Skalanes Bluff Mapping 2024f

Skálanes Bluff mapping brief

In Iceland, as elsewhere worldwide, coastal bluffs are under threat of erosion due to sea level rise and increased storm wave attach. Yet specific studies of coastal vulnerability in Iceland are few and far between, although other threats have been investigated – preliminary vulnerability assessments in the West Fjords and/or threatened archaeological sites at Skagafjörður, etc. (Davies, 2012; Zoëga, 2021 respectively). In order to establish a baseline of mapped coastal environments at Skálanes, we propose to use µUAS to gather precision imagery for use in the production of 3D coastal shoreline/bluff models and orthomosaic maps. These models/maps are generated through Structure from Motion (SfM) computational modeling. We propose to establish a series of landscape modeling/monitoring protocols that can be followed in successive summers, by teams of researchers and students from SCSU and our partner institutions. The author and previous study abroad students have flown µUAS at the selected site in prior summers as a proof of concept, with good results (Pix4D Model Figures 2 & 3 below). This proposed project would codify µUAS mapping protocols and establish a permanent set of Ground Control Points for registering/comparing successive mapping mission results. The bluff geology will also be examined, as well the capping tundra mat to test its resistance to erosion from overland stream erosion and bluff undercutting/erosion by storm waves. In the future, we hope to be able to compare sediment delivery to the local fjörð nearshore environment through coastal bluff erosion with overland sediment delivery from nearby streams.

The project PI has significant µUAS/drone mapping experience, has co-created a Drone Applications Minor Degree Program at SCSU, taught multiple sections of Drone Applications classes, Created and taught a Drone Academy at SCSU and has published a number of articles in peer reviewed publications and presented findings at more than a half dozen professional conferences on the use of µUAS/drones for conservation ecology mapping (Graves, S.M. 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016a, 2016b, and Graves, S.M. et al., 2016c and 2016d). Further, the PI is a FAA licensed UAS remote pilot, as well as a classically trained traditional surveyor having conducted many ground-based shoreline surveys along the Rhode Island and Alaskan Beaufort Sea coasts (Graves, S.M., 1990, and Reimnitz, E., Graves, S.M., and Barnes, P. 1988).