A temporal and ecological analysis of the Huntington Beach Wetlands through an unmanned aerial system remote sensing perspective

Abstract

Wetland monitoring and preservation efforts have the potential to be enhanced with advanced remote sensing acquisition and digital image analysis approaches. Progress in the development and utilization of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) as remote sensing platforms has offered significant spatial and temporal advantages over traditional aerial and orbital remote sensing platforms. Photogrammetric approaches to generate high spatial resolution orthophotos of UAV acquired imagery along with the UAV’s low-cost and temporally flexible characteristics are explored. A comparative analysis of different spectral based land cover maps derived from imagery captured using UAV, satellite, and airplane platforms provide an assessment of the Huntington Beach Wetlands. This research presents a UAS remote sensing methodology encompassing data collection, image processing, and analysis in constructing spectral based land cover maps to augment the efforts of the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy by assessing ecological and temporal changes at the Huntington Beach Wetlands.