A method of estimating the depths of shallow water based on the measurements of upwelling irradiance

摘要

Aerial photography of shallow water areas can provide useful quantitative information on water depth. The accuracy of bathymetric data read directly from aerial photographs is dependent on the environmental conditions and the use of an appropriate model. This paper proposes a method for determining water depth using measurements of the light intensity emitted from the water in aerial photographs captured by photogrammetric cameras. Presented results of research are addressed to practical usage in tasks related to ecology, recreation, and coastal management. The developed model is trained using field measurements of bathymetry. Unlike previously proposed methods, this method does not require the use of hyperspectral cameras. In this study, field experiments are combined with mathematical descriptions of coastal areas, and an analysis of the uncertainty of the results is presented. Using the proposed solution to calculate depths should enable rapid execution of bathymetry over a large area with a relatively small outlay of funds. This method was tested in practice at the Baltic coastal resort of Rowy, in which the bathymetry was set at a depth of 1.2 m.