveys and Structure from Motion photogrammetry in glacial and periglacial geomorphology

Cited by 84 publications

References 81 publications

Conventional and UAV-Based Aerial Surveys for Long-Term Monitoring (1954–2020) of a Highly Active Rock Glacier in Austria

Conventional and UAV-Based Aerial Surveys for Long-Term Monitoring (1954–2020) of a Highly Active Rock Glacier in Austria

UAV and GPR Data Integration in Glacier Geometry Reconstruction: A Case Study from Irenebreen, Svalbard

High-Resolution Monitoring of Glacier Mass Balance and Dynamics with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles on the Ningchan No. 1 Glacier in the Qilian Mountains, China

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