Drone Surveying of Volumetric Ice Growth in a Steep River

Representative ice thickness data is essential for accurate hydraulic modelling, assessing the potential for ice induced floods, understanding environmental conditions during winter and estimation of ice-run forces. Steep rivers exhibit complex freeze-up behaviour combining formation of columnar ice with successions of anchor ice dams to build a complete ice cover, resulting in an ice cover with complex geometry. For such ice covers traditional single point measurements are unrepresentative. Gathering sufficiently distributed measurements for representativeness is labour intensive and at times impossible with hard to access ice. Structure from Motion (SfM) software and low-cost drones have enabled river ice mapping without the need to directly access the ice, thereby reducing both the workload and the potential danger in accessing the ice. In this paper we show how drone-based photography can be used to efficiently survey river ice and how these photographic surveys can be processed into digital elevation models (DEMs) using Structure from Motion. We also show how DEMs of the riverbed, riverbanks and ice conditions can be used to deduce ice volume and ice thickness distributions. A QGIS plugin has been implemented to automate these tasks. These techniques are demonstrated with a survey of a stretch of the river Sokna in Trøndelag, Norway. The survey was carried out during the winter 2020–2021 at various stages of freeze-up using a simple quadcopter with camera. The 500 m stretch of river studied was estimated to have an ice volume of up to 8.6 × 103 m3 (This corresponds to an average ice thickness of ∼67 cm) during the full ice cover condition of which up to 7.2 × 103 m3 (This corresponds to an average ice thickness of ∼57 cm) could be anchor ice. Ground Control Points were measured with an RTK-GPS and used to determine that the accuracy of these ice surface geometry measurements lie between 0.03 and 0.09 m. The ice thicknesses estimated through the SfM methods are on average 18 cm thicker than the manual measurements. Primarily due to the SfM methods inability to detect suspended ice covers. This paper highlights the need to develop better ways of estimating the volume of air beneath suspended ice covers.

Analyses of Peace River Shallow Water Ice Profiling Sonar data and their implications for the roles played by frazil ice and in situ anchor ice growth in a freezing river

Peace River SWIPS (Shallow Water Ice Profiling Sonar) data were analyzed to quantify the roles of frazil ice and riverbed anchor ice grown in situ during the initial buildup of a seasonal ice cover. Data were derived through quasi-continuous monitoring of frazil parameters throughout the water column, providing direct and indirect measures of anchor ice volume and mass growth rates. Analyses utilized water level and air and water temperature information in conjunction with acoustic volume backscattering coefficient data to track and interpret spatial and temporal changes in riverbed and water column ice. Interest focused on four frazil intervals characterized by anomalously low levels of frazil content (relative to simulations with an anchor-ice-free river ice model) as distinguished by two strikingly different types of time dependences. A simple physical model was proposed to quantitatively account for discrepancies between measured and simulated results in terms of the pronounced dominance of anchor ice as an initial source of river ice volume and mass. The distinctive differences in temporally variable water column frazil content are attributed, in this model, to corresponding differences in the stabilities of riverbed anchor ice layers against detachment and buoyancy-driven movement to the river surface. In accord with earlier observations, the stability of in situ grown riverbed ice layers appears to be inversely proportional to cooling rates. The strength of the coupling between the two studied ice species was shown to be strong enough to detect changes in the anchor ice constituent from variations in water column frazil content.

Continuous in situ measurements of anchor ice formation, growth, and release

In northern rivers, turbulent water becomes supercooled (i.e. cooled to slightly below the freezing point) when exposed to freezing air temperatures. In supercooled turbulent water, frazil (small ice disks) crystals are generated in the water column, and anchor ice starts to form on the bed. Two anchor ice formation mechanisms have been reported in the literature: either by the accumulation of suspended frazil particles, which are adhesive (sticky) in nature, on the riverbed or by in situ growth of ice crystals on the bed material. Once anchor ice has formed on the bed, the accumulation typically continues to grow (due to either further frazil accumulation and/or crystal growth) until release occurs due to mechanical (shear force by the flow or buoyancy of the accumulation) or thermal (warming of the water column which weakens the ice-substrate bond) forcing or a combination of the two. There have been a number of detailed laboratory studies of anchor ice reported in the literature, but very few field measurements of anchor ice processes have been reported. These measurements have relied on either sampling anchor ice accumulations from the riverbed or qualitatively describing the observed formation and release. In this study, a custom-built imaging system (camera and lighting) was developed to capture high-resolution digital images of anchor ice formation and release on the riverbed. A total of six anchor ice events were successfully captured in the time-lapse images, and for the first time, the different initiation, growth, and release mechanisms were measured in the field. Four stages of the anchor ice cycle were identified: Stage 1: initiation by in situ crystal growth; Stage 2: transitional phase; Stage 3: linear growth; and Stage 4: release phase. Anchor ice initiation due to in situ growth was observed in three events, and in the remainder, the accumulation appeared to be initiated by frazil deposition. The Stage 1 growth rates ranged from 1.3 to 2.0 cm/h, and the Stage 2 and 3 growth rates varied from 0.3 to 0.9 cm/h. Anchor ice was observed releasing from the bed in three modes: lifting of the entire accumulation, shearing of layers of the accumulation, and rapid release of the entire accumulation.

Analyses of Peace River SWIPS data and its implications for the roles played by frazil ice and in situ anchor ice growth in a freezing river

Peace River SWIPS (Shallow Water Ice Profiling Sonar) data were analyzed to assess and quantify the roles of frazil ice suspensions and riverbed anchor ice grown in situ during the initial buildup of a seasonal ice cover. Data were derived from quasi-continuous monitoring of frazil parameters throughout the water column to provide direct and indirect measures of anchor ice volume and mass growth rates. Analyses utilized water level and air and water temperature information and directly measured acoustic volume backscattering coefficients to track and interpret spatial and temporal changes in riverbed and water column ice constituents. Interests were focused on 4 specific frazil intervals characterized by anomalously low levels of frazil content (relative to simulations with an anchor ice-free river ice model) distinguished by two strikingly different types of time dependences. A simple physical model was proposed to quantitatively account for discrepancies between measured and simulated results in terms of the pronounced dominance of anchor ice as an initial source of river ice volume and mass. The distinctive differences in temporally variable water column frazil content are attributed, in this model, to corresponding differences in the stabilities of riverbed anchor ice layers against detachment and buoyancy-driven movement to the river surface. In accord with earlier observations, the stability of in situ grown riverbed ice layers appears to be inversely proportional to cooling rates. The strength of the coupling between the two studied ice species was shown to be strong enough to detect changes in the anchor ice constituent from variations in water column frazil content.

Continuous in situ measurements of anchor ice formation, growth and release

In northern rivers, turbulent water becomes supercooled (i.e. cooled to slightly below 0 °C) when exposed to freezing air temperatures. In supercooled water, frazil (small ice disks) crystals are generated in the water column and anchor ice starts to form on the bed. Two anchor ice formation mechanisms have been reported in the literature: either by the accumulation of suspended frazil particles, which are adhesive (sticky) in nature, on the river bed; or by in situ growth of ice crystals on the bed material. Once anchor ice has formed on the bed, the accumulation typically continues to grow (either due to further frazil accumulation and/or crystal growth) until release occurs due to mechanical (shear force by the flow or buoyancy of the accumulation) or thermal (warming of the water column which weakens the ice-substrate bond) forcing or a combination of the two. Although detailed laboratory experiments have been reported to study anchor ice, but very few field measurements of anchor ice processes have been reported. These measurements have relied on either sampling anchor ice accumulations from the river bed, or qualitatively describing the observed formation and release. In this study, a custom-built imaging system (camera and lighting) was developed to capture high-resolution digital images of anchor ice formation and release on the river bed. A total of six anchor ice events were successfully captured in the time-lapse images and for the first time, the different initiation, growth and release mechanisms were measured in the field. Four stages of the anchor ice cycle were identified, namely: Stage 1: initiation by in situ crystal growth, Stage 2: transitional phase, Stage 3: linear growth, and Stage 4: release phase. Anchor ice initiation due to in situ growth was observed in three events and in the remainder the accumulation appeared to be initiated by frazil deposition. The Stage 1 growth rates ranged from 1.3 to 2.0 cm/hr and the Stage 2 and 3 growth rates varied from 0.3 to 0.9 cm/hr. Anchor ice was observed releasing from the bed in three modes referred to as lifting, shearing and rapid.

Collection of large benthic invertebrates in sediment traps in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica

To study sinking particle sources and dynamics, sediment traps were deployed at three sites in the Amundsen Sea for 1 year from February–March 2012 and at one site from February 2016 to February 2018. Unexpectedly, large benthic invertebrates were found in three sediment traps deployed 130–567 m above the sea floor. The organisms included long and slender worms, a sea urchin, and juvenile scallops of varying sizes. This is the first reported collection of these benthic invertebrates in sediment traps. The collection of these organisms, predominantly during the austral winter, and their intact bodies suggests they were trapped in anchor ice, incorporated into the overlying sea ice, and subsequently transported by ice rafting. The observations imply that anchor ice forms episodically in the Amundsen Sea and has biological impacts on benthic ecosystems. An alternative hypothesis that these organisms spend their juvenile period underneath the sea ice and subsequently sink to the seafloor is also suggested.