| Title | A LiDAR-based decision-tree classification of open water surfaces in an Arctic delta |
| |
| Author | Crasto, N; Hopkinson, C; Forbes, D L ; Lesack, L; Marsh, P; Spooner, I; van der Sanden, J J |
| Source | Remote Sensing of Environment vol. 164, 2015 p. 90-102, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2015.04.011 |
| Image |  |
| Year | 2015 |
| Alt Series | Earth Sciences Sector, Contribution Series 20140594 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Northwest Territories |
| NTS | 107A; 107B |
| Area | Mackenzie Delta |
| Lat/Long WENS | -136.0000 -134.0000 69.0000 67.5000 |
| Subjects | geophysics; hydrogeology; Economics and Industry; Nature and Environment; remote sensing; surface waters; lakes; rivers; deltas; LiDAR |
| Illustrations | location maps; tables; images |
| Program | Climate Change Geoscience Coastal Infrastructure |
| Released | 2015 07 01 |
| Abstract | In the Mackenzie Delta, western Arctic Canada, decisions relating to navigation, socio-economics, infrastructure stability, wildlife, vegetation and emergency preparedness are closely related to the
delta hydrology. Presented here is a remote sensing decision-tree approach to delineate open-water hydrological features using high-resolution LiDAR terrain, intensity and derivative data. The proposed classification scheme exploits the propensity of
LiDAR point attributes and data metrics such as point density and standard deviation (of intensity and elevation) to cluster around characteristic response values over water and non-water surfaces. Due to the impracticability of validating an Arctic
water surface classification over such a huge and remote area, results of the hierarchical classification were compared to alternative classifications derived from Radarsat-2 and a manually intensive digitisation technique. Open-water features were
identified with >95% accuracy when compared to manually interpreted data. The spatially extensive but temporally distinct information on the hydrological setting of the delta thus extracted forms the basis for calculation of time-invariant parameters
such as off-channel storage capacity and hydraulic gradients. In situations where LiDAR data are primarily collected in support of terrain-based watershed hydrologic or floodplain hydraulic assessments, contemporaneous water extent and associated
level data are valuable in further characterising terrain hydrological characteristics. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
Using LiDAR data from the Mackenzie Delta, this paper presents a technique for automatically mapping the distribution of open water, thus allowing
calculation of off-channel storage capacity and hydraulic gradients. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 296278 |
|
|