Ecohydrology with unmanned aerial vehicles

Vivoni, Enrique R.; Rango, A.; Anderson, C. A.; Pierini, Nicole A.; Schreiner-McGraw, Adam; Saripalli, Srikanth; Laliberte, Andrea S.

doi:10.1890/es14-00217.1

Cited by 79 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…Further such case studies are summarized by Birdsong et al (2015). In addition, UAS have proven useful for collecting fine-scale hydrological data (Vivoni et al 2014;Spence and Mengistu 2015).…”

Section: Wetland Riparian and Coastal Habitatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildlife research and management methods in the 21st century: Where do unmanned aircraft fit in?

Chabot

Bird

2015

J. Unmanned Veh. Sys.

217

183

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Since the turn of the century, emerging unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) have found increasingly diverse applications in wildlife science as convenient, very highresolution remote sensing devices. Achieved or conceptualized applications include optical surveying and observation of animals, autonomous wildlife telemetry tracking, and habitat research and monitoring. As the technology continues to progress and interest from the wildlife science community grows, there may yet be much untapped potential for UAS to contribute to the discipline. We present a review of the published primary literature on the application of UAS in wildlife science and related fields. This is followed by a systematic review of the broader wildlife science literature published since the turn of the century to assess where UAS are likely to make important contributions going forward based on the trends that have emerged thus far. UAS, in particular small lightweight models, are generally well suited for collecting data at an intermediate spatial scale between what is easily coverable on the ground and what is economically coverable with conventional aircraft. They are particularly useful for monitoring wildlife and habitats in places that are difficult to access or navigate from the ground, as well as approaching sensitive or aggressive species.Key words: aerial survey, conservation, remotely piloted aircraft system, unmanned aerial vehicle, drone, wildlife monitoring.Résumé : Depuis le début du siècle, les nouveaux systèmes d'aéronefs sans pilote (UAS), en tant qu'appareils de télédétection de haute résolution pratiques, ont donné lieu à de plus en plus d'applications diverses en science de la faune. Les applications réalisées ou conceptualisées comprennent l'inventaire et l'observation optiques des animaux, la localisation autonome de la faune par télémétrie et la recherche et la surveillance des habitats. À mesure que la technologie continue de progresser et que l'intérêt de la part du milieu scientifique du domaine de la faune croît, la contribution des UAS à la discipline pourra augmenter, car il peut y avoir encore beaucoup de potentiel à exploiter. Nous présentons un examen de la littérature primaire publiée portant sur l'application des UAS dans les domaines de la science de la faune et connexes. Un examen systématique de l'ensemble de la littérature de la science de la faune publiée depuis le début du siècle s'ensuit dans le but d'évaluer, d'après les tendances qui ont émergé jusqu'à maintenant, où les UAS vont possiblement faire des contributions à l'avenir. Les UAS, en particulier les petits modèles légers, sont bien adaptés à la collecte de données à une échelle spatiale intermédiaire entre ce qui est facilement saisi sur le terrain et ce qui est saisi à l'aide d'un aéronef traditionnel. Ils sont particulièrement utiles pour la surveillance de la faune et des habitats dans les endroits difficiles à accéder ou à naviguer à partir du sol, ainsi que pour s'approcher des espèces sensibles ou agressives.

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Section: Wetland Riparian and Coastal Habitatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildlife research and management methods in the 21st century: Where do unmanned aircraft fit in?

Chabot

Bird

2015

J. Unmanned Veh. Sys.

217

183

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“…The use of UAVs in earth science research is undergoing rapid expansion with numerous researchers exploiting the financial and spatiotemporal resolution benefits of UAV technology (Ahmad, 2011;Colomina and Molina, 2014;D'Oleire-Oltmanns et al, 2012;Hardin and Jensen, 2011;Koh and Wich, 2012;Vivoni et al, 2014;Watts et al, 2012). A few projects have utilised UAV platforms in mountainous glaciated regions (Bhardwaj et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring tropical debris-covered glacier dynamics from high-resolution unmanned aerial vehicle photogrammetry, Cordillera Blanca, Peru

Wigmore

Mark

2017

The Cryosphere

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Abstract. The glaciers of the Cordillera Blanca, Peru, are rapidly retreating and thinning as a result of climate change, altering the timing, quantity and quality of water available to downstream users. Furthermore, increases in the number and size of proglacial lakes associated with these melting glaciers is increasing potential exposure to glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs). Understanding how these glaciers are changing and their connection to proglacial lake systems is thus of critical importance. Most satellite data are too coarse for studying small mountain glaciers and are often affected by cloud cover, while traditional airborne photogrammetry and lidar are costly. Recent developments have made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) a viable and potentially transformative method for studying glacier change at high spatial resolution, on demand and at relatively low cost.Using a custom designed hexacopter built for high-altitude (4000-6000 m a.s.l.) operation, we completed repeat aerial surveys (2014 and 2015) of the debris-covered Llaca Glacier tongue and proglacial lake system. High-resolution orthomosaics (5 cm) and digital elevation models (DEMs) (10 cm) were produced and their accuracy assessed. Analysis of these datasets reveals highly heterogeneous patterns of glacier change. The most rapid areas of ice loss were associated with exposed ice cliffs and meltwater ponds on the glacier surface. Considerable subsidence and low surface velocities were also measured on the sediments within the pro-glacial lake, indicating the presence of extensive regions of buried ice and continued connection to the glacier tongue. Only limited horizontal retreat of the glacier tongue was observed, indicating that measurements of changes in aerial extent alone are inadequate for monitoring changes in glacier ice quantity.

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“…Most importantly, this rapidly emerging technology offers the opportunity to reveal new insights into hydrological, geomorphological, atmospheric, and biotic processes, and represents a game-changing sensing platform. In a recent contribution, Vivoni et al (2014) reviewed the application of UAVs for eco-hydrology and suggested that UAV remote sensing can fundamentally change how ecohydrologic science is conducted. This same is true for hydrology.…”

Section: Unmanned Aerial Vehiclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The future of Earth observation in hydrology

McCabe

Rodell

Alsdorf

et al. 2017

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

371

279

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Abstract. In just the past 5 years, the field of Earth observation has progressed beyond the offerings of conventional space-agency-based platforms to include a plethora of sensing opportunities afforded by CubeSats, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and smartphone technologies that are being embraced by both for-profit companies and individual researchers. Over the previous decades, space agency efforts have brought forth well-known and immensely useful satellites such as the Landsat series and the Gravity Research and Climate Experiment (GRACE) system, with costs typically of the order of 1 billion dollars per satellite and with concept-to-launch timelines of the order of 2 decades (for new missions). More recently, the proliferation of smartphones has helped to miniaturize sensors and energy requirements, facilitating advances in the use of CubeSats that can be launched by the dozens, while providing ultra-high (3-5 m) resolution sensing of the Earth on a daily basis. Startup companies that did not exist a decade ago now operate more satellites in orbit than any space agency, and at costs that are a mere fraction of traditional satellite missions.With these advances come new space-borne measurements, such as real-time high-definition video for tracking air pollution, storm-cell development, flood propagation, precipitation monitoring, or even for constructing digital surfaces using structure-from-motion techniques. Closer to the surface, measurements from small unmanned drones and tethered balloons have mapped snow depths, floods, and estimated evaporation at sub-metre resolutions, pushing back on spatio-temporal constraints and delivering new process insights. At ground level, precipitation has been measured using signal attenuation between antennae mounted on cell phone towers, while the proliferation of mobile devices has enabled citizen scientists to catalogue photos of environmental conditions, estimate daily average temperatures from battery state, and sense other hydrologically important variables such as channel depths using commercially available wireless devices. Global internet access is being pursued via highaltitude balloons, solar planes, and hundreds of planned satellite launches, providing a means to exploit the "internet of things" as an entirely new measurement domain. Such globalPublished by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. The future of Earth observation in hydrology access will enable real-time collection of data from billions of smartphones or from remote research platforms. This future will produce petabytes of data that can only be accessed via cloud storage and will require new analytical approaches to interpret. The extent to which today's hydrologic models can usefully ingest such massive data volumes is unclear. Nor is it clear whether this deluge of data will be usefully exploited, either because the measurements are superfluous, inconsistent, not accurate enough, or simply because we lack the capacity to process and analyse them. What is apparen...

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Ecohydrology with unmanned aerial vehicles

Cited by 79 publications

References 70 publications

Wildlife research and management methods in the 21st century: Where do unmanned aircraft fit in?

Wildlife research and management methods in the 21st century: Where do unmanned aircraft fit in?

Monitoring tropical debris-covered glacier dynamics from high-resolution unmanned aerial vehicle photogrammetry, Cordillera Blanca, Peru

The future of Earth observation in hydrology

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