Paper No. 3
Presentation Time: 8:45 AM

THE ANALYSIS OF GEOMORPHIC FEATURES IN THE DIGITAL TERRAIN ERA


PASSALACQUA, Paola1, SANGIREDDY, Harish1 and STARK, Colin2, (1)Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1786, Austin, TX 78712-0276, (2)Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Earth Institute at Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964-8000, paola@austin.utexas.edu

With the advent of digital terrain data, hydrologic and geomorphologic research has changed. Detailed information on terrain characteristics and on scale and location of geomorphic features is available over extended areas. While high-resolution topography data have greatly improved our ability to observe landscapes and quantify topographic patterns, their analysis poses new challenges in terms of automatic geomorphic feature extraction and interpretation.

In this talk, I will present recently developed tools for the objective and automatic extraction of geomorphic features from high-resolution topography data, particularly channel networks and channel morphology. I will focus on the software GeoNet we recently proposed [Passalacqua 2010a,b; 2012]. With a combination of statistical analysis and image processing, including nonlinear filtering and geodesic minimization principles, GeoNet achieves an automatic and objective extraction of geomorphic features, including channel heads, channel networks, and channel bank locations. Results from the application of GeoNet to a variety of test cases are presented and include steep and landslide-dissected basins and flat and engineered landscapes. I will particularly focus on the newly developed features of GeoNet, including a multi-scale statistical analysis of topographic attributes developed to optimize the performance of GeoNet by embedding the characteristics of the landscape in analysis in the feature extraction procedure.

Passalacqua, P., T. Do Trung, E. Foufoula-Georgiou, G. Sapiro, and W. E. Dietrich (2010a). J. Geophys. Res., 115, F01002, doi:10.1029/2009JF001254.

Passalacqua, P., P. Tarolli, and E. Foufoula-Georgiou (2010b). Water Resour. Res., 46, W11535, doi:10.1029/2009WR008812.

Passalacqua, P., P. Belmont, and E. Foufoula-Georgiou (2012). Water Resour. Res., 48, W03528, doi:10.1029/2011WR010958.