Articles | Volume 12, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3535-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3535-2018
Research article
 | 
13 Nov 2018
Research article |  | 13 Nov 2018

Monitoring snow depth change across a range of landscapes with ephemeral snowpacks using structure from motion applied to lightweight unmanned aerial vehicle videos

Richard Fernandes, Christian Prevost, Francis Canisius, Sylvain G. Leblanc, Matt Maloley, Sarah Oakes, Kiyomi Holman, and Anders Knudby

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Interactive discussion

Status: closed
Status: closed
AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment
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Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision
AR by Richard Fernandes on behalf of the Authors (20 Aug 2018)  Manuscript 
ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (03 Sep 2018) by Etienne Berthier
RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (25 Sep 2018)
RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (05 Oct 2018)
ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (09 Oct 2018) by Etienne Berthier
AR by Richard Fernandes on behalf of the Authors (11 Oct 2018)  Author's response   Manuscript 
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Short summary
The use of lightweight UAV-based surveys of surface elevation to map snow depth and weekly snow depth change was evaluated over five study areas spanning a range of topography and vegetation cover. Snow depth was estimated with an accuracy of better than 10 cm in the vertical and 3 cm in the horizontal. Vegetation in the snow-free elevation map was a major source of error. As a result, the snow depth change between two dates with snow cover was estimated with an accuracy of better than 4 cm.