Creating better DEMs through targeted field sampling and aligned interpolation algorithms

Earth elevation data is an important tool that helps scientists predict how rivers will respond to large floods and increased inputs of rocks and sand. Recent technological advances in elevation data collection are very effective for dry land, but much less effective for the wetted parts of the river. This causes gaps in the elevation data, which researchers generally fill by either 1) collecting underwater elevations or 2) using math equations to predict elevations. Collecting underwater data is time consuming and expensive, whereas estimating elevations using math equations can miss important features. The goal of this project is to find out how to best combine underwater data collection with estimating underwater elevations using math so that the resulting dataset is both of high quality and cheaply collected.

Faculty Supervisor:

Marwan Hassan

Student:

Partner:

Northwest Hydraulic Consultants Ltd

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program: