ABSTRACT

Monitoring ephemeral and intermittent streams is a major challenge in hydrology. On-site inspections may be impractical in difficult-to-access environments. Motivated by the latest advancements in digital cameras and computer vision techniques, in this work, we describe the development and application of a stage-camera system to monitor the water level in ungauged headwater streams. The system encompasses a consumer-grade wildlife camera with near-infrared (NIR) night vision capabilities and a white pole that serves as reference object in the collected images. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated through a set of benchmark experiments performed in natural settings. Maximum mean absolute errors between stage-camera and reference data are approximately equal to 2 cm in the worst scenario that corresponds to severe storms with intense rainfall and fog. Our preliminary results are encouraging and support the scalability of the stage-camera in future implementations in a wide range of natural settings.

摘要

监测短暂和间歇性河流是水文学中的一项重大挑战。在难以进入的环境中，现场检查可能不切实际。受数码相机和计算机视觉技术最新进展的启发，在这项工作中，我们描述了舞台相机系统的开发和应用，以监测未测量的源头水流中的水位。该系统包括具有近红外 (NIR) 夜视功能的消费级野生动物相机和用作收集图像中参考对象的白色杆。通过在自然环境中进行的一组基准实验证明了该方法的可行性。在最坏的情况下，舞台相机和参考数据之间的最大平均绝对误差大约等于 2 厘米，这对应于具有强降雨和大雾的严重风暴。我们的初步结果令人鼓舞，并支持舞台相机在未来在各种自然环境中的实施中的可扩展性。