Short term development of a recently deglaciated proglacial slope (Gepatschferner/Tyrol) using SfM and LiDAR surveys

Abstract:

Quantifying sediment fluxes of proglacial regions is an important topic both to advance research, but also regional planning. The overarching goal of this research is to monitor the development of a proglacial slope of the Gepatschferner in the Tryol region of Austria. The Gepatschferner, the second largest glacier in Austria, has been retreating since the maximum of the Little Ice Age in 1850. The constant retreat continually exposes large quantities of glacial till which is then susceptible to hillslope and fluvial transport processes. Typically, data resolution and collection time are proportional; to obtain high resolution spatial datasets require significant fieldwork as well as additional data processing time. While utilization of either terrestrial or airborne LiDAR is one of the most common methods used to determine erosion and deposition of sediment at high resolution, several studies have shown that Structure from Motion photogrammetry is another tool available to generate similar quality data with significantly reduced fieldwork. The objective of this study is to determine the suitability and accuracy of using SfM to increase frequency of observation by comparing to terrestrial laser scanning data to determine the best data collection method to obtain both detailed spatial resolution as well as high temporal resolution for data in a proglacial environment. This study is part of the PROSA (High-resolution measurements of morphodynamics in rapidly changing PROglacial Systems of the Alps) research project.