EGU 2024 - Novel data, methods and applications in Geomorphometry
Convener: Massimiliano Alvioli
Co-conveners: Giulia Sofia, John K. Hillier, Stuart Grieve, Mihai Niculita
Link to presentations and abstracts
Geomorphometry, a science of quantitative land surface analysis, gathers various mathematical, statistical and image processing techniques to quantify morphological, hydrological, ecological and other aspects of a land surface. Geomorphometry and geomorphological mapping are essential tools for understanding landscape processes and dynamics on Earth and other planetary bodies. The rapid growth of available geospatial data available for morphometric analysis and opens up considerable possibilities for morphometric analysis from mapping new landforms to understand the underlying processes. It also presents unique challenges in data processing and analysis. The typical input to geomorphometric analysis is a square-grid representation of the land surface - a digital elevation model (DEM). Global DEMs and the increasing availability of much finer resolution LiDAR and SFM high-resolution DEMs call for new analytical methods and advanced geo-computation techniques necessary to cope with diverse application contexts. Point clouds have increasing accuracy over complex scenes, characterized by high topographic variation in three (and four) dimensions, generating a shift in geomorphologists’ work. This session welcomes studies of advanced geo-computation methods, including high-performance and parallel computing implementations. We welcome general, technical and applied studies of geomorphometry applications and landform mapping from any discipline (geomorphology, planetary science, natural hazards, computer science, and Earth observation). Examples are:
- Use of Digital Elevation, Terrain and Surface Models and point clouds
- High-resolution LiDAR, photogrammetry and satellite data
- Automated surface analysis, machine learning, new algorithms
- Earth’s and planetary morphometry, surface changes
- Collecting or derivation of geospatial data products
- Tools for extraction and analysis of geomorphometric variables
- Mapping and morphometric analysis of landforms and landscapes
- Modeling natural hazards on the Earth’s surface
- Marine Geomorphometry and bathymetry
- Geomorphometry for urban areas and cultural heritage
- Professional and industrial applications of Geomorphometry Contributions on inter-disciplinary approaches are particularly encouraged. We also welcome professional, commercial and industrial applications of terrain/surface data and geomorphometric techniques, including software packages, to bridge the gap between academic researchers and industry.
EGU 2022 - Novel data, methods and applications in Geomorphometry
Convener: Massimiliano Alvioli
Co-conveners: Samantha Arundel, Carlos H. Grohmann, Peter Guth, Cheng-Zhi Qin
Link to presentations and abstracts
Geomorphometry, a science of quantitative land surface analysis, gathers various mathematical, statistical and image processing techniques to quantify morphological, hydrological, ecological and other aspects of a land surface. The typical input to geomorphometric analysis is a square-grid representation of the land surface: a digital elevation model (DEM) or one of its derivatives. DEMs provide the backbone for many studies in Geo sciences, hydrology, land use planning and management, Earth observation and natural hazards. One topic of active research concerns compromises between the use of global DEMs at 1-3 arc second, ~30-90 m grid spacing, and local LiDAR/structure from motion (SFM) elevation models at 1 m or finer grid spacing. Point clouds from LiDAR, either ground-based or from airborne vehicles, are a generally accepted reference tool to assess the accuracy of other DEMs. SFM data have a resolution comparable to LiDAR point clouds, but can cost significantly less to acquire for smaller areas. Globally available DEMS include the recently published Copernicus GLO-90 and GLO-30. This session provides an exciting forum to show the potential applications of this new DEM and its improvements over SRTM. We would like to investigate the tradeoff between the employment of the two kinds of data, and applications which can benefit from data at both (local and global) scales. The improvements in the global DEMs, as well as the increasing availability of much finer resolution LiDAR and SFM DEMs, call for new analytical methods and advanced geo-computation techniques, necessary to cope with diverse application contexts. We aim at investigating new methods of analysis and advanced geo-computation techniques, including high-performance and parallel computing implementations of specific approaches. Commercial applications of DEM data and of geomorphometric techniques can benefit important business sectors. Besides a proliferation of applications that can tolerate low accuracy geographical data and simple GIS applications, a large base of professionals use high-resolution, high-accuracy elevation data and high-performance GIS processing. We would like to survey and investigate professional, commercial and industrial applications, including software packages, from small enterprises to large companies, to ascertain how academic researchers and industry can work together.
GSA 2014 - Geological and Geomorphological Applications of Digital Terrain Analysis (Posters)
Conveners: Carlos H. Grohmann, Christopher J. Crosby and Edwin Nissen
Link to presentations and abstracts
Monitoring and quantification of rates of geomorphic processes requires repeated acquisition of accurate, high resolution topographic information. The rapid growth in the availability of Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) such as the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, TerraSARX Satellite Mission, ICESat and CryoSat missions, photogrammetric derived DEMs from orbital imagery (ALOS, ASTER, SPOT) or from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and laser altimetry/scanning (LiDAR), provide a way to look at the topography of our planet in unprecedented detail, often allowing the recognition of previously unknown features and the establishment of their spatial relationships. Digital Terrain Analysis (DTA) provides the framework for terrain quantification classification and monitoring, aiming at the recognition and simulation of geomorphic processes. Advances in DTA have impacted areas such as hazard and risk assessment, geomorphologic process evaluation, morphotectonic interpretation, and geophysical data processing. A first instalment of this session took place during the 2013 GSA meeting. It was well attended and involved a wide spectrum of terrain analysis applications and data collection techniques, such as ground based/airborne LiDAR, SRTM, ASTER GDEM and Structure from Motion. We expect this session to build on last year’s momentum and to extend and expand DTA discussions and networking between scientists in this rapidly growing field. This session will provide an excellent opportunity to present and discuss recent advances in methods, algorithms, and applications of DTA to geology and geomorphology.
GSA 2013 - Geological and Geomorphological Applications of Digital Terrain Analysis
Conveners: Carlos H. Grohmann and Christopher J. Crosby
Link to presentations and abstracts
Monitoring and quantification of rates of geomorphic processes requires repeated acquisition of accurate, high resolution topographic information. The rapid growth in the availability of Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) such as the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, TerraSAR X Satellite Mission, ICESat and CryoSat missions, photogrammetric derived DEMs from orbital imagery (ALOS, ASTER, SPOT) or from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and laser altimetry/scanning (LiDAR), provide a way to look at the topography of our planet with an unprecedented detail, often allowing the recognition of previously unknown features and the establishment of their spatial relationships. Digital Terrain Analysis (DTA) provides the framework for terrain quantification, segmentation and classification, aiming at the recognition and simulation of geomorphic processes. Advances in DTA have had impacts in areas such as hazard andrisk assessment, geomorphologic process evaluation, morphotectonic interpretation, and geophysical data processing. This session will provide an excellent opportunity to present and discuss recent advances in methods,algorithms, and applications of DTA to geology and geomorphology. The 2013 GSA annual meeting takes place one week after the Geomorphometry2013 (http://geomorphometry.org/2013) international conference in Nanjing, China; we expect this session at GSA to build on the momentum from the China conference and to extend and expand DTA discussions and networking between scientists in this rapid growing field.