THE METHOD FOR CO-REGISTRATION OF DIGITAL TERRAIN DATA TO OBTAIN HYDROLOGICALLY CORRECT MODEL OF THE EARTH’S SURFACE  1

S. V. Kharchenko; Харченко С. В.

doi:10.31857/S2949178923030039

THE METHOD FOR CO-REGISTRATION OF DIGITAL TERRAIN DATA TO OBTAIN HYDROLOGICALLY CORRECT MODEL OF THE EARTH’S SURFACE¹

Authors: Kharchenko S.V.¹^,2
Affiliations:
1. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Geography
2. Institute of Geography RAS
Issue: Vol 54, No 3 (2023)
Pages: 150-164
Section: RESEARCH METHODS
URL: https://journals.rcsi.science/2949-1789/article/view/140589
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31857/S2949178923030039
EDN: https://elibrary.ru/VSPGKZ
ID: 140589

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Abstract
About the authors
References
Supplementary files
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Abstract

There are problems with the co-registration of digital terrain models which were created by drones to obtain useful data for a numerical hydrological or erosional modeling. The different surveys can be produced at different time of a day, in various seasons or even years, making it difficult spatially reference the data. Many co-registration algorithms usually perform the statistical fitting of point clouds or raster models. Such approach violates the hydrological correctness of the final data, it makes artifacts appearing, such as various escarps and visible joints. The search for the contour of “zero error” on the raster of elevations difference is the bases of presented algorithm. This contour is used for the stitching of original elevation models together. As criteria for the quality assessment of the final elevation models are used: 1) the statistical distributions of slope gradient, i.e. parameter that affects the results of modeling the water and sediment flows, slope stability, etc., 2) the constancy of the microcatchments geometric structure. The algorithm was tested on three sites located in plain, low-mountain and mid-mountain zones. In all examples, the high efficiency of the method was shown. At the same time, the technique was constructed for keeping the significant features of terrain morphology in data. The average slope does not deviate by more than 1° in comparison with the original data. The Spearman rank correlation of the slope varies in different cases at 0.9–0.99 (with an average value of 0.96). The coefficients of geometric similarity of microcatchment patterns on the final models in all cases show even larger values (1.09) than on the original data without any correction (0.98) in the areas their overlap.

Keywords

unmanned aerial vehicles, digital terrain model, geomorphometric analysis, catchment area, slope gradient

About the authors

S. V. Kharchenko

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Geography; Institute of Geography RAS

Author for correspondence.
Email: xar4enkkoff@yandex.ru
Russia, Moscow; Russia, Moscow

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