Drone footage of the water surface of four rivers and one tidal site in a range of flow conditions in the UK, Australia, Switzerland and Japan, 2022
Cite this dataset as:
Everard, N.; Randall, M. (2024). Drone footage of the water surface of four rivers and one tidal site in a range of flow conditions in the UK, Australia, Switzerland and Japan, 2022. NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/d62347ba-0173-4857-b3fc-b7238988f0d8
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This dataset is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence 
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https://doi.org/10.5285/d62347ba-0173-4857-b3fc-b7238988f0d8
The dataset is a collection of drone videos collected to calculate surface water flow speeds (velocity) in order to provide field validation of flow speeds calculated from satellite-derived video for the FluViSat project (Hydrological Flow Measurement from Satellite Video).
The videos were taken using standard, unmodified DJI-Air2S camera drones on four rivers across England, Australia, Switzerland, and Japan and one tidal site in Scotland. Each video is at least 20-seconds in length, with minimum resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The videos are taken at nadir angle with the drone stationary above a fixed point in the centre of the river. As such a viewer can clearly observe the surface of the water in these videos. These videos were used to provide a very effective validation dataset for the satellite derived videos.
Videos were collected on the following dates and when the site was in the following conditions:
- Burdekin River, Australia – 7th and 8th January and 18th May. River in high flow conditions.
- River Tweed, Norham, England – 15th March. River at medium flows.
- Falls of Lora, Connel, Scotland – 16th and 18th March and 14th, 15th, and 16th July. Tidal race captured at various flow conditions.
- Uono River, Negoya, Japan – 10th May. River at medium-high flows.
- River Rhine at Rhine Falls, Switzerland – 18th August. River at low to medium flows.
This work was carried out under the Future-EO-1 EO Science for Society, and funded by, the European Space Agency.
The videos were taken using standard, unmodified DJI-Air2S camera drones on four rivers across England, Australia, Switzerland, and Japan and one tidal site in Scotland. Each video is at least 20-seconds in length, with minimum resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The videos are taken at nadir angle with the drone stationary above a fixed point in the centre of the river. As such a viewer can clearly observe the surface of the water in these videos. These videos were used to provide a very effective validation dataset for the satellite derived videos.
Videos were collected on the following dates and when the site was in the following conditions:
- Burdekin River, Australia – 7th and 8th January and 18th May. River in high flow conditions.
- River Tweed, Norham, England – 15th March. River at medium flows.
- Falls of Lora, Connel, Scotland – 16th and 18th March and 14th, 15th, and 16th July. Tidal race captured at various flow conditions.
- Uono River, Negoya, Japan – 10th May. River at medium-high flows.
- River Rhine at Rhine Falls, Switzerland – 18th August. River at low to medium flows.
This work was carried out under the Future-EO-1 EO Science for Society, and funded by, the European Space Agency.
Publication date: 2024-09-20
View numbers valid from 20 September 2024 Download numbers valid from 20 September 2024 (information prior to this was not collected)
Formats
MP4, SRT
Temporal information
Temporal extent
2022-01-06 to 2022-08-19
Provenance & quality
DJI Air2S drones, which are off-the-shelf consumer drones in the sub 2kg category, were used to collect all these videos.
Prior to the flight the operator ensured that the camera’s resolution was set to at least 1920 x 1080 pixels and that the ISO, white balance was set to optimise for lighting conditions to maximise the visibility of surface tracers.
The operator stood (safely) by the river’s edge and manoeuvred the drone over the point of interest. The drone’s camera was then positioned in a nadir view and the video captured. This was repeated along a few points within the area of interest that the satellite video would cover to obtain multiple videos in which surface tracers/features were visible on the surface of the water. These tracers were used to calculate velocity of the surface from both the drone and satellite videos at a later stage.
The drone’s GPS and optical positioning sensors and 3-axis gimbal ensure that the imaged area remains stable, and an mp4 file is stored on a MicroSD card onboard the drone. An accompanying SRT file (a Subtitle file) captures flight information, the most useful being latitude, longitude, and altitude. This was enabled for all videos captured in the UK and has been provided with the mp4 videos.
Prior to the flight the operator ensured that the camera’s resolution was set to at least 1920 x 1080 pixels and that the ISO, white balance was set to optimise for lighting conditions to maximise the visibility of surface tracers.
The operator stood (safely) by the river’s edge and manoeuvred the drone over the point of interest. The drone’s camera was then positioned in a nadir view and the video captured. This was repeated along a few points within the area of interest that the satellite video would cover to obtain multiple videos in which surface tracers/features were visible on the surface of the water. These tracers were used to calculate velocity of the surface from both the drone and satellite videos at a later stage.
The drone’s GPS and optical positioning sensors and 3-axis gimbal ensure that the imaged area remains stable, and an mp4 file is stored on a MicroSD card onboard the drone. An accompanying SRT file (a Subtitle file) captures flight information, the most useful being latitude, longitude, and altitude. This was enabled for all videos captured in the UK and has been provided with the mp4 videos.
Licensing and constraints
This dataset is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence
Cite this dataset as:
Everard, N.; Randall, M. (2024). Drone footage of the water surface of four rivers and one tidal site in a range of flow conditions in the UK, Australia, Switzerland and Japan, 2022. NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/d62347ba-0173-4857-b3fc-b7238988f0d8
Correspondence/contact details
Everard, N.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Maclean Building, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford
Wallingford
Oxfordshire
OX10 8BB
UNITED KINGDOM
enquiries@ceh.ac.uk
Wallingford
Oxfordshire
OX10 8BB
UNITED KINGDOM
Authors
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9936-9902
Randall, M.
Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water, Queensland Government
Other contacts
Rights holder
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Custodian
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
info@eidc.ac.uk
Publisher
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
info@eidc.ac.uk
Additional metadata
Keywords
Funding
European Space Agency
Last updated
14 November 2024 12:57