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CORDIS

Unmanned Airborne Water Observing System

Project description

Monitoring rivers from above

As dynamic and complex integrators of their environment, rivers are affected by climate change. High-resolution monitoring of rivers is important. According to the EU-funded UAWOS project, advanced in situ monitoring technologies have to be combined with satellite Earth observation. The aim is to obtain accurate, reliable and spatio-temporally resolved information for effective decision support, risk assessment, climate change adaptation investment analysis and operational forecasting/surveillance. As such, the project will develop a drone-borne water observation system providing key hydrometric variables at high spatial resolution/coverage as well as data-based products/services supporting management and decision making. The technology will support smart governance and regulation in the context of the European Green Deal.

Objective

Background: High-resolution monitoring of rivers is important because rivers are severely affected by climate change and frequency/magnitude of extreme events are changing fast. Advanced in-situ monitoring technologies have to be combined with satellite earth observation (EO) to obtain accurate, reliable and spatio-temporally resolved information for effective decision support, risk assessment, climate change adaptation investment analysis, and operational forecasting/surveillance.

Problem being addressed: Traditional hydrometric monitoring of rivers is in-situ and station-based. In-situ monitoring networks lack spatial resolution, have been declining in many regions, and data accessibility is increasingly restricted because of growing conflicts between countries over water resources allocation. In order to solve this problem, hydrometric monitoring using satellite earth observation has to be combined with drone-borne hydrometric monitoring technology for validation, deployment in remote and inaccessible regions, and to enable reliable and accurate river discharge estimation.

Our solution: UAWOS develops a drone-borne water observation system providing key hydrometric variables (bathymetry, velocimetry, water surface elevation) at high spatial resolution/coverage, and data-based products/services supporting management and decision making. UAWOS integrates airborne data streams with Copernicus water bodies and water level services for cross validation and to estimate river discharge from satellite EO data.

Impact: We expect that UAWOS hydrometric monitoring solutions will be factor 2-3 cheaper compared to traditional in-situ surveying. UAWOS technology will provide very high spatial resolution with accuracy on par with traditional in-situ monitoring. The technology will support smart governance/regulation in the context of the Green Deal, and create new opportunities for European business, both as a stand-alone solution and in combination with satellite EO.

Coordinator

DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET
Net EU contribution
€ 870 000,00
Address
ANKER ENGELUNDS VEJ 101
2800 Kongens Lyngby
Denmark

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Region
Danmark Hovedstaden Københavns omegn
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
€ 870 000,00

Participants (8)

Partners (1)