scholarly journals An integrated observation dataset of the hydrological and thermal deformation in permafrost slopes and engineering infrastructure in the Qinghai–Tibet Engineering Corridor

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4035-4052
Author(s):  
Lihui Luo ◽  
Yanli Zhuang ◽  
Mingyi Zhang ◽  
Zhongqiong Zhang ◽  
Wei Ma ◽  
...  

Abstract. Across the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) there is a narrow engineering corridor with widely distributed slopes called the Qinghai–Tibet Engineering Corridor (QTEC), where a variety of important infrastructures are concentrated. These facilities are transportation routes for people, materials, energy, etc. from inland China to the Tibet Autonomous Region. From Golmud to Lhasa, the engineering corridor covers 632 km of permafrost containing the densely developed Qinghai–Tibet Railway and Qinghai–Tibet Highway, as well as power and communication towers. Slope failure in permafrost regions, caused by permafrost degradation, ground ice melting, etc., affects the engineering construction and permafrost environments in the QTEC. We implement a variety of sensors to monitor the hydrological and thermal deformation between permafrost slopes and permafrost engineering projects in the corridor. In addition to soil temperature and moisture sensors, the global navigation satellite system (GNSS), terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were adopted to monitor the spatial distribution and changes in thermal deformation. An integrated dataset of hydrological and thermal deformation in permafrost engineering and slopes in the QTEC from the 1950s to 2020, including meteorological and ground observations, TLS point cloud data, and RGB and thermal infrared (TIR) images, can be of great value for estimating the hydrological and thermal impact and stability between engineering and slopes under the influence of climate change and engineering disturbance. The dataset and code were uploaded to the Zenodo repository and can be accessed through https://zenodo.org/communities/qtec (last access: 23 June 2021), including meteorological and ground observations at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5009871 (Luo et al., 2020d), TLS measurements at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5009558 (Luo et al., 2020a), UAV RGB and TIR images at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5016192 (Luo et al., 2020b), and R code for permafrost indices and visualisation at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5002981 (Luo et al., 2020c).

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lihui Luo ◽  
Yanli Zhuang ◽  
Mingyi Zhang ◽  
Zhongqiong Zhang ◽  
Wei Ma ◽  
...  

Abstract. There exists a narrow engineering corridor across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) with widely distributed slopes, called the Qinghai-Tibet Engineering Corridor (QTEC), where a variety of important infrastructure is concentrated. These facilities are the transportation routes for people, materials, energy, etc. from mainland China to Tibet. From Golmud to Lhasa, the engineering corridor covers 632 kilometers of permafrost containing the densely occurring Qinghai-Tibet Railway, Highway, and power/communication towers. Slope failure in permafrost regions, caused by permafrost degradation, ground ice melting, etc., and affects the engineering construction and permafrost environments in the QTEC. We implement a variety of sensors to monitor the hydrological-thermal deformation between the permafrost slopes and permafrost engineering projects in the corridor, and the aforementioned sensors are densely located on or around the permafrost slopes. In addition to soil temperature and moisture sensors, the global navigation satellite system (GNSS), terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were adopted to monitor the thermal deformation spatial distribution and changes. An integrated dataset of hydrological-thermal deformation in permafrost engineering and slopes in the QTEC between 2014 and 2019, including meteorological and ground observations, TLS point cloud data, and RGB and thermal infrared (TIR) images, can be of great value for estimating the hydrological-thermal impact and the stability between engineering and slopes under the influence of climate change and engineering disturbance. The dataset and code were uploaded to the Zenodo repository and can be accessed through https://zenodo.org/communities/qtec, including Meteorological and ground observations at http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3764273 (Luo et al., 2020e), TLS measurements at http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3764502 (Luo et al., 2020b), UAV RGB and TIR images at http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3764280 (Luo et al., 2020c), and R code for permafrost indices and visualization at http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3766712 (Luo et al., 2020d).


2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 145-155
Author(s):  
Timo Saari ◽  
Markku Poutanen ◽  
Veikko Saaranen ◽  
Harri Kaartinen ◽  
Antero Kukko ◽  
...  

Precise levelling is known for its accuracy and reliability in height determination, but the process itself is slow, laborious and expensive. We have started a project to study methods for height determination that could decrease the creation time of national height systems without losing the accuracy and reliability that is needed for them. In the pilot project described here, we study some of the alternative techniques with a pilot field test where we compared them with the precise levelling. The purpose of the test is not to evaluate the mutual superiority or suitability of the techniques, but to establish the background for a larger test and to find strong and weak points of each technique. The techniques chosen for this study were precise levelling, Mobile Laser Scanning (MLS) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) levelling, which included static Global Positioning System (GPS) and Virtual Reference Station (VRS) measurements. This research highlighted the differences of the studied techniques and gave insights about the framework and procedure for the later experiments. The research will continue in a larger scale, where the suitability of the techniques regarding the height systems is to be determined.


2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (No. 9) ◽  
pp. 433-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Čerňava Juraj ◽  
Tuček Ján ◽  
Koreň Milan ◽  
Mokroš Martin

Mobile laser scanning (MLS) is time-efficient technology of geospatial data collection that proved its ability to provide accurate measurements in many fields. Mobile innovation of the terrestrial laser scanning has a potential to collect forest inventory data on a tree level from large plots in a short time. Valuable data, collected using mobile mapping system (MMS), becomes very difficult to process when Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) outages become too long. A heavy forest canopy blocking the GNSS signal and limited accessibility can make mobile mapping very difficult. This paper presents processing of data collected by MMS under a heavy forest canopy. DBH was estimated from MLS point cloud using three different methods. Root mean squared error varied between 2.65 and 5.57 cm. Our research resulted in verification of the influence of MLS coverage of tree stem on the accuracy of DBH data.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (22) ◽  
pp. 8073
Author(s):  
Min Woo Ryu ◽  
Sang Min Oh ◽  
Min Ju Kim ◽  
Hun Hee Cho ◽  
Chang Baek Son ◽  
...  

This study proposes a new method to generate a three-dimensional (3D) geometric representation of an indoor environment by refining and processing an indoor point cloud data (PCD) captured through backpack laser scanners. The proposed algorithm comprises two parts to generate the 3D geometric representation: data refinement and data processing. In the refinement section, the inputted indoor PCD are roughly segmented by applying random sample consensus (RANSAC) to raw data based on an estimated normal vector. Next, the 3D geometric representation is generated by calculating and separating tangent points on segmented PCD. This study proposes a robust algorithm that utilizes the topological feature of the indoor PCD created by a hierarchical data process. The algorithm minimizes the size and the uncertainty of raw PCD caused by the absence of a global navigation satellite system and equipment errors. The result of this study shows that the indoor environment can be converted into 3D geometric representation by applying the proposed algorithm to the indoor PCD.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 615 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juraj Čerňava ◽  
Martin Mokroš ◽  
Ján Tuček ◽  
Michal Antal ◽  
Zuzana Slatkovská

Mobile laser scanning (MLS) is a progressive technology that has already demonstrated its ability to provide highly accurate measurements of road networks. Mobile innovation of the laser scanning has also found its use in forest mapping over the last decade. In most cases, existing methods for forest data acquisition using MLS result in misaligned scenes of the forest, scanned from different views appearing in one point cloud. These difficulties are caused mainly by forest canopy blocking the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signal and limited access to the forest. In this study, we propose an approach to the processing of MLS data of forest scanned from different views with two mobile laser scanners under heavy canopy. Data from two scanners, as part of the mobile mapping system (MMS) Riegl VMX-250, were acquired by scanning from five parallel skid trails that are connected to the forest road. Misaligned scenes of the forest acquired from different views were successfully extracted from the raw MLS point cloud using GNSS time based clustering. At first, point clouds with correctly aligned sets of ground points were generated using this method. The loss of points after the clustering amounted to 33.48%. Extracted point clouds were then reduced to 1.15 m thick horizontal slices, and tree stems were detected. Point clusters from individual stems were grouped based on the diameter and mean GNSS time of the cluster acquisition. Horizontal overlap was calculated for the clusters from individual stems, and sufficiently overlapping clusters were aligned using the OPALS ICP module. An average misalignment of 7.2 mm was observed for the aligned point clusters. A 5-cm thick horizontal slice of the aligned point cloud was used for estimation of the stem diameter at breast height (DBH). DBH was estimated using a simple circle-fitting method with a root-mean-square error of 3.06 cm. The methods presented in this study have the potential to process MLS data acquired under heavy forest canopy with any commercial MMS.


Author(s):  
A. Mayr ◽  
M. Bremer ◽  
M. Rutzinger ◽  
C. Geitner

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> With this contribution we assess the potential of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based laser scanning for monitoring shallow erosion in Alpine grassland. A 3D point cloud has been acquired by unmanned aerial vehicle laser scanning (ULS) at a test site in the subalpine/alpine elevation zone of the Dolomites (South Tyrol, Italy). To assess its accuracy, this point cloud is compared with (i) differential global navigation satellite system (GNSS) reference measurements and (ii) a terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) point cloud. The ULS point cloud and an airborne laser scanning (ALS) point cloud are rasterized into digital surface models (DSMs) and, as a proof-of-concept for erosion quantification, we calculate the elevation difference between the ULS DSM from 2018 and the ALS DSM from 2010. For contiguous spatial objects of elevation change, the volumetric difference is calculated and a land cover class (<i>bare earth</i>, <i>grassland</i>, <i>trees</i>), derived from the ULS reflectance and RGB colour, is assigned to each change object. In this test, the accuracy and density of the ALS point cloud is mainly limiting the detection of geomorphological changes. Nevertheless, the plausibility of the results is confirmed by geomorphological interpretation and documentation in the field. A total eroded volume of 672&amp;thinsp;m<sup>3</sup> is estimated for the test site (48&amp;thinsp;ha). Such volumetric estimates of erosion over multiple years are a key information for improving sustainable soil management. Based on this proof-of-concept and the accuracy analysis, we conclude that repeated ULS campaigns are a well-suited tool for erosion monitoring in Alpine grassland.</p>


2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 3297-3333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Bühler ◽  
M. Marty ◽  
L. Egli ◽  
J. Veitinger ◽  
T. Jonas ◽  
...  

Abstract. Information on snow depth and its spatial distribution is crucial for many applications in snow and avalanche research as well as in hydrology and ecology. Today snow depth distributions are usually estimated using point measurements performed by automated weather stations and observers in the field combined with interpolation algorithms. However, these methodologies are not able to capture the high spatial variability of the snow depth distribution present in alpine terrain. Continuous and accurate snow depth mapping has been done using laser scanning but this method can only cover limited areas and is expensive. We use the airborne ADS80 opto-electronic scanner with 0.25 m spatial resolution to derive digital surface models (DSMs) of winter and summer terrains in the neighborhood of Davos, Switzerland. The DSMs are generated using photogrammetric image correlation techniques based on the multispectral nadir and backward looking sensor data. We compare these products with the following independent datasets acquired simultaneously: (a) manually measured snow depth plots (b) differential Global Navigation Satellite System (dGNSS) points (c) Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) and (d) Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) datasets, to assess the accuracy of the photogrammetric products. The results of this investigation demonstrate the potential of optical scanners for wide-area, continuous and high spatial resolution snow-depth mapping over alpine catchments above tree line.


Author(s):  
M. Nakagawa ◽  
M. Taguchi

Abstract. In this paper, we focus on the development of intelligent construction vehicles to improve the safety of workers in construction sites. Generally, global navigation satellite system positioning is utilized to obtain the position data of workers and construction vehicles. However, construction fields in urban areas have poor satellite positioning environments. Therefore, we have developed a 3D sensing unit mounted on a construction vehicle for worker position data acquisition. The unit mainly consists of a multilayer laser scanner. We propose a real-time object measurement, classification and tracking methodology with the multilayer laser scanner. We also propose a methodology to estimate and visualize object behaviors with a spatial model based on a space subdivision framework consisting of agents, activities, resources, and modifiers. We applied the space subdivision framework with a geofencing approach using real-time object classification and tracking results estimated from temporal point clouds. Our methodology was evaluated using temporal point clouds acquired from a construction vehicle in drilling works.


Author(s):  
A. Martínez-Fernández ◽  
E. Serrano ◽  
J. J. Sanjosé ◽  
M. Gómez-Lende ◽  
A. Pisabarro ◽  
...  

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Rock glaciers are one of the most important features of the mountain permafrost in the Pyrenees. La Paúl is an active rock glacier located in the north face of the Posets massif in the La Paúl glacier cirque (Spanish Pyrenees). This study presents the preliminary results of the La Paúl rock glacier monitoring works carried out through two geomatic technologies since 2013: Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers and Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) devices. Displacements measured on the rock glacier surface have demonstrated both the activity of the rock glacier and the utility of this equipment for the rock glaciers dynamic analysis. The glacier has exhibited the fastest displacements on its west side (over 35&amp;thinsp;cm&amp;thinsp;yr<sup>&amp;minus;1</sup>), affected by the Little Ice Age, and frontal area (over 25&amp;thinsp;cm&amp;thinsp;yr<sup>&amp;minus;1</sup>). As an indicator of permafrost in marginal environments and its peculiar morphology, La Paúl rock glacier encourages a more prolonged study and to the application of more geomatic techniques for its detailed analysis.</p>


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 1180
Author(s):  
Aimad El Issaoui ◽  
Ziyi Feng ◽  
Matti Lehtomäki ◽  
Eric Hyyppä ◽  
Hannu Hyyppä ◽  
...  

This paper studied the applicability of the Roamer-R4DW mobile laser scanning (MLS) system for road rut depth measurement. The MLS system was developed by the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute (FGI), and consists of two mobile laser scanners and a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-inertial measurement unit (IMU) positioning system. In the study, a fully automatic algorithm was developed to calculate and analyze the rut depths, and verified in 64 reference pavement plots (1.0 m × 3.5 m). We showed that terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) data is an adequate reference for MLS-based rutting studies. The MLS-derived rut depths based on 64 plots resulted in 1.4 mm random error, which can be considered adequate precision for operational rutting depth measurements. Such data, also covering the area outside the pavement, would be ideal for multiple road environment applications since the same data can also be used in applications, from high-definition maps to autonomous car navigation and digitalization of street environments over time and in space.


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