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River ice tracking and velocity estimation using satellite imagery data and numerical modeling: Case study of the Lower Athabasca River

Author(s): Farnaz Samsamipour; Ahmad Shakibaeinia; Andreas Kaab

Linked Author(s): Ahmad Shakibaeinia

Keywords: River Ice; Remote Sensing and Forecasting

Abstract: Cold-region rivers experience freeze-up and break-up periods, characterized by transport of floating ice floes on the water surface. Quantifying the movement of these ice floes is important due to their role in river hydrodynamics. It can also provide a unique opportunity for estimation of river flow velocity, to complete or replace in-situ measurements, which are costly and often challenging especially in presence of ice. Such movement quantification can be provided by tracking the displacement of ice floes in near-simultaneous satellite images. Using an image correlation algorithm, we here analyze co-registered near-simultaneous image pairs from stereo acquisitions of the GEOEYE-1 satellite sensor to quantify the ice floes' displacements. We focus in the case study on the Lower Athabasca River (LAR) during the ice freeze-up period. Assuming the similarity between ice and water velocity fields, we estimate the river velocity for different river reaches. To evaluate the feasibility and limitation of water velocity estimation from floes movement, the velocity fields quantified from image processing are compared to those from a 2D depth-averaged numerical model. The numerical model of this study is Delft-3D and is first calibrated and validated using the available field measurements. The results show an overall agreement between the velocity fields from motion tracking and numerical modelling, especially in straight river sections. Nevertheless, local discrepancies are observed particularly in areas with strong acceleration/deceleration, recirculation, and ice blockage.

DOI:

Year: 2022

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