Project description

Complex hydraulic and fluvial morphological processes take place in Alpine and pre-Alpine catchment areas. Information on water availability and sediment transport is particularly needed in order to utilise Alpine water resources in an environmentally sound manner and to protect human infrastructure. Traditionally, such data are collected using time-consuming, costly and sometimes environmentally harmful methods, such as manual gauging (on foot or by boat) or sonar measurements. Gauging is also limited in terms of the density of information it provides (profiles taken at intervals of several hundred metres). Sonar measurements face significant limitations, particularly in shallow water areas and, in general, in smaller watercourses.  

Alpine Airborne Hydromapping (AAHM), by contrast, offers an airborne, non-contact method for collecting information on river morphology and characteristics over a wide area and with high spatial resolution. The system is based on a specially developed green laser which, unlike conventional lasers, penetrates water and can therefore also measure the underwater geometry of rivers, streams and lakes to a penetration depth of several metres.

The laser point cloud is filtered to classify, amongst other things, the riverbed, vegetation, man-made structures and water levels. High-resolution digital terrain models are then generated. This achieves elevation accuracies of around 5 to 10 centimetres and a density of up to 40 points per square metre. By flying over a project section multiple times at different points in time, it is possible, for example, to detect and quantify sediment transport caused by extreme events.

The new data from AAHM is expected to lead to a better understanding of hydraulic processes, sediment transport and the surface roughness of water bodies in Alpine regions. Furthermore, the data will lead to a significant improvement in the numerical modelling of processes related to hydraulics and sediment transport.

The AAHM research project is being carried out by the consortium leader, the Hydraulic Engineering Unit at the University of Innsbruck, together with two academic partners and eight other industrial partners and energy supply companies.

The scientific partners involved are the Department of Surveying and Geoinformation at the University of Innsbruck and the Photogrammetry Research Group at the Vienna University of Technology. In addition to the laser scanner manufacturer RIEGL, the industrial partners include a spin-off company from the University of Innsbruck (Airborne Hydromapping GmbH) and REVITAL Integrative Naturraumplanung GmbH. The energy suppliers taking part in the project are E.ON Kraftwerke GmbH, TIWAG – Tiroler Wasserkraft AG, Verbund Hydro Power AG, Innsbrucker Kommunalbetriebe Aktiengesellschaft and Bayerische Elektrizitätswerke GmbH.

 

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The research project is funded by: 

Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) and  Tyrol Business Development Agency