Combining UAV LiDAR and Terrestrial Laser Scanning to investigate the impact of shrub expansion on local-scale Arctic snowpack distribution.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxim Lamare ◽  
Laurent Arnaud ◽  
Ghislain Picard ◽  
Maude Pelletier ◽  
Florent Domine
Keyword(s):  
Snow Depth ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Terrestrial Laser Scanning ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Shrub Expansion ◽  
Vegetation Height ◽  
Digital Terrain ◽  
Dwarf Birch ◽  
The Impact

<p><span>Climate warming induces shrub expansion on Arctic herb tundra, with effects on snow trapping and hence snow depth. We have used UAV-borne LiDAR and Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) to investigate the impact of shrub height on snow depth at two close sites near Umiujaq, eastern Canadian low Arctic, where dwarf birch and willow shrubs are expanding on lichen tundra. The first site features lichen and high shrubs (50-100 cm), a moderate relief, and a snowpack averaging 95 cm in spring. The second site consists of lichen and low shrubs (20-60 cm), more pronounced topography, and a deeper snowpack (101 cm). Digital Terrain and Surface Models were acquired in early fall to obtain topography and vegetation height. A Digital Surface Model obtained in spring produced snow depth maps at peak depth. TLS over a 400 m<sup>2</sup> area produced time series of snow depth throughout the winter. TLS data show preferential snow accumulation in shrubs, but also preferential melting in shrubs during fall warm spells and in spring. UAV data at the first site show a strong correlation between vegetation height and snow depth, even after snow depth has exceeded vegetation height. This correlation is not observed at the second site, probably because snow depth there is much greater than vegetation height. These data show the need to reconsider some paradigms on snow-vegetation interactions, for example that vegetation does not affect snow accumulation beyond its height. </span></p>

scholarly journals Tree canopy and snow depth relationships at fine scales with terrestrial laser scanning

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Hojatimalekshah ◽  
Zach Uhlmann ◽  
Nancy F. Glenn ◽  
Christopher A. Hiemstra ◽  
Christopher J. Tennant ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Snow Depth ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Terrestrial Laser Scanning ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
Tree Structure ◽  
Scale Model ◽  
Fine Scale ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Understanding the impact of tree structure on snow depth and extent is important in order to make predictions of snow amounts, and how changes in forest cover may affect future water resources. In this work, we investigate snow depth under tree canopies and in open areas to quantify the role of tree structure in controlling snow depth, as well as the controls from wind and topography. We use fine scale terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) data collected across Grand Mesa, Colorado, USA, to measure the snow depth and extract horizontal and vertical tree descriptors (metrics) at six sites. We apply the Marker-controlled watershed algorithm for individual tree segmentation and measure the snow depth using the Multi-scale Model to Model Cloud Comparison algorithm. Canopy, topography and snow interaction results indicate that vegetation structural metrics (specifically foliage height diversity) along with local scale processes such as wind are highly influential on snow depth variation. Our study specifies that windward slopes show greater impact on snow accumulation than vegetation metrics. In addition, the results emphasize the importance of tree species and distribution on snow depth patterns. Fine scale analysis from TLS provides information on local scale controls, and provides an opportunity to be readily coupled with airborne or spaceborne lidar to investigate larger-scale controls on snow depth.

scholarly journals Impact of Surface Albedo Assimilation on Snow Estimation

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sujay Kumar ◽  
David Mocko ◽  
Carrie Vuyovich ◽  
Christa Peters-Lidard
Keyword(s):  
Snow Cover ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Snow Depth ◽  
Surface Albedo ◽  
Land Surface Model ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
High Plains ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Fractional Snow Cover ◽  
The Impact

Surface albedo has a significant impact in determining the amount of available net radiation at the surface and the evolution of surface water and energy budget components. The snow accumulation and timing of melt, in particular, are directly impacted by the changes in land surface albedo. This study presents an evaluation of the impact of assimilating Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-based surface albedo estimates in the Noah multi-parameterization (Noah-MP) land surface model, over the continental US during the time period from 2000 to 2017. The evaluation of simulated snow depth and snow cover fields show that significant improvements from data assimilation (DA) are obtained over the High Plains and parts of the Rocky Mountains. Earlier snowmelt and reduced agreements with reference snow depth measurements, primarily over the Northeast US, are also observed due to albedo DA. Most improvements from assimilation are observed over locations with moderate vegetation and lower elevation. The aggregate impact on evapotranspiration and runoff from assimilation is found to be marginal. This study also evaluates the relative and joint utility of assimilating fractional snow cover and surface albedo measurements. Relative to surface albedo assimilation, fractional snow cover assimilation is found to provide smaller improvements in the simulated snow depth fields. The configuration that jointly assimilates surface albedo and fractional snow cover measurements is found to provide the most beneficial improvements compared to the univariate DA configurations for surface albedo or fractional snow cover. Overall, the study also points to the need for improving the albedo formulations in land surface models and the incorporation of observational uncertainties within albedo DA configurations.

scholarly journals Accuracy Assessment of Point Clouds from LiDAR and Dense Image Matching Acquired Using the UAV Platform for DTM Creation

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. 342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Salach ◽  
Krzysztof Bakuła ◽  
Magdalena Pilarska ◽  
Wojciech Ostrowski ◽  
Konrad Górski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Digital Terrain Models ◽  
Vegetation Height ◽  
Digital Terrain ◽  
Terrain Models ◽  
Airborne Laser ◽  
Vertical Accuracy

In this paper, the results of an experiment about the vertical accuracy of generated digital terrain models were assessed. The created models were based on two techniques: LiDAR and photogrammetry. The data were acquired using an ultralight laser scanner, which was dedicated to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) platforms that provide very dense point clouds (180 points per square meter), and an RGB digital camera that collects data at very high resolution (a ground sampling distance of 2 cm). The vertical error of the digital terrain models (DTMs) was evaluated based on the surveying data measured in the field and compared to airborne laser scanning collected with a manned plane. The data were acquired in summer during a corridor flight mission over levees and their surroundings, where various types of land cover were observed. The experiment results showed unequivocally, that the terrain models obtained using LiDAR technology were more accurate. An attempt to assess the accuracy and possibilities of penetration of the point cloud from the image-based approach, whilst referring to various types of land cover, was conducted based on Real Time Kinematic Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS-RTK) measurements and was compared to archival airborne laser scanning data. The vertical accuracy of DTM was evaluated for uncovered and vegetation areas separately, providing information about the influence of the vegetation height on the results of the bare ground extraction and DTM generation. In uncovered and low vegetation areas (0–20 cm), the vertical accuracies of digital terrain models generated from different data sources were quite similar: for the UAV Laser Scanning (ULS) data, the RMSE was 0.11 m, and for the image-based data collected using the UAV platform, it was 0.14 m, whereas for medium vegetation (higher than 60 cm), the RMSE from these two data sources were 0.11 m and 0.36 m, respectively. A decrease in the accuracy of 0.10 m, for every 20 cm of vegetation height, was observed for photogrammetric data; and such a dependency was not noticed in the case of models created from the ULS data.

scholarly journals Forcing the SURFEX/Crocus snow model with combined hourly meteorological forecasts and gridded observations in southern Norway

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanneke Luijting ◽  
Dagrun Vikhamar-Schuler ◽  
Trygve Aspelien ◽  
Mariken Homleid
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Snow Depth ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Snow Melt ◽  
Grid Spacing ◽  
Snow Covered Area ◽  
Covered Area ◽  
Southern Norway

Abstract. In Norway, thirty percent of the annual precipitation falls as snow. Knowledge of the snow reservoir is therefore important for energy production and water resource management. The land surface model SURFEX with the detailed snowpack scheme Crocus (SURFEX/Crocus) has been run with a grid spacing of approximately 1 km over an area in southern Norway for two years (01 September 2014–31 August 2016), using two different forcing data sets: 1) hourly meteorological forecasts from the operational weather forecast model AROME MetCoOp (2.5 km grid spacing), and 2) gridded hourly observations of temperature and precipitation (1 km grid spacing) in combination with the meteorological forecasts from AROME MetCoOp. We present an evaluation of the modeled snow depth and snow cover, as compared to point observations of snow depth and to MODIS satellite images of the snow-covered area. The evaluation focuses on snow accumulation and snow melt. The results are promising. Both experiments are capable of simulating the snow pack over the two winter seasons, but there is an overestimation of snow depth when using only meteorological forecasts from AROME MetCoOp, although the snow-covered area throughout the melt season is better represented by this experiment. The errors, when using AROME MetCoOp as forcing, accumulate over the snow season, showing that assimilation of snow depth observations into SURFEX/Crocus might be necessary when using only meteorological forecasts as forcing. When using gridded observations, the simulation of snow depth is significantly improved, which shows that using a combination of gridded observations and meteorological forecasts to force a snowpack model is very useful and can give better results than only using meteorological forecasts. There is however an underestimation of snow ablation in both experiments. This is mainly due to the absence of wind-induced erosion of snow in the SURFEX/Crocus model, underestimated snow melt and biases in the forcing data.

scholarly journals Photogrammetric surveying forests and woodlands with UAVs: techniques for automatic removal of vegetation and digital terrain model production for hydrological applications

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Fotis Giagkas ◽  
Petros Patias ◽  
Charalampos Georgiadis
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation Type ◽  
Digital Terrain Model ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Aerial Images ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Terrain Model ◽  
Vegetation Height ◽  
Digital Terrain ◽  
Dense Point ◽  
Height Model

The purpose of this study is the photogrammetric survey of a forested area using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and the estimation of the digital terrain model (DTM) of the area, based on the photogrammetrically produced digital surface model (DSM). Furthermore, through the classification of the height difference between a DSM and a DTM, a vegetation height model is estimated, and a vegetation type map is produced. Finally, the generated DTM was used in a hydrological analysis study to determine its suitability compared to the usage of the DSM. The selected study area was the forest of Seih-Sou (Thessaloniki). The DTM extraction methodology applies classification and filtering of point clouds, and aims to produce a surface model including only terrain points (DTM). The method yielded a DTM that functioned satisfactorily as a basis for the hydrological analysis. Also, by classifying the DSM–DTM difference, a vegetation height model was generated. For the photogrammetric survey, 495 aerial images were used, taken by a UAV from a height of ∼200 m. A total of 44 ground control points were measured with an accuracy of 5 cm. The accuracy of the aerial triangulation was approximately 13 cm. The produced dense point cloud, counted 146 593 725 points.

scholarly journals UAV-Based Terrain Modeling under Vegetation in the Chinese Loess Plateau: A Deep Learning and Terrain Correction Ensemble Framework

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (20) ◽  
pp. 3318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiaming Na ◽  
Kaikai Xue ◽  
Liyang Xiong ◽  
Guoan Tang ◽  
Hu Ding ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Deep Learning ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Digital Terrain Model ◽  
Terrain Correction ◽  
Chinese Loess Plateau ◽  
Chinese Loess ◽  
Terrain Model ◽  
Vegetation Height ◽  
Digital Terrain

Accurate topographic mapping is a critical task for various environmental applications because elevation affects hydrodynamics and vegetation distributions. UAV photogrammetry is popular in terrain modelling because of its lower cost compared to laser scanning. However, this method is restricted in vegetation area with a complex terrain, due to reduced ground visibility and lack of robust and automatic filtering algorithms. To solve this problem, this work proposed an ensemble method of deep learning and terrain correction. First, image matching point cloud was generated by UAV photogrammetry. Second, vegetation points were identified based on U-net deep learning network. After that, ground elevation was corrected by estimating vegetation height to generate the digital terrain model (DTM). Two scenarios, namely, discrete and continuous vegetation areas were considered. The vegetation points in the discrete area were directly removed and then interpolated, and terrain correction was applied for the points in the continuous areas. Case studies were conducted in three different landforms in the loess plateau of China, and accuracy assessment indicated that the overall accuracy of vegetation detection was 95.0%, and the MSE (Mean Square Error) of final DTM (Digital Terrain Model) was 0.024 m.

scholarly journals Mapping the annual evolution of snow depth in a small catchment in the Pyrenees using the long-range terrestrial laser scanning

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Revuelto ◽  
J.I. López-Moreno ◽  
C. Azorin-Molina ◽  
J. Zabalza ◽  
G. Arguedas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Snow Depth ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Terrestrial Laser Scanning ◽  
Small Catchment

scholarly journals TRACKING FOREST AND OPEN AREA EFFECTS ON SNOW ACCUMULATION BY UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE PHOTOGRAMMETRY

2016 ◽  
Vol XLI-B1 ◽  
pp. 917-923
Author(s):  
T. Lendzioch ◽  
J. Langhammer ◽  
M. Jenicek
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Snow Depth ◽  
Forest Canopy ◽  
Forest Succession ◽  
Coniferous Forest ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
Digital Photogrammetry ◽  
Area Index ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
The Impact

Airborne digital photogrammetry is undergoing a renaissance. The availability of low-cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) platforms well adopted for digital photography and progress in software development now gives rise to apply this technique to different areas of research. Especially in determining snow depth spatial distributions, where repetitive mapping of cryosphere dynamics is crucial. Here, we introduce UAV-based digital photogrammetry as a rapid and robust approach for evaluating snow accumulation over small local areas (e.g., dead forest, open areas) and to reveal impacts related to changes in forest and snowpack. Due to the advancement of the technique, snow depth of selected study areas such as of healthy forest, disturbed forest, succession, dead forest, and of open areas can be estimated at a 1 cm spatial resolution. The approach is performed in two steps: 1) developing a high resolution Digital Elevation Model during snow-free and 2) during snow-covered conditions. By substracting these two models the snow depth can be accurately retrieved and volumetric changes of snow depth distribution can be achieved. This is a first proof-of-concept study combining snow depth determination and Leaf Area Index (LAI) retrieval to monitor the impact of forest canopy metrics on snow accumulation in coniferous forest within the Šumava National Park, Czech Republic. Both, downward-looking UAV images and upward-looking LAI-2200 canopy analyser measurements were applied to reveal the LAI, controlling interception and transmitting radiation. For the performance of downward-looking images the snow background instead of the sky fraction was used. In contrast to the classical determination of LAI by hemispherical photography or by LAI plant canopy analyser, our approach will also test the accuracy of LAI measurements by UAV that are taken simultaneously during the snow cover mapping campaigns. Since the LAI parameter is important for snowpack modelling, this method presents the potential of simplifying LAI retrieval and mapping of snow dynamics while reducing running costs and time.

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