UAV BLOCK GEOREFERENCING AND CONTROL BY ON-BOARD GNSS DATA

Abstract. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are established platforms for photogrammetric surveys in remote areas. They are lightweight, easy to operate and can allow access to remote sites otherwise difficult (or impossible) to be surveyed with other techniques. Very good accuracy can be obtained also with low-cost UAV platforms as far as a reliable ground control is provided. However, placing ground control points (GCP) in these contexts is time consuming and requires accessibility that, in some cases, can be troublesome. RTK-capable UAV platforms are now available at reasonable costs and can overcome most of these problems, requiring just few (or none at all) GCP and still obtaining accurate results. The paper will present a set of experiments performed in cooperation with ARPA VdA (the Environmental Protection Agency of Valle d'Aosta region, Italy) on a test site in the Italian Alps using a Dji Phantom 4 RTK platform. Its goals are: a) compare accuracies obtainable with different calibration procedures (pre- or on-the-job/self-calibration); b) evaluate the accuracy improvements using different number of GCP when the site allows for it; and c) compare alternative positioning modes for camera projection centres determination, (Network RTK, RTK, Post Processing Kinematic and Single Point Positioning)

UAV BLOCK GEOREFERENCING and CONTROL by ON-BOARD GNSS DATA

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are established platforms for photogrammetric surveys in remote areas. They are lightweight, easy to operate and can allow access to remote sites otherwise difficult (or impossible) to be surveyed with other techniques. Very good accuracy can be obtained also with low-cost UAV platforms as far as a reliable ground control is provided. However, placing ground control points (GCP) in these contexts is time consuming and requires accessibility that, in some cases, can be troublesome. RTK-capable UAV platforms are now available at reasonable costs and can overcome most of these problems, requiring just few (or none at all) GCP and still obtaining accurate results. The paper will present a set of experiments performed in cooperation with ARPA VdA (the Environmental Protection Agency of Valle d'Aosta region, Italy) on a test site in the Italian Alps using a Dji Phantom 4 RTK platform. Its goals are: a) compare accuracies obtainable with different calibration procedures (pre- or on-the-job/self-calibration); b) evaluate the accuracy improvements using different number of GCP when the site allows for it; and c) compare alternative positioning modes for camera projection centres determination, (Network RTK, RTK, Post Processing Kinematic and Single Point Positioning)

Warming permafrost and active layer variability at Cime Bianche, Western European Alps

The objective of this paper is to provide a first synthesis on the state and recent evolution of permafrost at the monitoring site of Cime Bianche (3100 m a.s.l.) on the Italian side of the Western Alps. The analysis is based on 7 years of ground temperature observations in two boreholes and seven surface points. The analysis aims to quantify the spatial and temporal variability of ground surface temperature in relation to snow cover, the small-scale spatial variability of the active layer thickness and current temperature trends in deep permafrost.Results show that the heterogeneity of snow cover thickness, both in space and time, is the main factor controlling ground surface temperatures and leads to a mean range of spatial variability (2.5 ± 0.1 °C) which far exceeds the mean range of observed inter-annual variability (1.6 ± 0.1 °C). The active layer thickness measured in two boreholes at a distance of 30 m shows a mean difference of 2.0 ± 0.1 m with the active layer of one borehole consistently deeper. As revealed by temperature analysis and geophysical soundings, such a difference is mainly driven by the ice/water content in the sub-surface and not by the snow cover regimes. The analysis of deep temperature time series reveals that permafrost is warming. The detected trends are statistically significant starting from a depth below 8 m with warming rates between 0.1 and 0.01 °C yr⁻¹

Fire-spotting modelling in operational wildfire simulators based on Cellular Automata: A comparison study

One crucial mechanism in the spread of wildfires is the so-called fire-spotting: a random phenomenon that occurs when embers are transported over large distances. Fire-spotting speeds up the rate of spread and starts new ignitions that can jeopardise firefighting operations. Unfortunately, operational fire-spread simulators may not account for spotting events, thus overlooking the harmful consequences associated with this phenomenon. In this work, three fire spotting parametrisations are integrated in the operational wildfire simulator PROPAGATOR based on Cellular Automata (CA). RandomFront, a physics-based parametrisation of fire-spotting, is tested for the first time in the context of CA simulators. RandomFront is compared with other two parametrisations already adopted in CA based simulators, those by Alexandridis and co-authors and by Perryman and collaborators. A wildfire occurred in the summer of 2021 in the municipality of Campomarino (Molise, Italy), and where spotting effects were clearly reported, is used as a case study. This case study, featuring evident airborne transport of firebrands, paves the way for a framework for comparing parameterised spotting models used in operational scenarios. RandomFront produced a more complex burning probability pattern than the other parametrisations and it predicted a higher probability of burning in the zone mainly affected by the fire-spotting

Analysis of microseismic signals and temperature recordings for rock slope stability investigations in high mountain areas

Abstract. The permafrost degradation is a probable cause for the increase of rock instabilities and rock falls observed in recent years in high mountain areas, particularly in the Alpine region. The phenomenon causes the thaw of the ice filling rock discontinuities; the water deriving from it subsequently freezes again inducing stresses in the rock mass that may lead, in the long term, to rock falls. To investigate these processes, a monitoring system composed by geophones and thermometers was installed in 2007 at the Carrel hut (3829 m a.s.l., Matterhorn, NW Alps). In 2010, in the framework of the Interreg 2007–2013 Alcotra project no. 56 MASSA, the monitoring system has been empowered and renovated in order to meet project needs. In this paper, the data recorded by this renewed system between 6 October 2010 and 5 October 2011 are presented and 329 selected microseismic events are analysed. The data processing has concerned the classification of the recorded signals, the analysis of their distribution in time and the identification of the most important trace characteristics in time and frequency domain. The interpretation of the results has evidenced a possible correlation between the temperature trend and the event occurrence. The research is still in progress and the data recording and interpretation are planned for a longer period to better investigate the spatial-temporal distribution of microseismic activity in the rock mass, with specific attention to the relation of microseismic activity with temperatures. The overall goal is to verify the possibility to set up an effective monitoring system for investigating the stability of a rock mass under permafrost conditions, in order to supply the researchers with useful data to better understand the relationship between temperature and rock mass stability and, possibly, the technicians with a valid tool for decision-making

USE OF UAS IN A HIGH MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPE: THE CASE OF GRAN SOMMETTA ROCK GLACIER (AO)

Photogrammetry has been used since long time to periodically control the evolution of landslides, either from aerial images as well as from ground. Landslides control and monitoring systems face a large variety of cases and situations: in hardly accessible environments, like glacial areas and high mountain locations, it is not simple finding a survey method and a measurement control system, which are capable to reliably assess, with low costs, the expected displacement and its accuracy. For this reason, the behaviour of these events presents the geologists and the surveyor each time with different challenges. The use of UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) represents, in this context, a recent and valid option to perform the data acquisition both in safety and quickly, avoiding hazards and risks for the operators while at the same time containing the costs. The paper presents an innovative monitoring system based on UAS-photogrammetry, GNSS survey and DSM change detection techniques to evaluate the Gran Sommetta rock glacier surface movements over the period 2012-2014. Since 2012, the surface movements of the glacier are monitored by ARPAVdA (a regional environmental protection agency) as a case study for the impact of climate change on high-mountain infrastructures. In such scenarios, in fact, a low-cost monitoring activity can provide important data to improve our knowledge about glacier dynamics connected to climate changes and to prevent risks in anthropic Alps areas. To evaluate the displacements of the rock glacier different techniques were proposed: the most reliable uses the orthophoto of the area and rely on a manual identification of corresponding features performed by a trained operator. To further limit the costs and improve the density of displacement information two automatic procedures were developed as well