Estimating river discharge during ice breakup from near-simultaneous satellite imagery

River ice breakup has many socio-economic and ecological implications that primarily result from the formation and release of major ice jams. A key driver of breakup processes is the river discharge, but the presence of fractured ice sheets or moving ice rubble render its measurement or estimation v...

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Published in:Cold Regions Science and Technology
Main Authors: Beltaos, Spyros, Kääb, Andreas
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Elsevier Science 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10852/41894
http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-46308
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2013.10.010
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spelling ftoslouniv:oai:www.duo.uio.no:10852/41894 2023-05-15T17:09:41+02:00 Estimating river discharge during ice breakup from near-simultaneous satellite imagery Beltaos, Spyros Kääb, Andreas 2014-09-11T15:25:17Z http://hdl.handle.net/10852/41894 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-46308 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2013.10.010 EN eng Elsevier Science http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-46308 Beltaos, Spyros Kääb, Andreas . Estimating river discharge during ice breakup from near-simultaneous satellite imagery. Cold Regions Science and Technology. 2014, 98, 35-46 http://hdl.handle.net/10852/41894 1153765 info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.jtitle=Cold Regions Science and Technology&rft.volume=98&rft.spage=35&rft.date=2014 Cold Regions Science and Technology 98 35 46 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2013.10.010 URN:NBN:no-46308 Fulltext https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/41894/3/BeltaosKaab_pre.pdf 0165-232X Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel SubmittedVersion 2014 ftoslouniv https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2013.10.010 2020-06-21T08:48:09Z River ice breakup has many socio-economic and ecological implications that primarily result from the formation and release of major ice jams. A key driver of breakup processes is the river discharge, but the presence of fractured ice sheets or moving ice rubble render its measurement or estimation very difficult. Here, we exploit the fact that the acquisitions of individual images of a satellite stereo scene are separated by about one minute. Between three stereo images taken from the PRISM instrument onboard the Japanese ALOS satellite on May 20, 2010, we track the displacements of river ice debris using automatic image correlation along a 40 km long reach of the Mackenzie River, just above the entrance to its delta. This results in an almost complete ice velocity field over the river area studied with a spatial resolution of 25 m and an accuracy of ~ 0.07 m/s for the speeds. Channel bathymetry, slope, and hydraulic resistance along the study reach, known from previous studies, are then utilized to compute discharge at 15 cross sections. Calculated values vary from ~ 20,000 to ~ 27,000 m3/s and are comparable to 23,800, the value estimated by Water Survey of Canada. Variability is much smaller, and close to that of conventional flow measurements, within the relatively straight sub-reach immediately upstream of the delta, where the effects of boundary constraints caused by a sharp bend farther upstream are minimal. This study proves for the first time that it is feasible to estimate river discharge during ice breakup at a reasonable accuracy using near-simultaneous satellite images. While this work had to rely on data that were coincidentally contained in satellite archives, special satellite or aircraft acquisitions could greatly enhance the probability of obtaining suitable data and thus the applicability of the method. Article in Journal/Newspaper Mackenzie river Universitet i Oslo: Digitale utgivelser ved UiO (DUO) Canada Mackenzie River Cold Regions Science and Technology 98 35 46
institution Open Polar
collection Universitet i Oslo: Digitale utgivelser ved UiO (DUO)
op_collection_id ftoslouniv
language English
description River ice breakup has many socio-economic and ecological implications that primarily result from the formation and release of major ice jams. A key driver of breakup processes is the river discharge, but the presence of fractured ice sheets or moving ice rubble render its measurement or estimation very difficult. Here, we exploit the fact that the acquisitions of individual images of a satellite stereo scene are separated by about one minute. Between three stereo images taken from the PRISM instrument onboard the Japanese ALOS satellite on May 20, 2010, we track the displacements of river ice debris using automatic image correlation along a 40 km long reach of the Mackenzie River, just above the entrance to its delta. This results in an almost complete ice velocity field over the river area studied with a spatial resolution of 25 m and an accuracy of ~ 0.07 m/s for the speeds. Channel bathymetry, slope, and hydraulic resistance along the study reach, known from previous studies, are then utilized to compute discharge at 15 cross sections. Calculated values vary from ~ 20,000 to ~ 27,000 m3/s and are comparable to 23,800, the value estimated by Water Survey of Canada. Variability is much smaller, and close to that of conventional flow measurements, within the relatively straight sub-reach immediately upstream of the delta, where the effects of boundary constraints caused by a sharp bend farther upstream are minimal. This study proves for the first time that it is feasible to estimate river discharge during ice breakup at a reasonable accuracy using near-simultaneous satellite images. While this work had to rely on data that were coincidentally contained in satellite archives, special satellite or aircraft acquisitions could greatly enhance the probability of obtaining suitable data and thus the applicability of the method.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Beltaos, Spyros
Kääb, Andreas
spellingShingle Beltaos, Spyros
Kääb, Andreas
Estimating river discharge during ice breakup from near-simultaneous satellite imagery
author_facet Beltaos, Spyros
Kääb, Andreas
author_sort Beltaos, Spyros
title Estimating river discharge during ice breakup from near-simultaneous satellite imagery
title_short Estimating river discharge during ice breakup from near-simultaneous satellite imagery
title_full Estimating river discharge during ice breakup from near-simultaneous satellite imagery
title_fullStr Estimating river discharge during ice breakup from near-simultaneous satellite imagery
title_full_unstemmed Estimating river discharge during ice breakup from near-simultaneous satellite imagery
title_sort estimating river discharge during ice breakup from near-simultaneous satellite imagery
publisher Elsevier Science
publishDate 2014
url http://hdl.handle.net/10852/41894
http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-46308
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2013.10.010
geographic Canada
Mackenzie River
geographic_facet Canada
Mackenzie River
genre Mackenzie river
genre_facet Mackenzie river
op_source 0165-232X
op_relation http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-46308
Beltaos, Spyros Kääb, Andreas . Estimating river discharge during ice breakup from near-simultaneous satellite imagery. Cold Regions Science and Technology. 2014, 98, 35-46
http://hdl.handle.net/10852/41894
1153765
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Cold Regions Science and Technology
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35
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2013.10.010
URN:NBN:no-46308
Fulltext https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/41894/3/BeltaosKaab_pre.pdf
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