Project Workplan
In order to realise the objectives of the project, following structure will be followed:
1. Definition of current status and future requirements
- Requirements for operational glacier monitoring will be assessed.
- Current status, methods and goals of glacier monitoring in Europe is defined.
2. Data acquisition and compilation
- Existing data from selected study sites will be compiled including terrestrial and aerial photographs, glaciological records, meteorological data, topographic maps, geodetic survey data, etc.
- Measurement of glacier movements, high-precision GPS measurements, construction of a ground control point network and radio-echo sounding
- Selection of possible medium and very high resolution radar and optical satellite data, such as ERS1/2, Radarsat SLC, Landsat TM, and IKONOS, and new possible data sources.
- Acquisition of modern remote sensing data.
3. Methodological development and techniques for image processing
- Development of mathematical models for the interpretation of image data and glaciological aspects.
- Development of semiautomatic and automatic methods for delineation of glacier borders, classification of glacier zones (snow, firn, ice), and glacier change detection in multispectral and multitemporal satellite images.
- Development of new and optimisation of available techniques for precise spatial modelling of the glacier surface and glacier ice motion.
- Designing algorithms for geo-coding, co-registering and combining multitemporal and multisensoral data
4. Processing of satellite data
- Precise spatial modelling of the study sites via optical and radar satellite imagery aimed at the definition of current and former stages of glaciers and related environmental phenomena.
- Interferometric modelling of study sites via complex radar imagery aimed at glaciological modelling and determination of the motion field in study areas.
5. Processing of terrestrial photographs
- Glacier changes can be dated back to the last century with the use of old photographs. It is expected that the modern methods can produce more reliable digital elevation models.
6. Processing of airborne remote sensing data
- Accuracy of DEMs generated with satellite remote sensing data is validated with DEMs generated with airborne data techniques
- Methods and accuracy of each airborne data type for DEM generation are tested as an independent method
7. Relation between DEMs
- Accuracy of the digital elevation models is verified by comparing ground truth measurements with other DEMs generated for the same area.
8. Analysis
- Analysis will provide a clear demonstration of glacier flow and changes in glacier area and volume interpreted from various remote sensing data types, and the connection between glaciological records and climatological trends with glacier changes interpreted from remote sensing data.
9. System design
- Design of program tools for geo-coding, co-registering, combining and interpreting multitemporal and multisource images and non-image data.
10. Implementation of the glacier database
- A standard model for glacier databases will be implemented using the two study glaciers.
11. Quality control
- Testing the accuracy of DEMs using the relation among the DEMs generated with different data and methods, and with field survey results.
- Testing the system with a test glacier located in the same area as the study glacier.
- The difference in costs between each method will be evaluated.
12. Promotion of the results
- Companies will promote the results in their marketing system.
- Research organisations will use the monitoring system in their regular inventories and research and promote the results that way.