High-Resolution Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Data in Urban Hydrology

Abstract Submission: Hydrologic processes like rainfall, evaporation, runoff, and floods are vital to the water cycle, especially in water-scarce regions. Managing and optimizing these processes is critical to sustainable water resources. In arid urban areas, water-intensive lawns pose challenges. To reduce water use, federal agencies have removed high water demand plants, which has reduced water consumption but raised sustainability concerns. Reducing vegetation lowers evapotranspiration, worsens urban heat, and reduces pervious surfaces, which increases flash flood risks and heat retention. These changes negatively affect outdoor activities and mental health.
Achieving sustainable water savings requires improved irrigation scheduling, flood forecasting, and modeling of vegetation-atmosphere interactions. However, scientific literature lacks standardized methods for urban irrigation scheduling. Additionally, remote sensing datasets are limited in capturing landscape diversity. Recent research has started to explore the potential of high-resolution data collection using uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) to address these challenges in urban hydrology.
This review discusses medium-sized drones equipped with L-band, albedometer, TIR sensors, and 360-degree cameras, providing 60 cm spatial resolution in visible and thermal spectrums at a 5 m flying height. The applications of this technology are considered in three areas: enhancing irrigation water modeling, refining urban heat island models, and mapping urban flood risks more accurately. The findings suggest that UAV data can significantly improve urban irrigation and flood modeling. These advancements hold promise for urban climate scientists and water resource managers seeking to refine urban hydrological models and improve sustainable water use practices.

Learning Objectives/Expected Outcome (Optional) :