Student Thesis

128 Pages·2013·11.96 MB·English

GLOF MODELING USING REMOTE SENSING AND GROUND BASED MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES 2013

Copyright
by
Indian institute of Remote Sensing
Indian Space Research Organisation

2011-2013
i
GLOF study Using Remote Sensing and Ground Based
Measurement Techniques

Thesis submitted to the Andhra University, Visakhapatnam in partial fulfilment of the
requirement for the award of Master of Technology in Remote Sensing and GIS

Submitted By: Bikram Pratap Banerjee

Supervised By: Dr. Ajanta Goswami
&
Dr. S. K. Jain

Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, ISRO,
Dept. of Space, Govt. of India Dehradun – 248001
Uttarakhand, India
July, 2013
GLOF MODELING USING REMOTE SENSING AND GROUND BASED MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES 2013

Certification

The Thesis Committee for Indian Institute of Remote Sensing – Andhra University
Certifies that this is the approved version of the following thesis:

GLOF study Using Remote Sensing and Ground Based Measurement Techniques

APPROVED BY
SUPERVISING COMMITTEE:

Supervisor:

(Dr. Ajanta Goswami, IIRS, ISRO, Dehradun)
(Dr. Sanjay K Jani, NIH, Roorkee)

iii
Dedication

I dedicate this thesis to my guide Dr. Ajanta Goswami. Since last fourteen months of the
project duration he has been more than just a teacher. He has not only supervised the
completion of this project work and thesis but also provided moral support in many
situations. He has been always there as an elder brother tolerating much of my willful
attitude with a smile. His concerned advice both in and outside academics has been of
genuine help in making me a better person. This dedication is just a small respectful homage
to him.
GLOF MODELING USING REMOTE SENSING AND GROUND BASED MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES 2013

Candidate’s Declaration

I hereby declare that the work embodied in this dissertation entitled, “GLOF STUDY
USING REMOTE SENSING AND GROUND BASED MEASUREMENT
TECHNIQUES” in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree of
Master of Technology in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System with
applications in Geosciences in the Geosciences and Geohazard Department, Indian Institute
of Remote Sensing, Dheradun, India is an authentic record of my own work carried out
under the supervision of Dr. A. Goswami and Dr. S.K. Jain.
The matter embodied in this dissertation has not been submitted by me for the award of any
other degree.

Date: July 24, 2013 (Bikram Pratap Banerjee)

This is to certify that the above statement made by the candidate is correct to the best of our
knowledge

Dr. S.K. Jain Dr. A. Goswami
Scientist-F Scientist-D
Department of RS & GIS, Geosciences an Geohahard Department
National Institute of Hydrology, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, ISRO
Roorkee, India Dheradun, India
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Acknowledgements

I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Y.V.N. Krishna Murthy, Director, Indian
Institute of Remote Sensing and its former Director Dr. P.S. Roy for providing me an
opportunity to pursue my project work on “GLOF MODELLING USING REMOTE
SENSING AND GROUND BASED MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES” in “Indian
Institute of Remote Sensing”. I thank Andhra University for providing me the award of
Masters of Technology in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System. This
project bears on imprint of many people. I sincerely thank my project guide Dr. A.
Goswami, Geoscience and Geohazard Department, Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun
and Dr. S.K. Jain, Department of RS & GIS, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee for
guidance and encouragement in carrying out this project work I also wish to express my
gratitude to the officials and other staff members of Indian Institute of Remote Sensing,
Dehradun and National institute of Hydrology, Roorkee who rendered their help during the
period of my project work. I would also like to forward my gratitude to Dr. Negi and Mr.
Manavendra of IRDE, DRDO, Dehradun for allowing me to carry out the testing and
calibration of the Robotic Sonar at their esteemed facility. I would also extend my heartfelt
thanks to Dr. Ajeya Jha (SMIT, Department head, Sikkim), Mrs. Bharti Joshi (IFS, Forest
Department, Sikkim), Mr. D. Bhaduri (IFS, Forest Department, Sikkim), Mr. Rajen Pradhan
(ENVIS, Forest Department, Sikkim) and Mr. Uttam, (DESMI) for providing us with
invaluable information. Last but not least I wish to avail myself of this opportunity, express
a sense of gratitude and love to my friends - Anna, Ashish, Gaurav , Padhee, Raj, Tarul,
Vanya, Vineet and my beloved parents for their manual support, strength, help and for
everything.

Place: Dehradun, India
Date: 24 July 2013
GLOF MODELING USING REMOTE SENSING AND GROUND BASED MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES 2013

Abstract

Title: GLOF Study Using Remote Sensing and Ground Based Measurement Techniques

By: Bikram Pratap Banerjee
Indian Institute of Technology & Andhra University, 2013

Supervisor:
Dr. Ajanta Goswami, IIRS, Dehradun, India
&
Dr. Sanjay K Jain, NIH, Roorkee, India

Retreat of glaciers due to melting if ice often gives leads to formation of new glacial lakes
and/or expansion of existing ones. This effect is more pronounced and severe in alpine
conditions/regions of Himalaya. Due to increased rate of snow melt, water accumulation in
these lakes has been rising rapidly. Burst or sudden discharge of large volumes of water
along with debris from these lakes is the reason behind glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs)
in downstream valley resulting in massive damage to infrastructure (e.g. dams, hydropower
plants, roads, residential areas, farms etc), natural resources (e.g. forests), fauna and human
life. Therefore monitoring of these kinds of lakes in terms of their formation, expansion and
vulnerability is important, and towards this the Earth Observation (EO) based techniques
can be very useful.
The present study is focused on accurate estimation of the volume of glacial lakes in
Sikkim, India and simulation of dam breach conditions to generate a flood risk map. The
first objective i.e. estimation of lake volume is essential to perform accurate simulations of
dam breach and flood extent. Traditional approaches in this regard in Himalayan regions
comprise of parametric models to derive lake volume form area of lake. In this case,
reflected spectral intensity rationing method using high spatial resolution multispectral
datasets to estimate lake depth and volume is being utilized. Further, an in-house designed,
compact and handy Robotic-SONAR system is developed to obtain accurate depth of lakes
in an automated manner. High altitude (~16,500ft), difficult terrain and extreme
environmental conditions make the lakes completely inaccessible for on board bathymetry
survey. At the same time Robotic ROVER eliminates the chances of human injuries and
fatalities which cannot be ignored in case of on board survey. Bathymetry data of lake from
Robotic-SONAR system will be used for calibrating the model for determining glacial lake
depth using multispectral datasets. As a result, the output is more accurate compared with
traditional parametric models. Once the proposed model is calibrated from bathymetry data
for a particular region, accurate point depth data is generated. Dam breach conditions can
then be simulated for disaster risk management integrating volume information, high
resolution DEM and moraine constituent data form field survey.
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Table of Contents
GLOF study Using Remote Sensing and Ground Based Measurement Techniques ............... ii
Certification ........................................................................................................................... iii
Dedication .............................................................................................................................. iv
Candidate’s Declaration .......................................................................................................... v
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ vi
Abstract ................................................................................................................................. vii
Table of Contents ................................................................................................................. viii
List of Figures ........................................................................................................................ xi
1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 1
1.1. GENERAL .............................................................................................................. 1
1.2. GLOF – A GLACIER HAZARD ........................................................................... 3
1.3. GLOF INVENTORY .............................................................................................. 3
1.4. RS & GIS IN GLOF STUDY .................................................................................. 4
1.5. NEED OF GROUND BASED INSTRUMENTS ................................................... 4
1.6. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES .................................................................................... 4
1.7. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ..................................................................................... 4
1.8. LAYOUT OF CHAPTER ....................................................................................... 4
2. STUDY AREA ............................................................................................................................ 7
2.1. GENERAL .............................................................................................................. 7
2.2. CLIMATE ............................................................................................................... 7
2.3. FLORA & FAUNA ................................................................................................. 8
2.4. ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF GLACIER LAKES ........................................ 10
3. ROVER ..................................................................................................................................... 11
3.1. GENERAL ............................................................................................................ 11
3.2. SONAR AND BATHYMETRY ........................................................................... 11
3.3. THE ROBOTIC ROVER ...................................................................................... 14
3.4. COST REQUIREMENT FOR THE ROBOTIC ROVER ..................................... 14
3.5. THE COMPLETE REQUIREMENT OF THE ROBOTIC SONAR .................... 14
3.6. BUILDING THE MECHANICAL STRUCTURE ............................................... 15
3.6.1. Structural Design .................................................................................................... 15
3.6.2. Fabrication of the Design ....................................................................................... 17
3.7. DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF HARDWARE ............................................. 20
3.8. CONCLUSION: .................................................................................................... 24
4. DATA USED ............................................................................................................................. 25
GLOF MODELING USING REMOTE SENSING AND GROUND BASED MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES 2013

4.1. Landsat MSS ......................................................................................................... 26
4.2. Landsat TM ........................................................................................................... 27
4.3. Landsat ETM+ ...................................................................................................... 28
4.4. ASTER DEM ........................................................................................................ 28
5. METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................. 29
5.1. PRE-PROCESSING ............................................................................................. 29
5.1.1. Bad Scan Line Removal .......................................................................................... 29
5.1.2. Spectral Sharpening ................................................................................................ 30
5.2. CREATION OF DATABASE .............................................................................. 30
5.3. GLACIER IDENTIFICATION ............................................................................ 31
5.3.1. NDVI ....................................................................................................................... 31
5.3.2. Lake ........................................................................................................................ 32
5.3.3. Minimum Elevation ................................................................................................. 32
5.3.4. NDSI ....................................................................................................................... 32
5.3.5. Minimum Size ......................................................................................................... 33
5.4. GLACIAL LAKE MAPPING .............................................................................. 33
5.5. VULNERABLE LAKE SELECTION .................................................................. 34
5.5.1. Area of the Lakes .................................................................................................... 36
5.5.2. Slope ....................................................................................................................... 36
5.5.3. Glacier Ice Connectivity ......................................................................................... 36
5.5.4. Distance from the Outlet ......................................................................................... 37
5.5.5. Distance from the Settlement .................................................................................. 37
5.5.6. Growth in Lake Area .............................................................................................. 37
5.5.7. Distance from Hydropower Plants ......................................................................... 38
6. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ............................................................................................ 39
6.1. GLACIER DETECTION ...................................................................................... 39
6.1.1. NDVI ....................................................................................................................... 39
6.1.2. Lake Region ............................................................................................................ 39
6.1.3. Minimum Elevation ................................................................................................. 39
6.1.4. Selected Region (RW) ............................................................................................. 39
6.1.5. NDSI ....................................................................................................................... 40
6.1.6. Minimum Size ......................................................................................................... 40
6.1.7. Glacier and Snow Map ........................................................................................... 40
6.2. MAPPED GLACIAL LAKES .............................................................................. 46
6.3. POTENTIALLY VULNERABLE LAKES .......................................................... 48
6.3.1. Area ........................................................................................................................ 48
6.3.2. Slope ....................................................................................................................... 48
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6.3.3. Glacial Lake Connectivity ....................................................................................... 48
6.3.4. Distance from Settlement ........................................................................................ 48
6.3.5. Growth in the lake ................................................................................................... 48
6.3.6. Distance from Hydropower Projects ....................................................................... 49
6.4. INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF LAKES ....................................................... 53
6.5. INCREASE IN AREA OF LAKES ...................................................................... 53
6.6. TOPOGRAPHIC CONTROL ON GLACIAL LAKES ........................................ 53
7. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................... 61
8. REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................... 63
APPENDIX ......................................................................................................................................... 65