Chris Hopkinson, research chair at the University of Lethbridge, discusses the Alberta water extent monitoring pilot study. Their goal is to create a database that would have the potential for implementation at a provincial level.
In Alberta there is a high demand for water in the agricultural and industrial sector, and for domestic supply, at a time when there is an increasingly stochastic climate and an increased risk of floods. The hydrometric network cannot monitor water resource footprint, so there is a need and a justification for temporal mapping of water extent and levels.
Working models are needed to enable faster decisions made in less time. Water extent, levels and volumes are what must be known to support risk assessment. Specifically, it is important that remote sensing based water mask information get combined with high resolution digital terrain data (LiDAR DEM) to create water level/volume maps that show changes through time.
All the work has been completed for Phase One. This includes assigned potential ID for each water body, extracted water level from DEM contour, DEM watershed and stream order analyses, and the creation of a water body database. Phase Two requires adaptive thresholding of channel banks, water body topology by stream reach, and channel, and floodplain storage estimates.
This presentation was a part of the Alberta Terrestrial Imaging Centre, LiDAR/SAR Wetland and Water Monitoring Workshop, in June of 2014.
