A High-Resolution Airborne Color-Infrared Camera Water Mask for the NASA ABoVE Campaign

Authors

Ethan D. Kyzivat, Brown University
Laurence C. Smith, Brown University
Lincoln H. Pitcher, University of California, Los Angeles
Jessica V. Fayne, University of California, Los Angeles
Sarah W. Cooley, Brown University
Matthew G. Cooper, University of California, Los Angeles
Simon N. Topp, University of North Carolina
Theodore Langhorst, University of North Carolina
Merritt E. Harlan, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Christopher Horvat, Brown University
Colin J. Gleason, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Tamlin M. Pavelsky, University of North Carolina

Publication Date

2019

Journal or Book Title

Remote Sensing

Abstract

The airborne AirSWOT instrument suite, consisting of an interferometric Ka-band synthetic aperture radar and color-infrared (CIR) camera, was deployed to northern North America in July and August 2017 as part of the NASA Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE). We present validated, open (i.e., vegetation-free) surface water masks produced from high-resolution (1 m), co-registered AirSWOT CIR imagery using a semi-automated, object-based water classification. The imagery and resulting high-resolution water masks are available as open-access datasets and support interpretation of AirSWOT radar and other coincident ABoVE image products, including LVIS, UAVSAR, AIRMOSS, AVIRIS-NG, and CFIS. These synergies offer promising potential for multi-sensor analysis of Arctic-Boreal surface water bodies. In total, 3167 km² of open surface water were mapped from 23,380 km² of flight lines spanning 23 degrees of latitude and broad environmental gradients. Detected water body sizes range from 0.00004 km² (40 m²) to 15 km². Power-law extrapolations are commonly used to estimate the abundance of small lakes from coarser resolution imagery, and our mapped water bodies followed power-law distributions, but only for water bodies greater than 0.34 (±0.13) km² in area. For water bodies exceeding this size threshold, the coefficients of power-law fits vary for different Arctic-Boreal physiographic terrains (wetland, prairie pothole, lowland river valley, thermokarst, and Canadian Shield). Thus, direct mapping using high-resolution imagery remains the most accurate way to estimate the abundance of small surface water bodies. We conclude that empirical scaling relationships, useful for estimating total trace gas exchange and aquatic habitats on Arctic-Boreal landscapes, are uniquely enabled by high-resolution AirSWOT-like mappings and automated detection methods such as those developed here.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11182163

Volume

11

Special Issue

Lake Remote Sensing

Issue

18

License

UMass Amherst Open Access Policy

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Kyzivat, Ethan D.; Smith, Laurence C.; Pitcher, Lincoln H.; Fayne, Jessica V.; Cooley, Sarah W.; Cooper, Matthew G.; Topp, Simon N.; Langhorst, Theodore; Harlan, Merritt E.; Horvat, Christopher; Gleason, Colin J.; and Pavelsky, Tamlin M., "A High-Resolution Airborne Color-Infrared Camera Water Mask for the NASA ABoVE Campaign" (2019). Remote Sensing. 842.
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11182163