UAV-Based Modeling in Basin Management from İTÜ

The article by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Orkan Özcan from İTÜ Eurasia Institute of Earth Sciences and his colleagues containing the findings of their research on the topographical structure of Büyük Menderes River that changes during floods was published in PLOS ONE.

The article titled “UAV-based Evaluation of Morphological Changes Induced by Extreme Rainfall Events in Meandering Rivers” ensuing from the project carried out in the Büyük Menderes Basin was published in the PLOS ONE journal, which has an h-index value of 300 in SCOPUS. In the article, important information was given about periodic changes in the basin, management and monitoring of the basin, protection of the existing ecosystem and destruction that can occur. The study was implemented using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), one of the systems that show rapid technological development and can provide accuracy and spatial resolution on the order of centimeter.

The study titled “UAV-based Evaluation of Morphological Changes Induced by Extreme Rainfall Events in Meandering Rivers” was carried out as part of the project “New Techniques in Diachronic Monitoring and Modeling of Topography: UAV-based modeling of volumetric change of meandering structures in Büyük Menderes River and the impact of extreme events” supported by İTÜ Scientific Research Projects (BAP). In the article, rainfall data over many years obtained from satellite data were analyzed and morphological changes in the meandering structures caused by extreme rainfall events were obtained in 3D as a result of UAV-based modeling. In this context, short-term erosional and sedimentary changes between 2018-2019 were determined by producing high accuracy and high resolution digital surface models through UAV photogrammetry.

According to the findings in the article published as part of the project, inferences were drawn to understand the impact of erosion and sedimentation rates due to extreme rainfall on humans and human activities. It was determined that rainfalls, which have assumed an extreme character due to climate change, can cause erosional and sedimentary changes in these river systems within a few days that may otherwise occur in decades. Due to the great intensity of extreme events despite their low frequency, this result is crucial in terms of shaping the planning and management of basins where humans lead their lives and their agricultural activities and large economic investments such as industrial plants, hydroelectric dams are made.

About Büyük Menderes Basin

Büyük Menderes Basin, one of the major river basins of our country, has great importance because of its population and touristic, agricultural and industrial activities. Büyük Menderes River whose ancient name was Maíandros is known as the river that gave its name to the term “meandering river” in earth sciences. Büyük Menderes River, whose shoreline shifted 30 km in the last 4000 years, is our country’s fastest changing river. Its morphological changes were observed pre-flood (June 2018), during flood (January 2019), and post-flood (September 2019).

You can access the full article from the link below:

https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0241293

 

About Assoc. Prof. Dr. Orkan Özcan

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Orkan Özcan completed his undergraduate education in 2004 at Hacettepe University Hydrogeology Engineering Department, his master’s education in 2007 and his PhD education in 2014 both in İTÜ Satellite Communication and Remote Sensing program. Between 2012-2013, he worked as a visiting researcher at University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) with a TÜBİTAK 2214 scholarship. Since 2015, he has been working as a faculty member at Eurasia Institute of Earth Sciences. In 2017, with the ITU3Bee project, he modeled İTÜ Ayazağa campus with UAV at high resolution and created the first 3D virtual campus model in our country. In 2020, he founded “3D Earth Modeling Laboratory” (Earth3Bee Lab.) within Eurasia Institute of Earth Sciences.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Özcan uses remote sensing and terrestrial data in geographical information system environment to make interdisciplinary studies on investigating the impact of natural and man-induced disasters, creating infrastructure for geographical information system-based disaster information and early warning systems, determining soil, water and product yields in agricultural areas, environmental impact and vulnerability analyses through hydrological and hydraulic modeling according to possible risk scenarios in water basins, investigating temporospatial impact of climate change on extreme events, verification of terrestrial data through satellite imagery, and UAV-based 3D modeling.

Links:

Avesis: https://avesis.itu.edu.tr/ozcanork

ITU3Bee model: https://web.itu.edu.tr/ozcanork/ITU3BEE.html

https://twitter.com/itu3bee

 

Earth3Bee Lab.: https://twitter.com/earth3bee

https://www.instagram.com/earth3bee

 

About Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tolga Görüm

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tolga Görüm is a geoscientist who conducts studies on geomorphology and exogenic natural disasters. He received his PhD degree from Department of Earth Systems Analysis, ITC, University of Twente (Netherlands) in 2013. In 2016, he received Young Scientist Award (GEBİP) from Turkish Academy of Sciences. He conducts scientific studies and projects on hillslope erosion and the evolution of landforms in high mountainous regions of China, Haiti and Alaska as well as our country. In 2018, he joined İTÜ Eurasia Institute of Earth Sciences and is currently working on the effects of climate and tectonics on hillslope processes and soil erosion.

About Prof. Dr. Ömer L. Şen

Prof. Dr. Ömer Lütfi Şen is a climate scientist specializing in hydroclimatology. He received his PhD degree from the Department of Hydrology and Water Resources (HWR) at the University of Arizona in 2000. For the following three years, he worked on modeling East Asian Monsoon phenomenon at University of Hawai'i International Pacific Research Center. In 2004, he joined İTÜ Eurasia Institute of Earth Sciences where he is currently working. His work is mainly on climate change and its impact on water resources.

 

About Prof. Dr. Füsun Balık Şanlı

Prof. Dr. Füsun Balık Şanlı conducts studies on remote sensing, image analysis, temporal change analysis, SAR/RAR image processing, and photogrammetry. She received her PhD degree from YTU Geodesy and Photogrammetry Engineering Department in 2004. She received TÜBİTAK Above-Threshold-Award with her project within the scope of HORIZON 2020 call. She conducts projects in the field of remote sensing. Her current work is on the examination and determination of terrestrial information extraction and changes analysis through remote sensing.

About Prof. Dr. Bülent Bayram

Prof. Dr. Bülent Bayram conducts studies on photogrammetry, aerial photogrammetry, terrestrial photogrammetry, remote sensing, image processing, laser scanning, lidar, and biomedical image processing. He received his PhD degree from YTU Geodesy and Photogrammetry Engineering Department in 1998. His current studies are in the fields of earth monitoring model creation by unmanned aerial vehicles, biomedical image processing, and remote sensing.

About Semih Sami Akay

Semih Sami Akay works on photogrammetry, remote sensing, and geographical information systems. He received his master’s degree from İTÜ Geomatic Engineering Department in 2014 and is currently pursuing his doctoral studies in YTU GIS and Remote Sensing Department. His studies are mainly in various disciplines of the field of earth sciences on data produced with unmanned aerial vehicles.