Combination of satellite and UAV data for glacier monitoring: the case study of the Forni Glacier (Stelvio National Park, Italy)

Anno
2021
Proponente Valeria Belloni - Ricercatore
Sottosettore ERC del proponente del progetto
PE10_14
Componenti gruppo di ricerca
Componente Categoria
Mattia Giovanni Crespi Aggiungi Tutor di riferimento (Professore o Ricercatore afferente allo stesso Dipartimento del Proponente)
Abstract

Glaciers are one of the key indicators of climate change and play an important role in our society by providing freshwater, which can be used for domestic, industrial and agricultural applications. As they are severely affected by climate change, it is of crucial importance to monitor their morphological evolution to estimate ice volume and mass changes. However, the accurate reconstruction of glacier morphology changes over time is not an easy task. In this context, the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is of interest to the glaciological community thanks to their flexibility, fine spatial detail and ease of processing with state-of-the-art software packages, which makes them an ideal candidate to monitor small glacier changes. However, when dealing with large glaciers, UAV approaches can be time consuming and not efficient. On the other hand, optical and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) high-resolution satellite imagery can provide continuous monitoring of wide areas without being affected by logistic constraints. The goal of this work is to combine the information coming from different sensors (UAV data, optical and SAR imagery) for glacier 3D reconstruction and volume change estimation over time. The idea is to assess the accuracy that can be achieved with UAV and satellite observations when comparing volume changes computed from multi-temporal acquisitions. The study area is the Forni Glacier, an important geosite located in Stelvio Park (Italian Alps). The data processing focuses on UAV data, Pléiades and IKONOS optical imagery and ICEYE SAR data, capturing the site of interest. The UAV images will be processed using the Leica Infinity software, while optical and SAR imagery will be analysed using the commercial software Agisoft Metashape and a free and open-source software developed at the Geodesy and Geomatic Division of Sapienza University of Rome, named DATE.

ERC
PE10_14, PE10_3
Keywords:
FOTOGRAMMETRIA, ELABORAZIONE DI IMMAGINI, GLACIOLOGIA, CAMBIAMENTI CLIMATICI

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