Abstract
This study presents a computer vision application of the structure from motion (SfM) technique in three dimensional high resolution gully monitoring in southern Morocco. Due to impractical use of terrestrial Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) in difficult to access gully systems, the inexpensive SfM is a promising tool for analyzing and monitoring soil loss, gully head retreat and plunge pool development following heavy rain events. Objects with known dimensions were placed around the gully scenes for scaling purposes as a workaround for ground control point (GCP) placement. Additionally, the free scaling with objects was compared to terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) data in a field laboratory in Germany. Results of the latter showed discrepancies of 5.6% in volume difference for erosion and 1.7% for accumulation between SfM and TLS. In the Moroccan research area soil loss varied between 0.58 t in an 18.65 m2 narrowly stretched gully incision and 5.25 t for 17.45 m2 in a widely expanded headcut area following two heavy rain events. Different techniques of data preparation were applied and the advantages of SfM for soil erosion monitoring under complex surface conditions were demonstrated.
Highlights
As gullies represent a major sediment source, especially in arid landscapes, many studies examine gully erosion with different approaches [1]
No justification is necessary for further effort in improving existing methods for capturing soil erosion processes and their consequences as the demand for measuring techniques of high precision is apparent [2]
Since it already proved to be a suitable tool in different sciences such as geoarchaeology [6], architecture [7] and robotics [8], this study aims to apply and validate the structure from motion method in soil erosion research
Summary
As gullies represent a major sediment source, especially in arid landscapes, many studies examine gully erosion with different approaches [1]. A number of studies refer to soil loss quantification by means of remote sensing [3,4,5]. As computational capacities increase rapidly, recent means in morphological visualization and quantification increasingly complement or replace classical methods. Since it already proved to be a suitable tool in different sciences such as geoarchaeology [6], architecture [7] and robotics [8], this study aims to apply and validate the structure from motion method in soil erosion research. Castillo et al (2012) already published an accuracy assessment for different field measuring methods in gullies including structure from motion (SfM) [9]. Few studies utilized the emerging terrestrial approach in geomorphology [10] or comparable disciplines to generate terrain models [11]
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