In situ measurements of the ice flow motion at Eqip Sermia Glacier using a remotely controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
Measuring the ice flow motion accurately is essential to better understand the time evolution of glaciers and ice sheets and therefore to better anticipate the future consequence of climate change in terms of sea level rise. Although there are a variety of remote sensing methods to fill this task, i...
Published in: | Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems |
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2020
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:ad7b664be1a3494babde9833635bed14 2023-05-15T16:21:20+02:00 In situ measurements of the ice flow motion at Eqip Sermia Glacier using a remotely controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) G. Jouvet E. van Dongen M. P. Lüthi A. Vieli 2020-02-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-9-1-2020 https://doaj.org/article/ad7b664be1a3494babde9833635bed14 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://www.geosci-instrum-method-data-syst.net/9/1/2020/gi-9-1-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/2193-0856 https://doaj.org/toc/2193-0864 doi:10.5194/gi-9-1-2020 2193-0856 2193-0864 https://doaj.org/article/ad7b664be1a3494babde9833635bed14 Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems, Vol 9, Pp 1-10 (2020) Geophysics. Cosmic physics QC801-809 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-9-1-2020 2022-12-31T12:49:54Z Measuring the ice flow motion accurately is essential to better understand the time evolution of glaciers and ice sheets and therefore to better anticipate the future consequence of climate change in terms of sea level rise. Although there are a variety of remote sensing methods to fill this task, in situ measurements are always needed for validation or to capture high-temporal-resolution movements. Yet glaciers are in general hostile environments where the installation of instruments might be tedious and risky when not impossible. Here we report the first-ever in situ measurements of ice flow motion using a remotely controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). We used a quadcopter UAV to land on a highly crevassed area of Eqip Sermia Glacier, West Greenland, to measure the displacement of the glacial surface with the aid of an onboard differential GNSS receiver. We measured approximately 70 cm of displacement over 4.36 h without setting foot onto the glacier – a result validated by applying UAV photogrammetry and template matching techniques. Our study demonstrates that UAVs are promising instruments for in situ monitoring and have great potential for capturing continuous ice flow variations in inaccessible glaciers – a task that remote sensing techniques can hardly achieve. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Greenland Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Eqip Sermia ENVELOPE(-50.067,-50.067,69.817,69.817) Greenland Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems 9 1 1 10 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Geophysics. Cosmic physics QC801-809 |
spellingShingle |
Geophysics. Cosmic physics QC801-809 G. Jouvet E. van Dongen M. P. Lüthi A. Vieli In situ measurements of the ice flow motion at Eqip Sermia Glacier using a remotely controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) |
topic_facet |
Geophysics. Cosmic physics QC801-809 |
description |
Measuring the ice flow motion accurately is essential to better understand the time evolution of glaciers and ice sheets and therefore to better anticipate the future consequence of climate change in terms of sea level rise. Although there are a variety of remote sensing methods to fill this task, in situ measurements are always needed for validation or to capture high-temporal-resolution movements. Yet glaciers are in general hostile environments where the installation of instruments might be tedious and risky when not impossible. Here we report the first-ever in situ measurements of ice flow motion using a remotely controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). We used a quadcopter UAV to land on a highly crevassed area of Eqip Sermia Glacier, West Greenland, to measure the displacement of the glacial surface with the aid of an onboard differential GNSS receiver. We measured approximately 70 cm of displacement over 4.36 h without setting foot onto the glacier – a result validated by applying UAV photogrammetry and template matching techniques. Our study demonstrates that UAVs are promising instruments for in situ monitoring and have great potential for capturing continuous ice flow variations in inaccessible glaciers – a task that remote sensing techniques can hardly achieve. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
G. Jouvet E. van Dongen M. P. Lüthi A. Vieli |
author_facet |
G. Jouvet E. van Dongen M. P. Lüthi A. Vieli |
author_sort |
G. Jouvet |
title |
In situ measurements of the ice flow motion at Eqip Sermia Glacier using a remotely controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) |
title_short |
In situ measurements of the ice flow motion at Eqip Sermia Glacier using a remotely controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) |
title_full |
In situ measurements of the ice flow motion at Eqip Sermia Glacier using a remotely controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) |
title_fullStr |
In situ measurements of the ice flow motion at Eqip Sermia Glacier using a remotely controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) |
title_full_unstemmed |
In situ measurements of the ice flow motion at Eqip Sermia Glacier using a remotely controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) |
title_sort |
in situ measurements of the ice flow motion at eqip sermia glacier using a remotely controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (uav) |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-9-1-2020 https://doaj.org/article/ad7b664be1a3494babde9833635bed14 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-50.067,-50.067,69.817,69.817) |
geographic |
Eqip Sermia Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Eqip Sermia Greenland |
genre |
glacier Greenland |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland |
op_source |
Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems, Vol 9, Pp 1-10 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://www.geosci-instrum-method-data-syst.net/9/1/2020/gi-9-1-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/2193-0856 https://doaj.org/toc/2193-0864 doi:10.5194/gi-9-1-2020 2193-0856 2193-0864 https://doaj.org/article/ad7b664be1a3494babde9833635bed14 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-9-1-2020 |
container_title |
Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
1 |
op_container_end_page |
10 |
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1766009347036413952 |