Parameterizing tidal creek morphology in mature saltmarshes using semi-automated extraction from lidar
Parameterizing tidal creek morphology in mature saltmarshes using semi-automated extraction from lidar
Coastal saltmarshes provide a range of ecosystem services, such as flood protection and carbon sequestration, but face rapid global losses. Managed realignment (MR) is an increasingly popular method to artificially recreate these habitats by reinstating tidal regimes to reclaimed land. However, to improve MR design, better knowledge of the processes that control morphological evolution in natural saltmarshes is needed. In this paper, we develop tools to assist in the monitoring of creek network evolution towards dynamic morphological equilibrium, a state of landform stability under current physical forcings. Using lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) datasets, we combined a semi-automated creek extraction algorithm, based on elevation and slope thresholds, with a novel algorithm for morphometric creek analysis. A comprehensive suite of morphological creek characteristics was extracted for 13 natural British saltmarshes, including: amplitude, length, sinuosity ratio, junction angle, width, depth, cross-sectional area, creek order, bifurcation ratio, drainage density, and drainage efficiency. Results closely matched with field-validated manual digitization results, and were significantly faster and less subjective to produce. Morphological equilibrium relationships from the literature were found to be applicable to the new dataset, despite yielding high prediction errors due to the inherent variety of creek network shapes in saltmarshes. New equilibrium relationships were also defined relating the creek network drainage efficiency to the mouth cross-sectional area and the marsh elevation. To improve future scheme designs, these tools will be used in further studies to monitor rates of evolution towards equilibrium in MR sites depending on their initial conditions.
291-311
Chirol, Clementine
4c819785-4361-4d1b-9905-27ae4e72659e
Haigh, Ivan
945ff20a-589c-47b7-b06f-61804367eb2d
Pontee, Nigel
d7168f5a-6e4f-4aa1-b7f8-fdf81405a432
Thompson, Charlotte
2a304aa6-761e-4d99-b227-cedb67129bfb
Gallop, Shari L.
be66589c-137a-4e23-81d2-8e3b901a5307
May 2018
Chirol, Clementine
4c819785-4361-4d1b-9905-27ae4e72659e
Haigh, Ivan
945ff20a-589c-47b7-b06f-61804367eb2d
Pontee, Nigel
d7168f5a-6e4f-4aa1-b7f8-fdf81405a432
Thompson, Charlotte
2a304aa6-761e-4d99-b227-cedb67129bfb
Gallop, Shari L.
be66589c-137a-4e23-81d2-8e3b901a5307
Chirol, Clementine, Haigh, Ivan, Pontee, Nigel, Thompson, Charlotte and Gallop, Shari L.
(2018)
Parameterizing tidal creek morphology in mature saltmarshes using semi-automated extraction from lidar.
Remote Sensing of Environment, 209, .
(doi:10.1016/j.rse.2017.11.012).
Abstract
Coastal saltmarshes provide a range of ecosystem services, such as flood protection and carbon sequestration, but face rapid global losses. Managed realignment (MR) is an increasingly popular method to artificially recreate these habitats by reinstating tidal regimes to reclaimed land. However, to improve MR design, better knowledge of the processes that control morphological evolution in natural saltmarshes is needed. In this paper, we develop tools to assist in the monitoring of creek network evolution towards dynamic morphological equilibrium, a state of landform stability under current physical forcings. Using lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) datasets, we combined a semi-automated creek extraction algorithm, based on elevation and slope thresholds, with a novel algorithm for morphometric creek analysis. A comprehensive suite of morphological creek characteristics was extracted for 13 natural British saltmarshes, including: amplitude, length, sinuosity ratio, junction angle, width, depth, cross-sectional area, creek order, bifurcation ratio, drainage density, and drainage efficiency. Results closely matched with field-validated manual digitization results, and were significantly faster and less subjective to produce. Morphological equilibrium relationships from the literature were found to be applicable to the new dataset, despite yielding high prediction errors due to the inherent variety of creek network shapes in saltmarshes. New equilibrium relationships were also defined relating the creek network drainage efficiency to the mouth cross-sectional area and the marsh elevation. To improve future scheme designs, these tools will be used in further studies to monitor rates of evolution towards equilibrium in MR sites depending on their initial conditions.
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Accepted/In Press date: 13 November 2017
e-pub ahead of print date: 19 March 2018
Published date: May 2018
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 415659
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/415659
PURE UUID: c024e6ab-86ee-474c-a726-0808397c53cf
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Date deposited: 17 Nov 2017 17:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:51
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Author:
Clementine Chirol
Author:
Nigel Pontee
Author:
Shari L. Gallop
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