Eco-hydrodynamic characterization of vegetated flows derived by UAV-based imagery
Giuseppe Francesco Cesare Lama, Mariano Crimaldi, Angela De Vivo, Giovanni Battista Chirico, Fabrizio Sarghini
Abstract
The quantitative assessment of the role of riverine and riparian vegetation biomass on the effects of plants – water flow interaction in vegetated streams constitutes the main purpose of this study. In Ecohydraulics, and Ecohydrodynamics in particular, still exists the need for evaluating the impacts of real-scale riverine vegetation properties on the flow resistance of vegetated water bodies at multiple temporal and spatial scales. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) represent a very useful tool for the detection of those properties, which can be correlated to the main hydrodynamic characteristics of the examined vegetated water flows. In the present study, the main canopy traits of riparian stands developing inside a real vegetated channel were monitored using UAV-based multispectral images to predict the effects of the interplay between plants and flow over time.