Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | The Cryosphere Discuss., 9, 333–381, 2015 www.the-cryosphere-discuss.net/9/333/2015/ doi:10.5194/tcd-9-333-2015 © Author(s) 2015. CC Attribution 3.0 License. This discussion paper is/has been under review for the journal The Cryosphere (TC). Please refer to the corresponding final paper in TC if available. Mapping snow-depth from manned-aircraft on landscape scales at centimeter resolution using Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry M. Nolan1, C. F. Larsen2, and M. Sturm2 1Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 306 Tanana Loop, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA 2Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 903 Koyukuk Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA Received: 30 October 2014 – Accepted: 6 December 2014 – Published: 15 January 2015 Correspondence to: M. Nolan (
[email protected]) Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 333 Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Abstract Airborne photogrammetry is undergoing a renaissance: lower-cost equipment, more powerful software, and simplified methods have significantly lowered the barriers-to- entry and now allow repeat-mapping of cryospheric dynamics at spatial resolutions 5 and temporal frequencies that were previously too expensive to consider. Here we ap- ply these techniques to the measurement of snow depth from manned aircraft. The main airborne hardware consists of a consumer-grade digital camera coupled to a dual-frequency GPS. The photogrammetric processing is done using a commercially- available implementation of the Structure from Motion (SfM) algorithm. The system 10 hardware and software, exclusive of aircraft, costs less than USD 30 000.