Catchment-scale mapping of surface grain size in gravel bed rivers using airborne digital imagery

Carbonneau, P.E.; Lane, S.N.; Bergeron, N.E.

doi:10.1029/2003wr002759

Catchment-scale mapping of surface grain size in gravel bed rivers using airborne digital imagery

Carbonneau, P.E.; Lane, S.N.; Bergeron, N.E.

Authors

Dr Patrice Carbonneau patrice.carbonneau@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

S.N. Lane

N.E. Bergeron

Abstract

This study develops and assesses two methods for estimating median surface grain sizes using digital image processing from centimeter-resolution airborne imagery. Digital images with ground resolutions of 3 cm and 10 cm were combined with field calibration measurements to establish predictive relationships for grain size as a function of both local image texture and local image semivariance. Independently acquired grain size data were then used to assess the algorithm performance. Results showed that for the 3 cm imagery both local image semivariance and texture are highly sensitive to median grain size, with semivariance being a better predictor than image texture. However, in the case of 10 cm imagery, sensitivity of image semivariance and texture to grain size was poor, and this scale of imagery was found to be unsuitable for grain size estimation. This study therefore demonstrates that local image properties in very high resolution digital imagery allow for automated grain size measurement using image processing and remote sensing methods

Citation

Carbonneau, P., Lane, S., & Bergeron, N. (2004). Catchment-scale mapping of surface grain size in gravel bed rivers using airborne digital imagery. Water Resources Research, 40(7), Article W07202. https://doi.org/10.1029/2003wr002759

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Jul 22, 2004
Deposit Date	Oct 6, 2008
Publicly Available Date	Mar 24, 2010
Journal	Water Resources Research
Print ISSN	0043-1397
Electronic ISSN	1944-7973
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	40
Issue	7
Article Number	W07202
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1029/2003wr002759
Keywords	Fluvial grain size measurement, Airborne remote sensing, Digital image processing, Image semivariance, Image texture.

Files

Published Journal Article (279 Kb)
PDF

Copyright Statement
© 2004 American Geophysical Union. Additional information:
Carbonneau, P. E., Lane, S. N., Bergeron, N. E, (2004), 'Catchment-scale mapping of surface grain size in gravel bed rivers using airborne digital imagery', Water resources research, 40, W07202, 10.1029/2003WR002759 (DOI). To view the published open abstract, go to https://doi.org and enter the DOI.