Author(s): Saber Ansari; Soheil Ghareh Aghaji Zare; Ousmane Seidou; Colin Rennie; Jarrod Malenchak
Linked Author(s): Colin Rennie
Keywords: River ice; Terrestrial photogrammetry; ICESIMAT
Abstract: Ice plays an important role in the hydraulic processes that occur in rivers located in cold regions such as Canada. In this study, a time-lapse camera system is used to monitor river ice during the ice cover formation and break-up period at two locations on the Lower Nelson River, in northern Manitoba, during three consecutive years. An automated image processing algorithm is afterward developed to preprocess and geo-rectify each recorded photo, before proceeding to target detection and quantitative estimation of river ice characteristics. The developed algorithm was able to detect and quantify important river ice cover characteristics such as the area covered by ice, the location of the leading edge, the percentage of area covered by ice as well as the speed of border ice growth and recession. Potentially, these observations may be used to improve the ice formation and break-up algorithms in ICESIMAT, a one-dimensional river ice simulation model under development by HATCH Ltd and the University of Ottawa.
Year: 2016