Estimation of snow covered area for an urban catchment using image processing and neural networks

This paper presents a method to estimate the snow covered area (SCA) for small urban catchments. The method uses images taken with a digital camera positioned on top of a tall building. The camera is stationary and takes overview images of the same area every fifteen minutes throughout the winter se...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water science and technology 2003-01, Vol.48 (9), p.155-164
Main Authors: Matheussen, B V, Thorolfsson, S T
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Artificial neural networks
Cameras
Catchments
Cities
Digital cameras
Digital imaging
Environment Design
Environmental Monitoring - methods
Image processing
Land cover
Neural networks
Neural Networks (Computer)
Photography
Pixels
Roofs
Seasons
Snow
Snow cover
Snowmelt
Tall buildings
Time series
Urban catchments
Water Movements
Water Supply
Winter
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper presents a method to estimate the snow covered area (SCA) for small urban catchments. The method uses images taken with a digital camera positioned on top of a tall building. The camera is stationary and takes overview images of the same area every fifteen minutes throughout the winter season. The images were read into an image-processing program and a three-layered feed-forward perceptron artificial neural network (ANN) was used to calculate fractional snow cover within three different land cover types (road, park and roofs). The SCA was estimated from the number of pixels with snow cover relative to the total number of pixels. The method was tested for a small urban catchment, Risvollan in Trondheim, Norway. A time series of images taken during spring of 2001 and the 2001-2002 winter season was used to generate a time series of SCA. Snow covered area was also estimated from aerial photos. The results showed a strong correlation between SCA estimated from the digital camera and the aerial photos. The time series of SCA can be used for verification of urban snowmelt models.
ISSN:0273-1223
1996-9732
DOI:10.2166/wst.2003.0515