Note:
Quality Assessment of Multiple UAV-SfM DEMs Derived for Impact Assessment of a Co-Seismic Avalanche in the Himalayas
Sojiro Sunako*1, , Koji Fujita*2 , Satoru Yamaguchi*1 , Hiroshi Inoue*3, Walter W. Immerzeel*4 , Takeki Izumi*5, and Rijan B. Kayastha*6
*1Snow and Ice Research Center, National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience
187-16 Maeyama, Suyoshi, Nagaoka, Niigata 940-0821, Japan
Corresponding author
*2Graduate School of Environmental Studies
Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
*3National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience
Tsukuba, Japan
*4Department of Physical Geography, Utrecht University
Utrecht, The Netherlands
*5School of Urban Environmental Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University
Hachioji, Japan
*6Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, School of Science, Kathmandu University
Dhulikhel, Nepal
Combined with the structure from motion (SfM) technique, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are powerful tools for generating high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) for application in hazard assessments. During our field observations in October 2015 at Langtang Village, which was destroyed by the Gorkha earthquake in April 2015, three different UAVs with mounted cameras were operated to evaluate the volume of the avalanche deposit covering the village. This study evaluated the performance of DEMs created from the different cameras on board those UAVs. Multiple DEMs for the different cameras, including Sony-α7R (PA7), Ricoh-GR (XGR), and Canon-IXUS (EIX), were created using SfM software. All DEMs were compared with a base DEM created from differential global positioning system survey data, which was obtained simultaneously with the UAV campaigns. The results show that the elevation difference of PA7-, XGR-, and EIX-DEMs are within ±0.14 m; the standard deviations of elevation difference range from 0.33 to 0.40 m. Although there were slightly larger differences in elevation on the southwest-to-west sides of the XGR- and EIX-DEMs, which can be attributed mainly to the flight paths and ground control point network, our DEMs are still of high enough quality to be used in hazard assessments.
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