Establishment of Geographic Information Data of Greenland Glacier Using Fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Abstract

In recent decades, the Greenland glacier has experienced significant changes in the environment near the surface due to the increase in surface melting on glacier. In order to quantify these environmental changes, precise spatial information data is necessary. Although digital elevation models using satellite data are widely used to secure data, it is difficult to observe the polar regions by satellite alone due to limitations such as spatial resolution, revisit period, and weather. To overcome these shortcomings, many field geographic surveys using unmanned aerial vehicles are being conducted. In this study, a field survey was conducted on September 14, 2021 to produce high-resolution spatial information in the Russell glacier area located in the Greenland Kangerlussuaq. By matching the acquired aerial image data, orthorectification image with a spatial resolution of about 13 cm/pixel and a digital surface model are produced. This data is expected to be utilized as basic spatial data for Russell glacier runoff and topographical changes, and it is expected to be used as data that can grasp changes in time and spatial through continuous data accumulation.

Keywords

• greenland
• glacier
• fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle
• orthorectification image
• digital surface model