Determining the snow cover distribution of a High Arctic area using UAV, digital photogrammetry and numerical simulation. (sub-project 2)

This sub project is part, with other two, of a bigger project aimed to evaluate spatial distribution of snow cover properties using UAV and numerical simulation. The first sub-project is aimed to the reconstruction of the snowpack by evaluating the DEM oof snow covered and snow free areas. The two DEM, once subtracted, give the spatialized snow depth. This sub-project focuses on validating the use of the UAV and on-board digital photogrammetric observations for the albedo and surface charactieristics mapping of the area. Snow albedo has been succesfully mapped using a pre-calibrated consumer camera mounted on a UAV, while surface features as grain size and liquid film can be mapped by taking advantage of the sensitivity of albedo to these parameters in the infrared band. Thus, the UAV will be equipped with a infrared filtered camera and a consumer camera. Pictures will processed in order to interpretate the data and will be matched using Structure from Motioon in order to reconstruct the spatial distributions of the investigated properties. At least two fix albedo stations will be installed at different elevations, while portable spectrometer and surface measurements will be carried out on relevant points of the area. Finally, the third sub-project is aimed calibrate a snow drift model considering the specific topography of the area. Considering previous works on Structure from Motion, UAV and snow surface optical mapping, it is expected to obtain an high resolution dataset of spatial distribution of surface properties, which, once combined with the snow pack depth and density evaluated in the sub-projects 1 and 3, will represent a unique case of study.