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Very-high-resolution mapping of river-immersed topography by remote sensing

Maison de la Télédétection, 500 rue Jean-François Breton, 34 093 Montpellier Cedex 5, France, feurer{at}teledetection.fr, GAAP, Pavillon Louis-Jacques Casault, Québec, Québec G1K 7P4, Canada

Jean-Stéphane Bailly

Maison de la Télédétection, 500 rue Jean-François Breton, 34 093 Montpellier Cedex 5, France

Christian Puech

Maison de la Télédétection, 500 rue Jean-François Breton, 34 093 Montpellier Cedex 5, France

Yann Le Coarer

Cemagref HYAX, 3275 route de Cézanne, CS 40061, 13182 Aix en Provence Cedex 5, France

Alain A. Viau

GAAP, Pavillon Louis-Jacques Casault, Québec, Québec G1K 7P4, Canada

Remote sensing has been used to map river bathymetry for several decades. Non-contact methods are necessary in several cases: inaccessible rivers, large-scale depth mapping, very shallow rivers. The remote sensing techniques used for river bathymetry are reviewed. Frequently, these techniques have been developed for marine environment and have then been transposed to riverine environments. These techniques can be divided into two types: active remote sensing, such as ground penetrating radar and bathymetric lidar; or passive remote sensing, such as through-water photogrammetry and radiometric models. This last technique — which consists of finding a logarithmic relationship between river depth and image values — appears to be the most used. Fewer references exist for the other techniques, but lidar is an emerging technique. For each depth measurement method, we detail the physical principles and then a review of the results obtained in the field. This review shows a lack of data for very shallow rivers, where a very high spatial resolution is needed. Moreover, the cost related to aerial image acquisition is often huge. Hence we propose an application of two techniques, radiometric models and through-water photogrammetry, with very- high-resolution passive optical imagery, light platforms, and off-the-shelf cameras. We show that, in the case of the radiometric models, measurement is possible with a spatial filtering of about 1 m and a homogeneous river bottom. In contrast, with through-water photogrammetry, fine ground resolution and bottom textures are necessary.

Key Words: immersed topography • remote sensing • river • through-water • very high spatial resolution.

Progress in Physical Geography, Vol. 32, No. 4, 403-419 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0309133308096030


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