Using structure-from-motion to create glacier DEMs and orthoimagery from historical terrestrial and oblique aerial imagery
Increased resolution and availability of remote sensing products, and advancements in small‐scale aerial drone systems, allows observations of glacial changes at unprecedented levels of detail. Software developments, such as structure‐from‐motion (SfM), now allow users an easy and efficient method t...
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John Wiley & Sons Ltd
2017
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ftunivtasmania:oai:eprints.utas.edu.au:35020 2023-05-15T15:14:54+02:00 Using structure-from-motion to create glacier DEMs and orthoimagery from historical terrestrial and oblique aerial imagery Mertes, JR Gulley, JD Benn, DI Thompson, SS Nicholson, LI 2017 https://eprints.utas.edu.au/35020/ unknown John Wiley & Sons Ltd Mertes, JR, Gulley, JD, Benn, DI, Thompson, SS orcid:0000-0001-9112-6933 and Nicholson, LI 2017 , 'Using structure-from-motion to create glacier DEMs and orthoimagery from historical terrestrial and oblique aerial imagery' , Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, vol. 42, no. 14 , 2350–2364 , doi:10.1002/esp.4188 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/esp.4188>. structure from motion digital elevation model glacier change long term Dem Article PeerReviewed 2017 ftunivtasmania https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4188 2021-10-04T22:19:00Z Increased resolution and availability of remote sensing products, and advancements in small‐scale aerial drone systems, allows observations of glacial changes at unprecedented levels of detail. Software developments, such as structure‐from‐motion (SfM), now allow users an easy and efficient method to generate three‐dimensional (3D) models and orthoimages from aerial or terrestrial datasets. While these advancements show promise for current and future glacier monitoring, many regions still suffer a lack of observations from earlier time periods. We report on the use of SfM to extract spatial information from various historic imagery sources. We focus on three geographic regions, the European Alps, high Arctic Norway and the Nepal Himalayas. We used terrestrial field photographs from 1896, high oblique aerial photographs from 1936 and aerial handheld photographs from 1978 to generate digital elevation models (DEMs) and orthophotos of the Rhone glacier, Brøggerhalvøya and the lower Khumbu glacier, respectively. Our analysis shows that applying SfM to historic imagery can generate high quality models using only ground control points. Limited camera/orientation information was largely reproduced using self‐calibrated model data. Using these data, we calculated mean ground sampling distances across each site which demonstrates the high potential resolution of resulting models. Vertical errors for our models are ±5.4 m, ±5.2 m and ±3.3 m. Differencing shows similar patterns of thinning at lower Rhone (European Alps) and Brøggerhalvøya (Norway) glaciers, which have mean thinning rates of 0.31 m a−1 (1896–2010) to 0.86 m a−1 (1936–2010) respectively. On these clean ice glaciers thinning is highest in the terminus region and decreasing up‐glacier. In contrast to these glaciers, uneven topography, exposed ice‐cliffs and debris cover on the Khumbu glacier create a highly variable spatial distribution of thinning. The mean thinning rate for the Khumbu study area was found to be 0.54 ± 0.9 m a−1 (1978–2015). Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic glacier University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints Arctic Norway Rhone ENVELOPE(158.733,158.733,-79.983,-79.983) Brøggerhalvøya ENVELOPE(11.736,11.736,78.915,78.915) Rhone Glacier ENVELOPE(162.200,162.200,-77.667,-77.667) Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 42 14 2350 2364 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasmania |
language |
unknown |
topic |
structure from motion digital elevation model glacier change long term Dem |
spellingShingle |
structure from motion digital elevation model glacier change long term Dem Mertes, JR Gulley, JD Benn, DI Thompson, SS Nicholson, LI Using structure-from-motion to create glacier DEMs and orthoimagery from historical terrestrial and oblique aerial imagery |
topic_facet |
structure from motion digital elevation model glacier change long term Dem |
description |
Increased resolution and availability of remote sensing products, and advancements in small‐scale aerial drone systems, allows observations of glacial changes at unprecedented levels of detail. Software developments, such as structure‐from‐motion (SfM), now allow users an easy and efficient method to generate three‐dimensional (3D) models and orthoimages from aerial or terrestrial datasets. While these advancements show promise for current and future glacier monitoring, many regions still suffer a lack of observations from earlier time periods. We report on the use of SfM to extract spatial information from various historic imagery sources. We focus on three geographic regions, the European Alps, high Arctic Norway and the Nepal Himalayas. We used terrestrial field photographs from 1896, high oblique aerial photographs from 1936 and aerial handheld photographs from 1978 to generate digital elevation models (DEMs) and orthophotos of the Rhone glacier, Brøggerhalvøya and the lower Khumbu glacier, respectively. Our analysis shows that applying SfM to historic imagery can generate high quality models using only ground control points. Limited camera/orientation information was largely reproduced using self‐calibrated model data. Using these data, we calculated mean ground sampling distances across each site which demonstrates the high potential resolution of resulting models. Vertical errors for our models are ±5.4 m, ±5.2 m and ±3.3 m. Differencing shows similar patterns of thinning at lower Rhone (European Alps) and Brøggerhalvøya (Norway) glaciers, which have mean thinning rates of 0.31 m a−1 (1896–2010) to 0.86 m a−1 (1936–2010) respectively. On these clean ice glaciers thinning is highest in the terminus region and decreasing up‐glacier. In contrast to these glaciers, uneven topography, exposed ice‐cliffs and debris cover on the Khumbu glacier create a highly variable spatial distribution of thinning. The mean thinning rate for the Khumbu study area was found to be 0.54 ± 0.9 m a−1 (1978–2015). |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mertes, JR Gulley, JD Benn, DI Thompson, SS Nicholson, LI |
author_facet |
Mertes, JR Gulley, JD Benn, DI Thompson, SS Nicholson, LI |
author_sort |
Mertes, JR |
title |
Using structure-from-motion to create glacier DEMs and orthoimagery from historical terrestrial and oblique aerial imagery |
title_short |
Using structure-from-motion to create glacier DEMs and orthoimagery from historical terrestrial and oblique aerial imagery |
title_full |
Using structure-from-motion to create glacier DEMs and orthoimagery from historical terrestrial and oblique aerial imagery |
title_fullStr |
Using structure-from-motion to create glacier DEMs and orthoimagery from historical terrestrial and oblique aerial imagery |
title_full_unstemmed |
Using structure-from-motion to create glacier DEMs and orthoimagery from historical terrestrial and oblique aerial imagery |
title_sort |
using structure-from-motion to create glacier dems and orthoimagery from historical terrestrial and oblique aerial imagery |
publisher |
John Wiley & Sons Ltd |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://eprints.utas.edu.au/35020/ |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(158.733,158.733,-79.983,-79.983) ENVELOPE(11.736,11.736,78.915,78.915) ENVELOPE(162.200,162.200,-77.667,-77.667) |
geographic |
Arctic Norway Rhone Brøggerhalvøya Rhone Glacier |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Norway Rhone Brøggerhalvøya Rhone Glacier |
genre |
Arctic glacier |
genre_facet |
Arctic glacier |
op_relation |
Mertes, JR, Gulley, JD, Benn, DI, Thompson, SS orcid:0000-0001-9112-6933 and Nicholson, LI 2017 , 'Using structure-from-motion to create glacier DEMs and orthoimagery from historical terrestrial and oblique aerial imagery' , Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, vol. 42, no. 14 , 2350–2364 , doi:10.1002/esp.4188 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/esp.4188>. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4188 |
container_title |
Earth Surface Processes and Landforms |
container_volume |
42 |
container_issue |
14 |
container_start_page |
2350 |
op_container_end_page |
2364 |
_version_ |
1766345306771816448 |