UAS remote sensing applications to abrupt cold region hazards

• Published in: Frontiers in Remote Sensing
• Main Authors: Megan Verfaillie, Eunsang Cho, Lauren Dwyre, Imran Khan, Cameron Wagner, Jennifer M. Jacobs, Adam Hunsaker
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
• Subjects: UAV; UAS; cold region; flooding; erosion; permafrost; Geophysics. Cosmic physics; QC801-809; Meteorology. Climatology; QC851-999; Ice
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3389/frsen.2023.1095275; https://doaj.org/article/5b0f48adca2d4f6b8885f753d25ff60f

Unoccupied aerial systems (UAS) are an established technique for collecting data on cold region phenomenon at high spatial and temporal resolutions. While many studies have focused on remote sensing applications for monitoring long term changes in cold regions, the role of UAS for detection, monitoring, and response to rapid changes and direct exposures resulting from abrupt hazards in cold regions is in its early days. This review discusses recent applications of UAS remote sensing platforms and sensors, with a focus on observation techniques rather than post-processing approaches, for abrupt, cold region hazards including permafrost collapse and event-based thaw, flooding, snow avalanches, winter storms, erosion, and ice jams. The pilot efforts highlighted in this review demonstrate the potential capacity for UAS remote sensing to complement existing data acquisition techniques for cold region hazards. In many cases, UASs were used alongside other remote sensing techniques (e.g., satellite, airborne, terrestrial) and in situ sampling to supplement existing data or to collect additional types of data not included in existing datasets (e.g., thermal, meteorological). While the majority of UAS applications involved creation of digital elevation models or digital surface models using Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry, this review describes other applications of UAS observations that help to assess risks, identify impacts, and enhance decision making. As the frequency and intensity of abrupt cold region hazards changes, it will become increasingly important to document and understand these changes to support scientific advances and hazard management. The decreasing cost and increasing accessibility of UAS technologies will create more opportunities to leverage these techniques to address current research gaps. Overcoming challenges related to implementation of new technologies, modifying operational restrictions, bridging gaps between data types and resolutions, and creating data tailored to risk ...