RPAS4SNOW was a pilot project funded within the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) Research programme Earth System Sciences (ESS) - International Geoscience Programme (IGCP) / Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy (BMWFW) RPAS4SNOW-Team ; Scientific Output ; Table of Contents ; List of Abbreviations ; List of Tables ;
List of Figures ; Summary ; Remote Sensing of Seasonal Snow ; Project Structure - Overview ; Data Collection ; Study Sites & Campaigns ; RPAS ; TLS ; Large Frame Aerial Sensors (LFAS) ; Manual probing / in-situ measurements ; Data Processing and Analyses ; Photogrammetry ; Validation Data ; Results ; Snow Depth Mapping ; Lizum ; Tschuggen ; Brämabühl ; Avalanche Mapping (Wildi) ; Validation ; Lizum ; Tschuggen ; Brämabühl ; Software Comparison ; Discussion; The spatial and temporal distribution of seasonal snow plays a major role in a number of interacting and interdependent economic, social and environmental components of the Earth System. With regard to the Alpine Space these include, but are not limited to: the hydrological cycle (e.g. water supply, generation of electrical power), natural hazard risk assessment and mitigation (e.g. documenting and studying trigger processes and dynamics of (extreme) avalanches, decision support in natural hazard management), flora and fauna, as well as tourism. Accurate spatially and temporally explicit snow depth distribution data forms the basis of many practical and scientific applications in the Alpine Space. Current methods for estimating the highly heterogeneous snow depth distribution in mountainous areas are however mostly only valid on a regional scale (i.e. derived from punctual interpolation of weather station data), or require a trade-off between the data s availability, cost, spatial and temporal resolution (i.e. derived from classical space- or airborne platforms). Recent technological advances have given rise to the development of Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems (RPAS), which are able to bridge the gap between full-scale, manned aerial, and terrestrial observations in the field. Their primary advantages include the possibility for flexible, cost-effective, on-demand mapping missions with multiple sensors at an unprecedented level of detail (ground resolution of few centimetres to millimetres). The last decade has seen a rapid increase in the development and variety of scientific research and commercial applications of RPAS. However, there is a general lack of studies investigating the application of RPAS to snow depth mapping in alpine environments, particularly with regard to its technical feasibility, accuracy / precision, as well as the merits, drawbacks and potential of employing different sensors and platforms.
