Testing UAV-derived topography for hydraulic modelling in a tropical environment

M. Mazzoleni (), P. Paron, A. Reali, D. Juizo, J. Manane and L. Brandimarte
Additional contact information
M. Mazzoleni: Uppsala University
P. Paron: IHE Delft, Institute for Water Education
A. Reali: KTH Royal Institute of Technology
D. Juizo: Universidade Eduardo Mondlane UEM
J. Manane: CONSULTEC Lda
L. Brandimarte: KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2020, vol. 103, issue 1, No 7, 139-163

Abstract: Abstract The past few years have seen the raise of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in geosciences for generating highly accurate digital elevation models (DEM) at low costs, which promises to be an interesting alternative to satellite data for small river basins. The reliability of UAV-derived topography as input to hydraulic modelling is still under investigation: here, we analyse potentialities and highlight challenges of employing UAV-derived topography in hydraulic modelling in a tropical environment, where weather conditions and remoteness of the study area might affect the quality of the retrieved data. We focused on a stretch of the Limpopo River in Mozambique, where detailed ground survey and airborne data were available. First, we tested and compared topographic data derived by UAV (25 cm), RTK-GPS (50 cm DEM), LiDAR (1 m DEM) and SRTM (30 m DEM); then, we used each DEM as input data to a hydraulic model and compared the performance of each DEM-based model against the LiDAR based model, currently used as benchmark by practitioners in the area. Despite the challenges experienced during the field campaign—and described here—, the degree of accuracy in terrain modelling produced errors in water depth calculations within the tolerances adopted in this typology of studies and comparable in magnitude to the ones obtained from high-precision topography models. This suggests that UAV is a promising source of geometric data even in natural environments with extreme weather conditions.

Keywords: UAV-derived topography; LiDAR; RTK-GPS; SRTM; Hydraulic model; Tropical environment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11069-020-03963-4

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