A low-cost and open-source approach for supraglacial debris thickness mapping using UAV-based infrared thermography
Debris-covered glaciers exist in many mountain ranges and play an important role in the regional water cycle. However, modelling the surface mass balance, runoff contribution and future evolution of debris-covered glaciers is fraught with uncertainty as accurate observations on small-scale variation...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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Copernicus Publications
2024
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ftnonlinearchiv:oai:noa.gwlb.de:cop_mods_00071762 2024-04-14T08:20:23+00:00 A low-cost and open-source approach for supraglacial debris thickness mapping using UAV-based infrared thermography Messmer, Jérôme Groos, Alexander Raphael 2024-02 electronic https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-719-2024 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00071762 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00070023/tc-18-719-2024.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/18/719/2024/tc-18-719-2024.pdf eng eng Copernicus Publications The Cryosphere -- ˜Theœ Cryosphere -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2393169 -- http://www.the-cryosphere.net/ -- 1994-0424 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-719-2024 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00071762 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00070023/tc-18-719-2024.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/18/719/2024/tc-18-719-2024.pdf https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article Verlagsveröffentlichung article Text doc-type:article 2024 ftnonlinearchiv https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-719-2024 2024-03-19T12:18:16Z Debris-covered glaciers exist in many mountain ranges and play an important role in the regional water cycle. However, modelling the surface mass balance, runoff contribution and future evolution of debris-covered glaciers is fraught with uncertainty as accurate observations on small-scale variations in debris thickness and sub-debris ice melt rates are only available for a few locations worldwide. Here we describe a customised low-cost unoccupied aerial vehicle (UAV) for high-resolution thermal imaging of mountain glaciers and present a complete open-source pipeline that facilitates the generation of accurate surface temperature and debris thickness maps from radiometric images. First, a radiometric orthophoto is computed from individual radiometric UAV images using structure-from-motion and multi-view-stereo techniques. User-specific calibration and correction procedures can then be applied to the radiometric orthophoto to account for atmospheric and environmental influences that affect the radiometric measurement. The thermal orthophoto reveals distinct spatial variations in surface temperature across the surveyed debris-covered area. Finally, a high-resolution debris thickness map is derived from the corrected thermal orthophoto using an empirical or inverse surface energy balance model that relates surface temperature to debris thickness and is calibrated against in situ measurements. Our results from a small-scale experiment on the Kanderfirn (also known as Kander Neve) in the Swiss Alps show that the surface temperature and thickness of a relatively thin debris layer (ca. 0–15 cm) can be mapped with high accuracy using an empirical or physical model. On snow and ice surfaces, the mean deviation of the mapped surface temperature from the melting point (∼ 0 ∘C) was 0.6 ± 2.0 ∘C. The root-mean-square error of the modelled debris thickness was 1.3 cm. Through the detailed mapping, typical small-scale debris features and debris thickness patterns become visible, which are not spatially resolved by the thermal ... Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA The Cryosphere 18 2 719 746 |
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article Verlagsveröffentlichung Messmer, Jérôme Groos, Alexander Raphael A low-cost and open-source approach for supraglacial debris thickness mapping using UAV-based infrared thermography |
topic_facet |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung |
description |
Debris-covered glaciers exist in many mountain ranges and play an important role in the regional water cycle. However, modelling the surface mass balance, runoff contribution and future evolution of debris-covered glaciers is fraught with uncertainty as accurate observations on small-scale variations in debris thickness and sub-debris ice melt rates are only available for a few locations worldwide. Here we describe a customised low-cost unoccupied aerial vehicle (UAV) for high-resolution thermal imaging of mountain glaciers and present a complete open-source pipeline that facilitates the generation of accurate surface temperature and debris thickness maps from radiometric images. First, a radiometric orthophoto is computed from individual radiometric UAV images using structure-from-motion and multi-view-stereo techniques. User-specific calibration and correction procedures can then be applied to the radiometric orthophoto to account for atmospheric and environmental influences that affect the radiometric measurement. The thermal orthophoto reveals distinct spatial variations in surface temperature across the surveyed debris-covered area. Finally, a high-resolution debris thickness map is derived from the corrected thermal orthophoto using an empirical or inverse surface energy balance model that relates surface temperature to debris thickness and is calibrated against in situ measurements. Our results from a small-scale experiment on the Kanderfirn (also known as Kander Neve) in the Swiss Alps show that the surface temperature and thickness of a relatively thin debris layer (ca. 0–15 cm) can be mapped with high accuracy using an empirical or physical model. On snow and ice surfaces, the mean deviation of the mapped surface temperature from the melting point (∼ 0 ∘C) was 0.6 ± 2.0 ∘C. The root-mean-square error of the modelled debris thickness was 1.3 cm. Through the detailed mapping, typical small-scale debris features and debris thickness patterns become visible, which are not spatially resolved by the thermal ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Messmer, Jérôme Groos, Alexander Raphael |
author_facet |
Messmer, Jérôme Groos, Alexander Raphael |
author_sort |
Messmer, Jérôme |
title |
A low-cost and open-source approach for supraglacial debris thickness mapping using UAV-based infrared thermography |
title_short |
A low-cost and open-source approach for supraglacial debris thickness mapping using UAV-based infrared thermography |
title_full |
A low-cost and open-source approach for supraglacial debris thickness mapping using UAV-based infrared thermography |
title_fullStr |
A low-cost and open-source approach for supraglacial debris thickness mapping using UAV-based infrared thermography |
title_full_unstemmed |
A low-cost and open-source approach for supraglacial debris thickness mapping using UAV-based infrared thermography |
title_sort |
low-cost and open-source approach for supraglacial debris thickness mapping using uav-based infrared thermography |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-719-2024 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00071762 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00070023/tc-18-719-2024.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/18/719/2024/tc-18-719-2024.pdf |
genre |
The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere |
op_relation |
The Cryosphere -- ˜Theœ Cryosphere -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2393169 -- http://www.the-cryosphere.net/ -- 1994-0424 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-719-2024 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00071762 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00070023/tc-18-719-2024.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/18/719/2024/tc-18-719-2024.pdf |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-719-2024 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
18 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
719 |
op_container_end_page |
746 |
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1796298660655398912 |