@article{SchwanghartGroomKuhnetal.2013, author = {Schwanghart, Wolfgang and Groom, Geoff and Kuhn, Nikolaus J. and Heckrath, Goswin}, title = {Flow network derivation from a high resolution DEM in a low relief, agrarian landscape}, series = {Earth surface processes and landforms : the journal of the British Geomorphological Research Group}, volume = {38}, journal = {Earth surface processes and landforms : the journal of the British Geomorphological Research Group}, number = {13}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {0197-9337}, doi = {10.1002/esp.3452}, pages = {1576 -- 1586}, year = {2013}, abstract = {Digital flow networks derived from digital elevation models (DEMs) sensitively react to errors due to measurement, data processing and data representation. Since high-resolution DEMs are increasingly used in geomorphological and hydrological research, automated and semi-automated procedures to reduce the impact of such errors on flow networks are required. One such technique is stream-carving, a hydrological conditioning technique to ensure drainage connectivity in DEMs towards the DEM edges. Here we test and modify a state-of-the-art carving algorithm for flow network derivation in a low-relief, agricultural landscape characterized by a large number of spurious, topographic depressions. Our results show that the investigated algorithm reconstructs a benchmark network insufficiently in terms of carving energy, distance and a topological network measure. The modification to the algorithm that performed best, combines the least-cost auxiliary topography (LCAT) carving with a constrained breaching algorithm that explicitly takes automatically identified channel locations into account. We applied our methods to a low relief landscape, but the results can be transferred to flow network derivation of DEMs in moderate to mountainous relief in situations where the valley bottom is broad and flat and precise derivations of the flow networks are needed.}, language = {en} } @article{MalinowskiGroomSchwanghartetal.2015, author = {Malinowski, Radoslaw and Groom, Geoff and Schwanghart, Wolfgang and Heckrath, Goswin}, title = {Detection and Delineation of Localized Flooding from World View-2 Multispectral Data}, series = {Remote sensing}, volume = {7}, journal = {Remote sensing}, number = {11}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2072-4292}, doi = {10.3390/rs71114853}, pages = {14853 -- 14875}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Remote sensing technology serves as a powerful tool for analyzing geospatial characteristics of flood inundation events at various scales. However, the performance of remote sensing methods depends heavily on the flood characteristics and landscape settings. Difficulties might be encountered in mapping the extent of localized flooding with shallow water on riverine floodplain areas, where patches of herbaceous vegetation are interspersed with open water surfaces. To address the difficulties in mapping inundation on areas with complex water and vegetation compositions, a high spatial resolution dataset has to be used to reduce the problem of mixed pixels. The main objective of our study was to investigate the possibilities of using a single date WorldView-2 image of very high spatial resolution and supporting data to analyze spatial patterns of localized flooding on a riverine floodplain. We used a decision tree algorithm with various combinations of input variables including spectral bands of the WorldView-2 image, selected spectral indices dedicated to mapping water surfaces and vegetation, and topographic data. The overall accuracies of the twelve flood extent maps derived with the decision tree method and performed on both pixels and image objects ranged between 77\% and 95\%. The highest mapping overall accuracy was achieved with a method that utilized all available input data and the object-based image analysis. Our study demonstrates the possibility of using single date WorldView-2 data for analyzing flooding events at high spatial detail despite the absence of spectral bands from the short-waveform region that are frequently used in water related studies. Our study also highlights the importance of topographic data in inundation analyses. The greatest difficulties were met in mapping water surfaces under dense canopy herbaceous vegetation, due to limited water surface exposure and the dominance of vegetation reflectance.}, language = {en} } @article{MalinowskiHoefleKoenigetal.2016, author = {Malinowski, Radostaw and H{\"o}fle, Bernhard and Koenig, Kristina and Groom, Geoff and Schwanghart, Wolfgang and Heckrath, Goswin}, title = {Local-scale flood mapping on vegetated floodplains from radiometrically calibrated airborne LiDAR data}, series = {ISPRS journal of photogrammetry and remote sensing : official publication of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing}, volume = {119}, journal = {ISPRS journal of photogrammetry and remote sensing : official publication of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0924-2716}, doi = {10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2016.06.009}, pages = {267 -- 279}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Knowledge about the magnitude of localised flooding of riverine areas is crucial for appropriate land management and administration at regional and local levels. However, detection and delineation of localised flooding with remote sensing techniques are often hampered on floodplains by the presence of herbaceous vegetation. To address this problem, this study presents the application of full waveform airborne laser scanning (ALS) data for detection of floodwater extent. In general, water surfaces are characterised by low values of backscattered energy due to water absorption of the infrared laser shots, but the exact strength of the recorded laser pulse depends on the area covered by the targets located within a laser pulse footprint area. To account for this we analysed the physical quantity of radio metrically calibrated ALS data, the backscattering coefficient, in relation to water and vegetation coverage within a single laser footprint. The results showed that the backscatter was negatively correlated to water coverage, and that of the three distinguished classes of water coverage (low, medium, and high) only the class with the largest extent of water cover (>70\%) had relatively distinct characteristics that can be used for classification of water surfaces. Following the laser footprint analysis, three classifiers, namely AdaBoost with Decision Tree, Naive Bayes and Random Forest, were utilised to classify laser points into flooded and non-flooded classes and to derive the map of flooding extent. The performance of the classifiers is highly dependent on the set of laser points features used. Best performance was achieved by combining radiometric and geometric laser point features. The accuracy of flooding maps based solely on radiometric features resulted in overall accuracies of up to 70\% and was limited due to the overlap of the backscattering coefficient values between water and other land cover classes. Our point-based classification methods assure a high mapping accuracy (similar to 89\%) and demonstrate the potential of using full-waveform ALS data to detect water surfaces on floodplain areas with limited water surface exposition through the vegetation canopy. (C) 2016 International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Inc. (ISPRS). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} } @misc{MalinowskiGroomSchwanghartetal.2017, author = {Malinowski, Radosław and Groom, Geoff and Schwanghart, Wolfgang and Heckrath, Goswin}, title = {Detection and delineation of localized flooding from WorldView-2 multispectral data}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-400149}, pages = {23}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Remote sensing technology serves as a powerful tool for analyzing geospatial characteristics of flood inundation events at various scales. However, the performance of remote sensing methods depends heavily on the flood characteristics and landscape settings. Difficulties might be encountered in mapping the extent of localized flooding with shallow water on riverine floodplain areas, where patches of herbaceous vegetation are interspersed with open water surfaces. To address the difficulties in mapping inundation on areas with complex water and vegetation compositions, a high spatial resolution dataset has to be used to reduce the problem of mixed pixels. The main objective of our study was to investigate the possibilities of using a single date WorldView-2 image of very high spatial resolution and supporting data to analyze spatial patterns of localized flooding on a riverine floodplain. We used a decision tree algorithm with various combinations of input variables including spectral bands of the WorldView-2 image, selected spectral indices dedicated to mapping water surfaces and vegetation, and topographic data. The overall accuracies of the twelve flood extent maps derived with the decision tree method and performed on both pixels and image objects ranged between 77\% and 95\%. The highest mapping overall accuracy was achieved with a method that utilized all available input data and the object-based image analysis. Our study demonstrates the possibility of using single date WorldView-2 data for analyzing flooding events at high spatial detail despite the absence of spectral bands from the short-waveform region that are frequently used in water related studies. Our study also highlights the importance of topographic data in inundation analyses. The greatest difficulties were met in mapping water surfaces under dense canopy herbaceous vegetation, due to limited water surface exposure and the dominance of vegetation reflectance.}, language = {en} }