Authors:
Dmitrii Bliakharskii
1
and
Igor Florinsky
2
Affiliations:
1
St. Petersburg University, Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics and Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Federation
;
2
Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics and Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Federation
Keyword(s):
Unmanned Aerial System, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Photogrammetry, Digital Elevation Model, Crevasse.
Abstract:
For Antarctic research, one of the most important support tasks is a rapid and safe monitoring of sledge routes, snow / ice airfields, and other visited areas for detection of open crevasses, revealing of hidden, snow-covered ones, as well as studying of their dynamics. We present the first results from a study of applying unmanned aerial systems (UASs) and UAS-derived data to model glacier topography in contexts of detecting crevasses and monitoring changes in glacier surfaces. The study was conducted in East Antarctica in the austral summer 2016/2017. The surveyed areas included an eastern part of the Larsemann Hills, an airfield of the Progress Station, an initial section of a sledge route from the Progress to Vostok Stations, and a north-western portion of the Dålk Glacier before and after its collaps. The surveying was performed by Geoscan 201, a flying-wing UAS. For the photogrammetric processing of imagery, we applied software Agisoft PhotoScan Professional. High-resolution di
gital elevation models (DEMs) for surveyed areas were produced. For the Dålk Glacier, we derived two DEMs related to the pre- and post-collapsed glacier surface. A further analysis will be performed by methods of geomorphometry. The focus will be on the revealing of crevasses.
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